296 



THE BEE-KEEPERS ' REVIEW 



vance over what has been made heretofore. 

 It is to be hoped that the improvement has 

 been made wittingly so that a knowledge of 

 it may be perpetuated if not disseminated. 

 In order to determine what the utmost exist- 

 ing skill and knowledge could produce, the 

 peverai manufacturers were acquainted with 

 the use to which the foundation was to be 

 put when it was ordered and the question 

 arises whether all the foundation made was 

 of equal quality. To determine this it is ap- 

 parent that future experiments should be 

 made with foundation so procured that it 

 cannot have been made with the express pur- 

 pose of having it used for experimentation. 



Lapeeb, Mich., Nov. 21, 1894. 



;V>?V^^g|..e«^>,2f<;^ 



Notes From Foreign Jonrnals. 



KATHEBINE M. INGLIS. 



HERR Julius Stengel, in the Bienen Vater, 

 argues that wax is a product by itself 

 in the vegetable world, that it is not man- 

 ufactured by the bees from honey ; in fact 

 is not produced by them, but simply repro- 

 duced. The pollen in flowers, he says, is 

 covered with a thin coating of wax to pro- 

 tect it from moisture, and this wax the bee 

 takes into its system with the pollen it needs 

 for nourishment. 



He divides bees and their relatives into 

 two classes, those that eat honey but no pol- 

 len, and those that eat both. Those of the 

 first class (wasps, ants, etc.) do not produce 

 wax, while many of the second class do. 

 Therefore, he judges that the production of 

 wax stands in close connection with the con- 

 sumption of pollen. 



All insects that do not live in colonies like 

 the bees and humble bees, cannot build wax 

 cells. Such creatures build cylindrical cells 

 from pieces of fresh leaves, with a close cov- 

 er at each end. He, himself, once noticed 

 in his strawberry bed that great pieces were 

 bitten out of the leaves. He thought of a 

 caterpillar or beetle, but could find none. 

 One day while standing by the bed he saw a 

 little grey bee light on a leaf, cut out a large 

 piece in an instant, and disappear with it 

 into a hole in the wall. When the bee came 

 out again, he dug down and found the fin- 



ished cell. In similar holes he found other 

 cells half filled with pollen-jelly, with eggs 

 and larvaa in them but each cell closed. 

 Apparently the mother-bee provided her 

 child with enough nourishment for its full 

 development, and did not trouble herself any 

 more about it. Such insects do not need to 

 build wax cells, and the wax which is taken 

 into the system leaves the body with the ex- 

 crements. These creatures are the beings 

 of a summer, bewitched into existence by 

 the spring suushine, and sinking back into 

 nothingness before the autumn frosts. No 

 thought for the future is required from 

 them. 



But the bee is different. She must, like 

 man, carry on the struggle against hunger 

 and cold with all the strength and cunning 

 she possesses, and nature has richly endowed 

 her with qualities necessary for a successful 

 struggle. This endowment shows itself even 

 in her digestive organs. The wax, a fat 

 which she takes into her system with the pol- 

 len may leave the body in two different ways. 

 If there is need of building, the bees set 

 themselves to bring up the temperature of 

 the hive to the degree necessary to make the 

 wax exude through the pores which lie be- 

 tween rings of the body in the shape of little 

 colorless scales. The process is very like 

 the progress of fat through the human 

 body. The wax exudes from glands, per- 

 haps wax glands, as we find fat glands in 

 birds and mammals. If there is no need of 

 building the wax passes off in the excre- 

 ments. 



Herr Stengel thinks that only the young 

 bees build. Old bees eat only honey for 

 nourishment, but young bees need nitrogen 

 to develop and build up their bodies. This 

 they find in pollen, and the wax they take in 

 with the pollen is retained in the body until 

 their full development fourteen days after 

 leaving the cell. 



He has no use for the theory of wax from 

 honey. Old bees cannot build new comb. 

 They can draw out artificial comb, or work 

 up old wax in small quantities, but they 

 never build new combs. If wax were pro- 

 duced from honey or from volatile oils as 

 Weygandt thought, old bees would build 

 continuously. The young bees on the other 

 hand are anxious to rid the body of the par- 

 ticles of wax, and this accounts for the eager- 

 ness which swarms exhibit in building in the 

 first few days. Having once got rid of the 

 wax they can build no more. 



