122 OBSERVATIONS OF HXJBER. 



a remarkable fact relative to the formation of this 

 substance, namely, that it is secreted by bees differ- 

 ent from those which attend to the feeding of the 

 young ; or, in other words, the working bees, which 

 were formerly supposed to be all alike, may be divided 

 into two classes, — wax- workers and nurses. 



For our knowledge on this subject, we are princi- 

 pally indebted to the observations of a blind man, 

 the elder Huber, who made the study of bees the 

 occupation and solace of many years of visual dark- 

 ness. This he was enabled to do by the untiring at- 

 tention of his wife, who faithfully recounted the 

 phenomena which glass hives, variously constructed, 

 enabled her to witness. He saw by means of her 

 eyes, and in his experiments, he was assisted by a 

 patient investigator, M. Burnens. From Huber we 

 learn that wax is not collected from flowers, as was 

 formerly supposed, but is secreted by the wax- work- 

 ers by means of peculiar organs, which may easily be 

 seen, by pressing the abdomen so as to cause its dis- 

 tension. It is not, however, a secretion that is con- 

 stantly going on ; it is one which takes place only 

 when wax is required for the construction of the 

 comb. To supply it, the wax- workers are obliged to 

 feed on honey, and to remain inactive, generally sus- 

 pended from the top of the hive, for about twenty- 

 four hours previous to the deposition of the wax. 



