The Work in the Hive. 107 
become fat and clumsy for another. Of 
course the sweet meal must be disposed of 
in some way; and, in fact, there is formed 
from it a substance something like fat, only 
different. 
This substance is wax, and it finds its 
way in liquid form through pores in the 
bee’s body into the eight depressions on 
the under-side of the abdomen, where it 
hardens. We might say she sweats out 
the wax into her pockets. 
When Miss Apis wants wax, then, she 
eats a hearty meal of honey and suspends 
herself in the hive for a nap while it digests. 
When she wakes up, her eight pockets are 
full of wax. It was Huber who first told 
us that wax is made from honey eaten by 
the bees. 
