54 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



and carried to the bottom of a coal-pit, and there fed, 

 combs beautifully white would be the product. But 

 combs made from syrup are more brittle than those made 

 from honey ; and combs made from the honey of one 

 kind of plant differ in ; colour from those made from 

 another kind. 



In the covers or lids of brood-cells there will be 

 noticed this fact, that they are always like the cells they 

 cover. If the combs are ten years old, and as dark as an 

 Ethiopian's skin, the lids arc of the same colour ; and if 

 the combs are white the lids are white. Doubtless part 

 of the old combs in the dark hives is used in the manu- 

 facture of lids ; but why it is so used, or why bees wiU 

 have lids and combs of the same colour, has ever appeared 

 a very remarkable thing. 



In Professor Liebig's remarks on wax, there is another 

 statement which is not absolutely correct. He says combs 

 are never built in a hive unless the bees have the presence 

 or prospect of a queen. ISTow we have seen a second 

 swarm that lost its queen a day or two after being hived, 

 half fiU its hive with combs, chiefly of the drone kind. 



These quotations from Liebig's invaluable book are 

 made, not with a view to combat them, but to let the 

 reader know that the question of wax-making and comb- 

 building is a very important and interesting one in the 

 history of a bee-hive. In comb-building the bees are 

 wonderfully frugal in the use of wax. "We guess that not 

 more than 2 lb. of it is used in the construction of 

 80,000 cells. It is a very inflammable substance, con- 

 taining more than 80 per cent of carbon. 



