WAX. 31 



weigh about 17 lb. In seven days it weighed 45 lb., and 

 was filled with combs. These combs, pure and simple, 

 would weigh about 2 lb. If 40 lb. of honey were con- 

 sumed in their production, the gathering of this swarm 

 was enormous. Liebig's experiments were honestly made, 

 and the results honestly recorded : but no close observer 

 of comb-building in bee-hives wiU admit that they are, 

 or ever can be, conclusive in their character ; because the 

 experiments were made with about 10 oz. of bees — a 

 mere handful. Both the weather and the warmth of a 

 hive have a great influence in comb-building. 



Dr Liebig says that it talces thirty -eight hours to 

 convert honey into wax — that is to say, that the laminae, 

 or thin plates of wax, do not appear on the bellies of bees 

 till thirty-eight hours after the honey has been taken into 

 their intestines. This surely is not correct; for bees that 

 are driven into a hive at six o'clock of a summer evening 

 often commence to buUd combs before six o'clock next 

 morning. And if no combs be formed or visible then, 

 there may be seen the laminae or flakes of wax lying on 

 the board beneath the swarm. The making or secreting 

 of wax is voluntary on the part of the bees ; and this is 

 one of the secrets of bee-history that can never be fath- 

 omed, and must remain veiled for ever from the ken of 

 mortals. Bees do not secrete wax when their hives are 

 filled with combs ; but remove the bees into an empty 

 one, and in less than twelve hours they build one or two 

 pieces of comb. 



As honey from one kind of plant difiers in taste from 

 that of another kind of plant, so wax difiers in colour if 

 different kinds of honey are used in its manufacture. 



Wax is made from treacle or syrup as well as from 

 honey ; but the combs made from these are more brittle 

 than those made from honey. 



In the covers or lids of brood-ceUs there will be no- 



