40 SOCIAL HABITATIONS. 
trees and branches, and bear home in their mouths the 
bundles of woody fibres which they have gnawed away. 
The upholsterer and leaf-cutter Bees are indebted to the 
petals and leaves of various plants, and various wood-boring 
insects make their homes of the woody particles which 
they have nibbled away. The Bee, however, obtains her 
wax in a very different manner. 
If the body of a worker Bee be carefully examined, on 
the under sides of the abdomen will be seen six little flaps, 
not unlike pockets, the covers of which can be easily raised 
with a pin or needle. Under these flaps is secreted the 
wax, which is produced in tiny scales or plates, and may 
be seen projecting from the flaps like little semilunar white 
lines. Plenty of food, quiet, and warmth are necessary 
for the production of wax, and as it is secreted very slowly, 
if is so valuable that the greatest economy is needed in 
its use. It is, indeed, a wonderful substance ; soft enough 
when warm to be kneaded and to be spread like mortar, 
and hard enough when cold to bear the weight of brood 
and honey. Moreover, it is of a texture so close that the 
honey cannot soak through the delicate walls of the cells, 
as would soon be the case if the comb were made of woody 
fibre, like that of the hornet or wasp. 
Indeed, it is a most remarkable fact that the Bee should 
be able to produce not only the honey, but the material 
with which is formed the treasury wherein the honey is 
stored. Honey itself is again scarcely less remarkable than 
wax. The Bee goes to certain flowers, inserts its hair-clad 
proboscis into their recesses, sweeps out the sweet juice, 
passes the laden proboscis through its jaws, scrapes off the 
liquid and swallows it. The juice then passes into a little 
receptacle just within the abdomen called the “ honey- 
bag,” which is apparently composed of an exceedingly 
delicate membrane, and seems to discharge no other office 
