CHAPTER VIII. 



WAX. 



Origin — Production — Chemical Constitution — Comb Building — De- 

 tailed Description — Amount of Wax in Hives — Commercial Value 

 — Properties. 



It was long thought that wax was a product 

 derived, hke honey, immediately from flowers. Not 

 only did popular ignofance- suppose that the pellets 

 of pollen carried on the thighs of the worker-bees 



Fig. io. — A Worker bEE, showing the Scales of Wax. 



consisted of this substance , but even some authors 

 on apiculture fell into the same error. It is now 

 ascertained with certainty that wax is. a sort of 

 animal fat, elaborated from honey by certain internal 

 organs of the bee. It exudes in a liquid form from 



