100 THE BUILDING OF BEES. 
combs were again constructed. Seven times in succession 
their combs were removed, and were in each instance re- 
placed, the bees being all the time prevented from ranging 
the fields to supply themselves with pollen. By subsequent 
experiments, he proved that sugar-syrup answered the 
same end with honey. Giving an imprisoned swarm an 
abundance of fruit and pollen, he found that they subsisted 
cn the fruit, but refused to touch the pollen; and that no 
combs were constructed, nor any wax-scales formed in their 
pouches. 
Notwithstanding Huber’s extreme caution and unwearied 
patience in conducting these experiments, he did not dis- 
cover the whole truth on this important subject. Though he 
demonstrated that bees can construct comb when fed 
honey or sugar, without pollen, and that they cannot 
make it if fed pollen without honey or sugar, he did not 
prove that when permanently deprived of it they can con- 
tinue to work in wax, or if they can, that the pollen does 
not aid in its elaboration. 
Some pollen is always found in the stomach of wax-pro- 
ducing workers, and they never build comb so rapidly as 
when they have free access to this article. It must, 
therefore, in some way, assist the bee in producing it. 
221. The experiments made by Berlepsch show that 
bees, which are deprived of pollen when they construct 
combs, consume from sixteen to nineteen pounds of honey 
to produce a pound of comb, while, if provided with it, the 
amount of honey is reduced to ten or twelve pounds. If 
the experiment is continued without pollen for some time, 
the bees become exhausted and begin to perish. It is 
therefore demonstrated that although nitrogen, which is 
one of the elements of pollen, does not enter into the 
composition of bees-wax (222), yet it is indispensable as 
food to sustain the strength of bees during their work in 
comb making. 
