86 The Honey-Makers 



bad conductor of heat, and exposed to frost, protected from 

 sun and snow, for three weeks. As a result of this treat- 

 ment the honey becomes clear and hard Hke sugar. 



The French chemist M. Cadet of Vaux gives the 

 following method of purifying honey as a substitute for 

 sugar. Boil honey and water with charcoal. Strain, boil, 

 and skim until it hardens when dropped in water. 



Honey is used for preserving fruits and also for envelop- 

 ing and thereby preserving grafts, birds' eggs, and valuable 

 seeds which have to be transmitted from one climate to 

 another, and it is said to keep them available for a con- 

 siderable time. 



Besides the honey-sac the abdomen of the bee contains 

 the remarkable " wax-pocket." 



Aristotle tells us "wax is made from flowers ;" and 

 Pliny says : '' Bees form wax from the blossoms of all 

 trees and plants, with the sole exception of the rumex 

 (sorrel, or monk's rhubarb) and the echinopodes (a kind 

 of broom)." 



For long it was believed that the bees collected wax from 

 flowers and brought it home on their thighs like pollen. 



Even Butler says : — 



"The matter thereof [to make cells] they gather from 

 flowers with their fangs ; which being kept soft in their 

 mouths, with the heat of their litde bodies, of the air, and 

 of their hives, is wrought into combs." 



Later it was believed that pollen was changed into wax 

 in the stomach of the bee. 



It is now known that wax is a product of honey, which 

 is eaten by the bee, altered into a fluid secretion by glands 

 beneath the abdominal walls, and exuded as wax. 



The abdomen of the bee is formed of rings held to- 

 gether by a flexible membrane so that they can overlap 

 each other or be drawn apart somewhat like a telescope 



