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 

 on 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. 



