Wax and Comb. 103 



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It is asserted that to secrete wax, bees need to hang' in com- 

 pact clusters or festoons, in absolute repo^fe. Such quiet would 

 certainly seem conducive to most active secretion. The same 

 food could not go to form wax, and at the same time supply 

 the waste of tissue which ever follows upon muscular activity. 

 The cow, put to hard toil, could not give so much milk. But 

 I find, upon examination, that the bees, even the most aged, 

 while gathering in the honey season, yield up the wax-scailes 

 the same as those within the hive. During the active storing 

 of the past season, especially when comb-building was in rapid 

 progress, I found that nearly every bee taken from the flowers 

 contained the wax-scales of varying sizes in the wax-pockets. 

 By the activity of the bees, these are not infrequently loosened 

 from their position and fall to the bottom of the hive. 



It is probable that wax secretion is not forced upon the bees, 

 but only takes place as required. So the bees, unless wax is 

 demanded, may perform other duties. Whether this secretion 

 is a matter of the bee's wiH, or whether it is excited by the 

 surrounding conditions without any thought, are questions yet 

 to be settled. 



These wax-scales are loosened by the claws and carried to 

 the mouth by the feet, where they are mixed with saliva, and 

 after the proper kneading by the jaws are fashioned into that 

 wonderful and exquisite structure, the comb. In this trans- 

 formation to comb, the wax may become much darker in color. 

 It is almost sure to do this if the new comb is formed adjacent 

 to old, dark colored comb. 



Honey-comb is wonderfully delicate, the wall of a new cell 

 being only about 1-180 of an inch in thickness, and so formed 

 as to combine the greatest strength with the least expense of 

 material and room. It has been a subject of admiration since 

 the earliest time. That the form is a matter of necessity, as 

 some claim, the result of pressure and not of bee-skill, is not 

 true. The hexagonal form is assumed at the very start of the 

 cells, when there can be no pressure. The wasp builds the 

 same form, though unaided. The assertion that the cells, even 

 the drone and worker-cells, are absolutely uniform and perfect, 

 is also untrue, as a little inspection will convince any one. 

 The late Prof. Wyman proved that an exact hexagonal ceU 

 dcJes not exist. He showed that, the size varies, so that in a 

 distance of ten worker-cells there may be a variation of one 



