108 miner's AMERICAN 



Stomach of the bee produces it in its proper state for 

 working. I saj chemical change, for the reason that the 

 honey being probably combined with some other fluid 

 natural to the body of the bee, and both substances ex- 

 posed to a gentle heat, produce virtually and truly a 

 chemical change. Nor is it in the power of the bee to 

 stop this chemical change, if the honey remain in the 

 vesicle over a certain length of time, say over four or 

 six hours. No person, to my knowledge, has ever be- 

 fore ventured to make this declaration ; yet, if we look 

 properly into this subject, we are forced to this conclusion. 

 How often have bees commenced the construction of 

 combs upon the branch of the tree where they clustered 

 on swarming, on occasions when they have been neg- 

 lected by their owner, or have not been discovered by 

 him ! The bees certainly must know that they could 

 not exist in such situations l^ng, and it would be con- 

 trary to their well-known habits iji the economy of labor, 

 and their wonderful instinctive wisdom, to build combs 

 where they could be of no use, if they could avoid so 

 doing. 



I do not say that the bees cannot possibly avoid build- 

 ing combs under such circumstances ; yet I say this ; 

 that if the honey-bee fills its honey-bag with honey, and 

 finds no place in which to store it within a certain time, 

 under twelve hours at most, the honey thus placed in the 

 vesicle of the bee, undergoes a chemical change, over 

 which the bee has no control ; — that the new chemical 

 substance, which is wax, exudes through the scales of 

 the abdomen, that lap over each other like the scales of 



