112 MINEe's AMERICAN 



consumed their whole provision of honey ; but their 

 dwelling, which did not contain an atom of wax when 

 we established them in it, had now acquired five combs of 

 the most beautiful wax suspended from its arch, of a 

 pure white, and very brittle. , , . ^ 



We did not bxpect so speedy a solution of the pro- 

 blem ; but before concluding that the bees had derived 

 the faculty of producing wax from honey on which they 

 fed, a second experiment, susceptible of no other expla- 

 nation, was necessary. 



The workers, though in captivity, had been able to 

 collect farina ; while they were at liberty, they might 

 have obtained provisions on the eve, or on the. day 

 itself of their imprisonment, and enough might have 

 been in the stomach or on the limbs to enable them to 

 extract the wax from it that we found in the hive. But 

 if it actually came from the farina previously collected, 

 this source was not inexhaustible; and the bees being 

 unable to obtain more, would cease to construct combs, 

 and would fall into absolute inaction. 



Before proceeding to the second experiment, which 

 was to consist in prolonging their captivity, we took 

 care to remove all the combs they had formed in that 

 preceeding. Buernens made them return to their hive, 

 and confined them again with a new portion of honey. 



The experiment was not tedious. From the evening 

 of the subsequent day we observed them working in 

 wax anew ; and on examining the hive on the third day, 

 we actually found five combs, as regular as those they 

 had made during their first imprisonment. 



