334 CONSTRUCTION OF THE COMBS BY THK BEES. 



was called commosis, on the first layers of which, they spread 

 a second plaster of a weaker consistency, which was called 

 pissoceros. These two layers, being smoothened and har- 

 dened, the bees then apply the propolis, which, according 

 to Pliny is less viscous than the two former mentioned sub- 

 stances, and possesses a greater affinity with wax. Reject- 

 ing altogether the existence of those substances, we consider 

 ourselves warranted from the result of our experiments, to 

 affirm that the bees, whether in the foundation or construc- 

 tion of their combs, make use of no other substance than 

 wax. 



On the bees leaving the parent hive, they are provided 

 with all the means necessary for the construction of their 

 combs. The farina of the flowers is found amongst them 

 in all its various stages, from the crude state in which it is 

 gathered from the flower, to its unelaborated and undigested 

 state in the stomach of the bee. Convinced as we are 

 that pollen is the constituent principle of wax, and as we 

 shall state the grounds of that conviction in the chapter on 

 wax, we shall pass over the statements of Huber and others, 

 which is, that the bees bring with them from the parent hive 

 the wax ready made for the construction of the combs, and 

 that the wax so made is to be found under the rings of 

 the abdomen. 



The bees always begin to construct their combs at the top 

 of the hive, and if the swarm be a first one, always in the 

 middle, if a second, generally at the side. To the curious 

 observer, the bees appear in the middle of the hive in a 

 large group, apparently in a state of complete idleness. Let, 

 however, a few of the outside bees be removed, and a beau- 

 tiful white comb will present itself to the view; but in 

 regard to the manner of its construction, the bees appear re- 

 solved that no accurate information shall be obtained from 

 them. Huber has, it is true, given us a description of a bee 

 forming a cell from its very foundation to the completion 



