386 WAX MADE FROM HONEY. 



pletely verifying the hypothesis of the farina of plants being 

 taken into the second stomach of the bee, there to undergo 

 the requisite elaboration for the formation of wax. In one 

 of our hives, the entrance of which had been enlarged, we 

 had omitted to smoothen the sides; the consequence of 

 which was, that the bees, who crowded into the hive with 

 the pellets of farina, had them frequently rubbed off by the 

 roughness of the straws projecting on each side of the en- 

 trance. Being desirous of ascertaining whether the bees 

 would take any notice of the pellets which lay on the plat- 

 form, we carefully watched all their motions, and in a very 

 short time observed three bees settle round one of the pellets, 

 and by the aid of a magnifying glass, it was distinctly to be 

 seen, that the bees were eating the pellets, which by degrees 

 wholly disappeared. We waited until one of the bees in- 

 dicated his intention to enter the hive, when it was killed, 

 and not a moment was lost in dissecting it. A very small 

 quantity of honey was found in its vesicle, but in the second 

 stomach, the pollen just eaten was distinctly perceptible, 

 having as yet undergone but a very slight change in its 

 colour and consistency. It must be observed, that there 

 is neither duct nor passage leading from this second sto- 

 mach, by which the pollen in a digested state could be 

 excrementally voided. There are therefore only two ways 

 of accounting for its disappearance from the stomach ; the 

 first is by disgorgement by the mouth, as the constituent of 

 wax ; the second is by exudation, which we shall shortly 

 show to be a reverie of Huber's brain. 



We will now proceed to compare the discovery of Huber 

 with the opinions of Latreille, Martin, Dr. Howison, and 

 other late writers on the natural history of the bee. 



Wax, according to Huber, is made from honey; but we 

 are subsequently informed, by the same person, of the ex- 

 istence of scales of wax between the rings of the abdomen ; 

 and with the view of confirming this most untenable hypo- 



