SINGULAR STATEMENT OP DUC0UED1C. 399 



statement relative to the nature and properties of pollen pro- 

 mulgated by so experienced an apiarian as Mr. Ducouedic, 

 and which throws all the boasted discoveries of Huber far 

 into the back-ground. We will translate the passage literally 

 from his Ruche pyramidale, page 117 : — 



" In fine weather the bees are to be observed loaded with 

 farina, conveying it in its crude state into the hive. It may 

 be looked upon on the part of the bees as a superfluity of 

 booty, and almost as a supererogation of their duty. It is, 

 however, prepared by the nurse bees for the nourishment of 

 the brood. This pollen, which is consumed by them, be- 

 comes honey, ivax, or propolis, accordingly as the demand for the 

 different substances requires it. The pollen is therefore what 

 may be properly called a portion of the nourishment of the bees, 

 and is one of the elements of honey, wax, and propolis. It is 

 a saccharine substance, transported in its crude state into 

 the hive by a certain number of working bees of the most 

 greedy disposition, who not being contented with having 

 filled their first stomach, also load the triangular cavities 

 which they have on their hinder legs. The much talked of 

 crude wax does not exist in nature, and the pollen is in reality 

 nothing more than a balsamic substance, which is converted into 

 honey. I even believe that this substance, before changing 

 its nature, may be a sort of a feast for the bees of the in- 

 terior, who subsist in general only on honey, or it may be a 

 balsamic remedy, necessary for the preservation of the health 

 of the bees in the interior of the hive, and finally, it is only in 

 these relations that pollen ought to be considered." 



We do not know in what light to consider the author of 

 this theory, for perhaps a more crude and undigested one 

 was never promulgated by any individual having the slightest 

 pretension to scientific knowledge. The mere inclination to 

 promulgate a system differing from all others, and which is 

 at variance with all experience, certainly cannot have led him 

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