OPINION OF L ABBE DELLA ROCCA. 401 



nature for the production of the species, is that which serves 

 for the formation of wax, although it may contain the princi- 

 ples. I procured for Mr. Fourcroy a great quantity of the 

 farina from the stamina of hemp, but he was never able to 

 extract any wax from it." 



I am convinced, says l'Abbe della Rocca, that the bees 

 which we see on the branches and the leaves of the fig tree, 

 are employed only in amassing the exudations of wax, which 

 are visibly perceptible flowing on those trees, and even on 

 the figs, round the openings of which are seen small globules 

 f an unctuous matter, and from which even the honey is 

 seen to flow. 



The Father Hardouin relates a certain circumstance in his 

 notes on Pliny, which tends in some degree to confirm this 

 observation of the Abbe. Ex olea ceram apes carpere Varro 

 docet, lib. iii. de Re Rustica, cap. xvi. pag. 114. Non ex flore 

 quidem, ut Plinius recte observat, lib. xxi. sect. 4 1 . sed ex 

 frondium partibus, qua? cum crassiores sint quam florium, 

 cerse fingendse videntur esse accommodatiores. Id a se visum, 

 observatumque saepius, scribit Albertus, lib. viii. de Animal. 

 Tract, iv. cap. iii. p. 268. 



