199 | Of Bee-bread and Wax. 
Various conjectures have been made by dif-~ 
ferent authors dais its ufe. Some alledge 
that the bees eat it; hence the name, Bee-bread. 
Others cae inde after being taken into 
their ftomachs, it is conyerted by fome peculiar 
action of their internal juices into wax, of 
which every body knows their combs are made. 
But an objection to this hypotheiis, arifes from 
the confideration, that the bees, when firft put 
into an empty hive, carry little or none of this 
ftuff on their legs for .fome time, till a great 
number of combs are made; and that after 
the combs are completed, (which they general- 
ly are within two or three weeks after the 
fwarm have taken pofleflion of the hive,) the 
bees ftill continue to carry in this ftuff during 
the whole working feafon. To this, however, 
it may be replied, that perhaps, as they have 
no cells to put it into at that time, they carry 
-it home 1n their bellies, where it probably un- . 
dergoes a fpeedy change in pafling through 
their bodies, and may thereby be converted in- 
to perfect wax, with which they manufacture 
their combs. 
- There is another clafs of authors, who fup- 
ofe that the bee-bread is ufed by the old bees 
to feed the young ones ‘im the ce ells, by the 
mouth 
