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Of Bee-bread and Wax. 195 
that the bees, having eaten a quantity of bee 
bread on purpofe, before they left their own 
hive, and having it ftill in their ftomachs, had 
made wax of it to ere& the combs. — 
Of this fact any perfon may convince him- 
felf, by driving the bees out of any hive into 
an empty one, and confining them 24 hours ; 
after which, upon examining the hive attentive- 
ly, he will find a piece of comb, perhaps fix or 
eight inches long, befides feveral hundreds of 
fcales lying on the ftool. It is evident, then, 
that thefe {cales could not be brought from the 
field, as Mr THortzy fuppofes, feeing the 
bees were never out of the hive; and, it is far- 
ther to be obferved, that when they are at full 
_ liberty to work in the fields, and when a young 
fwarm is moft bufily employed in rearing 
combs, nothing can be feen on their bodies of 
thefe {cales, or any thing elfe. 
I have fometimes, indeed, been inclined to 
think, that the wax might be an excrefcence, 
exudation, or production from the bodies of 
the bees ; and that, as the Queen bee can lay 
eges when fhe pleafes, if need require, {fo the 
working. bees can produce wax from the fub- 
{tance of their own bodies. If this conjecture 
be right, it will follow of courfe, that all the 
og eae food 
