On the Contents of the Hive. 41 
It is maintained that this secretion takes 
place by means of the rings of the abdomen ; 
but from observations which we have made 
while the bees have been constructing their 
comb, we have always observed that they work 
with their tongue or proboscis, and with their 
mandibles.* 
Wax is a substance secreted from honey ; 
although certain bee-masters have erroneously 
maintained, and still do maintain, that pollen 
is unwrought wax, or at least the substance 
which becomes so by the operation of the bees. 
Wax is made use of in building combs, com- 
posed of small hexagonal cells, destined accord- 
ing to their size to the rearing of the different 
kinds of bees which exist in a hive, and later 
on, with the exception of those appropriated to 
the queens, for the storing of honey or pollen. 
POLLEN. 
Pollen is the seminal dust which is found on 
the stamen of the flower, and which the worker 
* Wax, when secreted, exudes in thin lammae from the wax- 
pockets situate in the abdomen, and is then manipulated by the 
mandibles. — Trans. 
