THE HIVE BEE. 
265 
fibres which they have gnawed away. The upholsterer and 
leaf-cutter Bees are indebted to the petals and leaves of various 
plants, and various wood-boring insects make their homes of 
the woody particles which they have nibbled away. The Bee, 
however, obtains her wax in a very different manner. 
If the body of a worker Bee be carefully examined, on the 
under sides of the abdomen will be seen six little flaps, not 
unlike pockets, the covers of which can be easily raised with a 
pin or needle. Under these flaps is secreted the wax, which is 
produced in tiny scales or plates, and may be seen projecting 
from the flaps like little semilunar white lines. Plenty of food, 
quiet, and warmth are necessary for the production of wax, and 
as it is secreted very slowly, it is so valuable that the greatest 
economy is needed in its use. It is, indeed, a wonderful 
substance; soft enough when warm to be kneaded and to be 
spread like mortar,, and hard enough when cold to bear the 
weight of brood and honey. Moreover, it is of a texture so 
close that the honey cannot soak through the delicate walls of 
the cells, as would soon be the case if the comb were made of 
woody fibre, like that of the hornet or wasp. 
Indeed, it is a most remarkable fact that the Bee should 
be able to produce not only the honey, but the material with 
which is formed the treasury wherein the honey is stored. 
Honey itself is again scarcely less remarkable than wax. The 
Bee goes to certain flowers, inserts its hair-clad proboscis into 
their recesses, sweeps out the sweet juice, passes the laden 
proboscis through its jaws, scrapes off the liquid and swallows 
it. The juice then passes into a little receptacle just within 
the abdomen called the ‘ honey-bag,’ which is apparently com- 
posed of an exceedingly delicate membrane, and seems 'to dis- 
charge no other office than that of a vessel in which the juice 
can be kept while the Bee is at work. 
As soon as the honey-bag is filled, the Bee flies back to the 
hive and disgorges the- juice into- one of the cells. But, during 
that short sojourn in the insect, the juice has undergone a 
change, and been converted into honey, a substance which is 
quite unlike that from which it was formed, and which has an 
