HONEYCOMB 
483 
them are transported in safety thousands 
of miles. 
Formerly the word “honeycomb” meant 
both the comb and the honey contained in 
it; in other words, what we now call 
“comb honey” was called “honeycomb/’ 
Wherever the word “honeycomb” is found 
in the Bible, it means “comb honey.” 
It is only in comparatively recent years 
that the real source of the wax of which 
comb is constructed has been known. In 
1684 Martin John discovered that with the 
point of a needle he could pick scales of 
real beeswax from the abdomen of a bee 
working at comb-building. 
These wax scales may be found plenti¬ 
fully on the floor of a hive at a time when 
much comb-building is going on. They are 
somewhat pear-shaped, as shown in cut 
below, where is shown also the powerful 
jaw of the worker by which the wax is 
worked. These wax scales are much more 
brittle than the wax that has been worked 
into comb, and are transparent, looking 
somewhat like mica. Some say they are 
white, some say pale yellow. Likely 
enough both are right, the color depending 
upon the pollen consumed. 
These wax scales are secreted by eight 
wax-glands on the under side of the abdo¬ 
men of the worker bee, as seen in cut, next 
column.* Examine a swarm lately hived, 
and plenty of bees will be formed showing 
this appearance. When first secreted, wax 
is liquid. It is derived from the blood of 
Wax scale. Jaw of a worker bee. 
the bee by cell action. So it is an expen¬ 
sive product, and one might well say it is 
derived from the “sweat and blood” of the 
bee, for it is sweat out from the blood by 
the wax-glands. Just how expensive it is 
seems a hard matter to learn. For many 
years the stereotyped expression was, 
“Every pound of wax requires 20 pounds 
of honey for its production.” Later inves¬ 
tigations have cut down that estimate 
greatly. But there is no agreement. Some 
* For a description, of how these are removed by 
the bees see Wax. 
estimate as low as 3 or 4 pounds of honey 
to one of wax. Others say 7, 15, or some 
other numbers. 
Some hold that the secretion of wax is 
involuntary, and that, if not utilized, there 
will be so much dead waste, and so nothing 
can be gained by trying to save the bees the 
Wax scales on the under side of the abdomen of a 
worker .—After Cheshire. 
work of wax secretion. But this is by no 
means the general view. Cowan says, in 
“The Honeybee,” page 171, “Wax is not 
produced at all times, but its secretion is 
voluntary.” The practically unanimous 
agreement among beekeepers, that a very 
much larger quantity of extracted than of 
comb honey can be obtained, is hard to ex¬ 
plain without admitting that the furnishing 
of drawn combs saves the bees much labor 
in the way of wax-production, and that 
production depends on conditions that come 
largely under the control of the beekeeper. 
A high temperature favors the secretion 
of wax, and when it is produced in large 
quantities the bees hang inactively in clus¬ 
ters or festoons. 
“Wax is not chemically a fat or glycer¬ 
ide,” says Cheshire, in “Bees and Bee¬ 
keeping,” Vol. I., page 160, “hence those 
who luyve called it The fat of bees’ have 
grossly erred; yet it is nearly allied to the 
fats in atomic constitution, and the physi¬ 
ological conditions favoring the formation 
of one are curiously similar to those aiding 
in the production of the other. We put our 
poultry up to fatten in confinement, Avith 
partial light; to secure bodily inactivity 
we keep warm, and feed highly. Our bees, 
under Nature’s teaching, put themselves up 
to yield Avax under conditions so parallel 
that the suitability of the fatting-coop is 
vindicated. 
