Packard.] RELATIONS OF INSECTS TO MAN. 
93 
Langstroth, Quimby, and Wagner, bee culture has become 
with us one of the fine arts in agriculture, and a few hives 
are necessary adjuncts to a well conducted farm. The pro¬ 
duction of honey and was has enormously increased in this 
country, and it is to be hoped that out of the thousands who 
keep bees, one or two at least may arise who, like Huber, 
Siebold, Leuckart, Dzierzon and Berlepsch in the old world, 
may advance our knowledge of the economy of the bee and 
its modes of reproduction, so intricate and wonderful, and 
thus lay still broader and deeper the foundations of scien¬ 
tific bee culture. We need not here speak at length on a 
subject so familiar to many as the structure and habits of 
the honey bee, and of the various other kinds of bees which 
store up honey. One point, however, and an important one, 
has quite recently been cleared up by a German naturalist, 
Professor Claus. The production of wax is a most important 
part of bee culture, especially in Catholic countries, where so 
many candles are used in churches. It is well known that 
the secretion of wax is carried on during the time when the 
workers are engaged in building their combs. We are all 
familiar, at least through pictures, with the festoons of bees 
hanging from the top of their hives. During this time of 
repose the secretion of the little disks of wax goes on. How 
is the wax secreted? The best authorities have differed 
on this important point. On the one hand Milne-Edwards, 
the distinguished French naturalist, supposed that the wax- 
secreting apparatus consisted of special glands, while an 
equally eminent German, Von Siebold, thought that no such 
glands existed. A countryman of Von Siebold, however, 
Prof. Claus, has, from special investigations of his own, 
confirmed Milne-Edwards’ suppositions. I quote from a 
translation of a part of Claus’ article in the “ Guide to the 
Study of Insects.” “The wax-secreting apparatus consists 
of special dermal glands as Milne-Edwards supposed. Claus 
has shown (see Gegenbaur’s Vergleichenden Anatomie) that 
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