NATURAL HISTORY. MF 
ly. The combs are generally parallel to each other, and they are 
fightly faftened to the top of the hive. There is always a {pace be- 
tween two combs, which are like fireets, that will only admit two at @ 
ume, a-breatt. Though the combs confift of very thin leaves ‘of waxy 
Yet when they are full of honey, they become heavy. The Bees have 
2 method of connecting their combs to the fides of their hive, for which 
Teafon, thofe that make them, fhould place fmall flicks acrofs each 
Other, to ferve as fupports to the combs that are to be built, this will 
ave the Bees a great deal of labour. , 
The fubftance wherewith they make their combs, is gathered from 
Owers ; but not from every fort indifferently ; for it is only the ftamina. 
of flowers, that yield proper materials for making their wax ; for they. 
nd none ready made. It is very common to: fee Bees fitting upon 
Owers, with their bodies all over powder, which they could have got 
Ro where elfe. Sometimes they are fo full of it, that they become quite 
Yellow, and might be miftaken, for another infeé&. However they take 
€are to clean themfelves with the bruthes of their feet; and to make — 
€ powder into two {mall balls, which they place in the two triangu- 
‘ar cavities of their hinder legs. Sometimes thefe balls are as large as 
_ 2 grain of pepper, a little flatted. When the flowers are not fully 
blown, the Bees pinch the tops of the ftamina with their teeth, where~. 
™ they know the grains of duft are enclofed; and by this means they 
Orce them open. Some of thefe balls are yellow, others red,- others of 
4 whitifh yellow, and others again green. In 4pril and May, the Bees’ 
re bufy from morning to evening, in gathering. the wax ;. but when 
€ weather becomes hot, in Yune and Fuly, they work, only in the 
Morning, till about ten o’clock, becaufe then the powder of the ftami- 
Na, having been moiftened with the dew, or with the fluid that they 
tranfpire, is of a more proper confiftance, than at other times, to be 
Moulded into a mafs. 
. It is faid that the fecond ftomach is the organ, by which this powder 
altered, digefted,, and conneéted into real wax; and is thrown out, 
through the fame paffage that it went in. It is with this fort of palte, 
that they build their combs, and when it is dry, it becomes. the fub- 
ance, named Bees wax. Every comb newly made is white; but they 
become yellowith as they grow old, and the very oldeft of all, become 
almoft black. But all thefe do not furnith wax equally white, as is 
Well known to thofe, whofe bufinefs it is to blanch it. 
However as it is neceflary for Bees to make a provifion of rough 
; Wax, there is in every hive, a pretty large portion of the combs, whofe 
fells are filled with nothing but wax; and thefe are like fo many little 
agazines, where the Bees. go to depofit their little balls, one after 
"Nother, while other Bees take care to knead them, -preis them, and 
ace them in order. The Bees fometimes come out of their hives at 
#°’clock in the morning, and continue labouring till in the evening, 
hey fly backwards and forwards, four or five times in a-day, and 
he vtimes more, for this depends on the length of their journies, and 
) me plenty of flowers. 
“ tis obfervable that the Bees extract but a fmall quantity: of real wax 
Ut of the powder which they gather; becaufe a great part of the ma- 
‘Tals of wax, ferves to feed them; it is alfo remarkable, that the 
nes never employ themfelves in making. wax, all their nourifhment — 
being 
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