The finest honey is stored in new cells, constructed for the purpose of receiving it, their configuration resembling precisely the common breeding-cells : these honey-cells vary in size, being made more or less capacious, according to the productiveness of the sources from which the bees are collecting, and according to the season of the year: the cells formed in July and August vary in their dimensions from those that are formed earlier; being intended for honey only, they are larger and deeper, the texture of their walls is thinner, and they have more dip or inclination: this dip diminishes the risk of the honey's running out, which from the heat of the weather, and the consequent thinness of the honey, at this season of the year, it might otherwise be liable to do. When the cells, intended for holding the winter's provision, are filled, they are always closed with waxen lids, and never re-opened till the whole of the honey in the unfilled cells has been expended. The waxen lids are thus formed;-The bees first construct a ring of wax within the verge of the cell, to which other rings are successively added, till the aperture of the cell is finally closed with a lid composed of concentric circles.

The brood-cells, when their tenants have attained a certain age, are also covered with waxen lids, like the honey-cells; the lids differ a little, the latter being somewhat concave, the former

convex. The depth of the brood-cells of drones and working bees is about half an inch; their diameter is more exact, that of the drone-cells being 3 lines*, that of the workers 2 lines. These, says Reaumur, are the invariable dimensions of all the cells, that ever were, or ever will be

made.

From this uniform, unvarying diameter of the brood-cells, when completed, their use has been suggested, as an universal standard of measure, which would be understood, in all countries, to the end of time.

"While heav'n-born Instinct bounds their measur'd view, From age to age, from Zembla to Peru,

Their snow-white cells, the order'd artists frame,

In size, in form, in symmetry the same."

* A line is the twelfth part of an inch,

EVANS.

CHAPTER XXXV.

AN INQUIRY INTO THE SOURCE AND
NATURE OF BEES-WAX.

Even

Ir has long been very generally and implicitly believed, that the yellow matter (in other words, the pollen or farina of flowers,) which bees visibly collect upon their thighs, is the prime constituent of wax, the material of the honey-comb. BONNET and REAUMUR were of this opinion. BUTLER, PURCHAS, RUSDEN and THORLEY have argued against its identity with wax; and I trust that the observations and experiments which I am about to detail, will convince the dispassionate inquirer of the fallacy of this old opinion.

In the first place, It is to be observed, that where no more comb can be built, as in old hives, the bees carry in the greatest quantity of this yellow matter.

Secondly, That it differs materially from wax, the latter when examined between the fingers being adhesive, the former crumbly; the latter also liquefying on the application of heat, whilst the former burns to ashes.

Thirdly, That the wax of new combs, from whatever source collected, is uniformly white; whereas the farina, as gathered by the bees, is

always black, yellow, or red, agreeing in colour with the anther dust of the flowers in blossom at the time of its collection. Moreover, the farina, after it has been stored in the cells, retains its original colour, whilst wax invariably changes, first to a yellow, and lastly to a blackish tint. Layers of different-coloured farina are generally found in the cells, if slit down; and every hive, at the season of deprivation, possesses a store of it.

Fourthly, That fresh colonies carry in very little, if any, of this matter, for some days after swarming, though combs are formed within that period. I noticed this fact in my first colony: the swarm issued from the parent hive on the 18th of May;-five days of rainy weather succeeded during this period the bees were prevented from flying abroad; I fed them nightly with sugared ale, and before the return of fine weather a considerable quantity of comb was formed. Now excepting such materials as the bees might have brought with them from the parent hive, in this case, the sugared ale alone must have been the source of the wax. HUISH has remarked that unless bees have access to water, and also to sugar or honey, no comb can be formed. Again, it may be observed, that upon the storifying plan, when fresh works are commenced in the duplets or triplets, if the farina

were the basis of the combs, an increased quantity should be carried in. On the contrary, though I have watched the bees very minutely on these occasions, I scarcely ever witnessed the introduction of farina; and in such rare instances as I did observe it, it might fairly be regarded as food for the young larvæ of the bees contained in the full box or boxes.

"No pearly loads they bear; but o'er the field

Round flower and fruit the lithe proboscis wield,
From meal-tipp'd anthers steal the lacquer'd crown,
And brush from rind or leaf the silvery down.
Nay oft, when threaten'd storms or drizzling rain,
Close in their walls, th' impatient hosts detain,
E'en from the yellow hoard's nectareous rill,
Their tubes secerning can a stream distil,
Clear and untinctur'd as the fountain wave,
That glides, slow trickling, thro' the crevic'd cave.
But, as that welling wave, around the stone,
In rings concentric, wreathes its sparry zone,
So filter'd thro' yon flutterer's folded mail,
Clings the cool'd wax, and hardens to a scale."

EVANS.

The observations of MR. JOHN HUNTER tended to confirm this view of the matter; still more so, those of M. HUBER and SON. In order to determine the point with greater precision, Huber instituted many experiments. He lodged a recent swarm in a straw hive, leaving at its disposal only a sufficiency of honey and water for its consumption, and preventing it from going beyond the