Curiosities & wonders > New observations on the natural history of bees

326 NEW OPINIONS ON WAX.
some of the whitest fragments of worked
wax taken from new combs so quickly nor
so entirely. Many particles remained sus¬
pended among it.
2. Taking two vessels of sulphuric ether,
we appropriated one for scales from the rings
of bees, the other for wax from their combs,
equivalent in weight to the scales. Scarcely
had fragments of the wax touched the ether,
when they divided, and were precipitated in
powder to the bottom of the vessel: but the
scales were preserved entire, and only lost
their transparency, becoming of a dull white.
No change ensued in either vessel during
several days. On evaporating the ether
from each, a thin stratum of wax was found
on the glass. Frequent repetition of this
experiment presented the same result: frag¬
ments of the combs always were reduced to
powder: the scales, on the contrary, were
not broke down: and after the lapse of se¬
veral months, only a very small portion of
them had been dissolved by the ether.
We thence concluded that the wax of
the rings was less compound than that made
into cells, since the latter dissolved in ether,
while the former remained entire, and as
the one dissolved but partially in the spirit