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

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ORIGIN OF WAX. 331
bf which were carefully shut, and where the
i hive could be examined conveniently. The
9 bees had consumed their whole provision of
)|honey; but their dwelling, which did not
ci contain an atom of wax when we established
{hem in it, had now acquired five combs of
he most beautiful wax suspended from its
larch, of a pure white, and very brittle.
We did not expect so speedy a solution
1 of the problem ; but before concluding that
ifthe bees had derived the faculty of produ-
i cing wax from the honey on which they
5fed, a second experiment, susceptible of no
f other explanation, was necessary.
The workers, though in captivity, had
xj been able to collect farina; while they
v were at liberty they might have obtained
i provisions on the eve or on the day itself of
fi their imprisonment, and enough might have
tj been in the stomach or on the limbs to en-.
a able them to extract the wax from it that we
!had found in the hive. But if it actually came
from the farina previously collected, this
eI source was not inexhaustible; and the bees
I being unable to obtain more, would cease to
I construct combs, and would fall into abso-
[! lute inaction.