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

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ORIGIN OF WAX.
three. Those bees that had been fed with
the different kinds of sugar produced it
sooner, and in greater abundance, than those i
that had subsisted on honey.
A pound of refined sugar, reduced to
syrup, and clarified with eggs, produced 10
drams 52 grains of wax, darker than that i
extracted by the bees from honey. An
equal weight of dark brown sugar produced i
22 drams of very white wax: the like came;
from sugar of the maple.*
We repeated this experiment seven;
times successively with the same bees: wax
was always obtained, and nearly in the same
proportions as above. Thus it is demon¬
strated that sugar, and the saccharine part
of honey, enable bees to produce wax, a
property denied to farina.
Although there was no uncertainty regard¬
ing these facts, which soon received a more
favourable confirmation, it was essential to
learn whether bees, in the natural state, pur¬
sued the same course as those held captive.
A long series of observations, of which
only a sketch shall be given, have established,
• That is, two ounces and three quarters was the
greatest quantity of wax obtained from a pound of sugar,
or nearly one-sixth of the weight.—T.