many, still the credit of being what is called "crude wax." Buffon was of this opinion, and, in an edition of his works published so late as 1821, no notice is taken of the recent discoveries on the subject which prove his opinion to be erroneous. Reaumur was inclined to believe that pollen, by receiving some peculiar elaboration from the bees, was converted in the stomach to real wax, and disgorged under the appearance of paste. Later observers, however, denied that wax was disgorged by the mouth; they affirmed that it exudes from the rings of the abdomen in the form of small scales, and that pollen was used for very different purposes. That this last mentioned substance is not the prime constituent of wax was a conclusion drawn from repeated and accurate observations. It had been observed, for instance, that pollen is carried in great quantities into hives which are already full of comb,—that it is often of various colours, while new combs are always of a pure white,—that fresh swarms for some days carry no pollen, although their first operation after being housed is the construction of combs, the building of which goes on with unremitted rapidity,—and that while it has been calculated that 100 pounds weight of pollen is carried into a hive during the season, the whole wax of a hive, when separated from the honey, weighs something less than two pounds. On the other hand, the evidence is strong that wax derives its origin from honey. It is observed that seasons unproductive in honey are also unproductive in wax, although pollen is at the same time abundant,—that, by the accurate dissections of John Hunter,
