PRODUCTION OP WAX
17
§ 39. The production of wax, from which the comb is made is one of the most remarkable phenomena of the organization of the honeybee. The segments or 'rings of the abdomen of the bee overlap each other, six in number. At the underside of four of these rings are pairs of five-sided, clear, transparent surfaces (Pig. 24), on which
wax are formed, by a peculiar process Each worker-bee is therefore able to produce eight (Pig. 25) small scales of wax. The queens and drones are not supplied with these organs. When a swarm of bees is about to leave its old home
the plates or small scales of of digestion.
Fig. 24
—Wax
Producing Organ.
and seek another, each bee fills itself with honey. After entering new home, the gorged bees suspend themselves in festoons, hanging from the top of the hive. They hang motionless for about 24 hours. During this time the honey has been digested and converted into a peculiar animal fatty product, which collects itself in scales or laminae beneath the abdominal rings (Pig. 25). This is the wax. Langstroth remarks as foltheir
lows on this subject: "It is an interesting fact, which seems hitherto to have
escaped notice, that honeygathering and comb-building that so go simultaneously; when one stops, the other ceases also. As soon as the honey-harvest begins to fail, so that consumption is in advance of production, the bees cease to build new comb, even although large portions of their
hives
are
unfilled.
Wheii honey no longer abounds
Pig.
25—Under Surface of Worker, Showing Wax in Segments (magnified.)