Insect architecture / [Anon].

James Rennie

Date:: 1830

Credit: Insect architecture / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$branes whereon it is moulded. He was confirmed in this opinion by the escape of a transparent fluid on piercing the membrane, whose internal surface _ seemed to be applied to the soft parts of the belly. This he found coagulated in cooling, when it re- ‘sembled wax, and again liquified on exposure to heat. The scales themselves, also, melted and coagulated like wax.* by By chemical analysis, however, it appears that the wax of the rings is a_more simple substance than that: which. composes the cells; for the latter is soluble in ether, and in spirit of turpentine, while the former is insoluble in ether, and but partially soluble in spirit _ of turpentine.. It should seem to follow, that if the substance found lying under the rings be really the elements of wax, it undergoes some subsequent pre- paration after it is detached; and that the bees, in short, are capable of impregnating it with matter, imparting to it whiteness and ductility, whereas in its unprepared state it is only fusible. : Propouis. Wax is not the only material employed by bees in their architecture. Besides this, they make. use of a brown, odoriferous, resinous substance, called pro- polis,{ more-tenacious and extensible than: wax, and well adapted for. cementing and varnishing. It was Strongly suspected by Réaumur, that the bees collect- ed the propolis from those trees which are known to produce a similar gummy resin, such as the poplar, the birch, and the willow; but he was thrown into doubt by not being able to detect the bees in the act of procuring it, and by observing them to collect * Huber on Bees, p. 325. t From two Greek words weo wons meaning before the city, as the substance is principally applied to the projecting parts of the hive. :$

Insect architecture / [Anon].

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