To complete the evidence however, to me so irresistible, in favour of the wax-secreting faculty of the bee's body, I observe finally, that in 1793, M. Huber's observations led him to the same conclusion as Mr. Hunter's, relative to the nature of the laminæ under the abdominal scales: but Huber slumbered not there, he prosecuted the inquiry more successfully than any preceding naturalist, and at length demonstrated the secreting organs which had eluded the scrutiny of Swammerdam, Hunter, and other acute anatomists. He found that these laminæ were contained in distinct receptacles, on each side of the middle process of the scales; he examined with great care the form and structure of these secreting cavities, which are peculiar to working bees. Each working bee has eight of these organs, sacklets or small compartments. Their general shape is an irregular pentagon, and the plates of wax, being moulded in them, exhibit accordingly the same form. A perforation of their lining membrane on the side next to the abdomen, started a jet of transparent fluid, which congealed on cooling; in this state it resembled wax, and became again fluid on the application of heat. Comparative experiments were made with the substance contained in the pouches and with the wax of fresh combs: a great similarity between these two substances was discerned; the latter appeared somewhat more compound, having probably received some additional ingredient, while employed as the material for building. The secreting function of the membrane on the inner surface of these cavities, was further evinced, by a more minute examination of its structure, which exhibited a number of folds, forming an hexagonal net-work, analogous to the inner coat of the second stomach of ruminating quadrupeds. Huber does not appear to have known the observations either of Duchet or of Wildman on this subject, although they were made long prior to Mr. Hunter's; for he quotes only from the latter. When combs are wanted, bees fill their crops with honey, and retaining it in them, hang together in a cluster from the top of the hive, and remain inactive about twenty-four hours. During this time the wax is secreted, and may be seen in laminæ, under the abdominal scales, whence it is removed by the hind legs of the bee, and transferred to the fore legs; from them it is taken by the jaws, and after being masticated as described in Chap, XXXIV, page 347, the fabrication of comb commences. "To see the wax-pockets in the hive-bee, you must press the abdomen, so as to cause its distention; you will then find, on each of the four intermediate ventral segments, separated by the carina or elevated central part, two trapeziform whitish pockets, of a soft membranaceous texture: on these the laminæ of wax are formed, in different states, more or less perceptible[AB]." [Footnote AB: Kirby and Spence.]