Thanks for the compliment Alison, and pardon my chuckles. This blog is full of surprises and has tripped and trapped several of us repeatedly. You are of course too kind and this time the blog was right in awarding the single star; I really did boob big time. Fortunately I am by now somewhat philosophical about that sort of thing.

All the best,

Jon

Thanks, Jon. I wanted to rate your latest with umpteen stars but somehow can't get beyond a measly one, which is a bit hard on you after such an informative answer. Lost wax indeed...

Phew! Well, good! Thanks for your patience, and my humblest apologies for jumping to conclusions. No doubt participants to this forum know that honeybees make their wax combs from wax scales secreted from glandular tissue between their belly scales. The bees hang in dense masses, taking turns chewing and tamping the fresh material into the shapes and proportions dictated by their size and their relative positions as they hang from their fellow-workers. Accordingly the fact that they might make a bit of abortive comb when hanging in a parked swarm is nothing surprising. For one thing, their crops are well charged at the time they leave the parent colony; they do need plenty of provisions to start up the new colony after all! With all that physiological raw material available, the slightest stimulus could start them converting it into wax as they hang there with time on their glands, so to speak. Wax of course is enormously energy-rich, so manufacturing any of it that does not get used is something of an extravagance! Your little sample probably consumed the equivalent of a few tablespoons of honey.

Pendant earring? You have a point! It should be possible to use such a sample into a bit of gold jewellry, possibly using the "lost wax" technique. Hmmm...

Cheers,

Jon