Transcriber Note

Text emphasis is denoted by _Italics_ and +Small Caps+.




                                THE


                            HONEY-BEE.


                          THE HONEY-BEE.


[Illustration]

    "What well appointed commonwealths! where each
    Adds to the stock of happiness for all;
    Wisdom's own forums! where professors teach
    Eloquent lessons in their vaulted hall!
    Galleries of art! and schools of industry!
    Stores of rich fragrance! Orchestras of song!
    What marvellous seats of hidden alchymy!
    How oft when wandering far and erring long,
    Man might learn truth and virtue from the BEE!"

                                                         +Bowring+.




                                THE

                            HONEY-BEE;

                                ITS

                    NATURAL HISTORY, PHYSIOLOGY
                          AND MANAGEMENT,

                                BY

                        EDWARD BEVAN, M.D.

  "A bee amongst the flowers in spring, is one of the cheerfullest
  objects that can be looked upon. Its life appears to be all
  enjoyment: so busy and so pleased."

                                                           +Paley+.


LONDON:
BALDWIN, CRADOCK AND JOY.

1827.


PRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR,
SHOE-LANE, LONDON.


TO

THE REV. RICHARD WALOND,

RECTOR OF WESTON UNDER PENYARD AND
TREASURER OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH
OF HEREFORD.

_+Dear Sir+,_

_To whom can I with so much propriety dedicate the following sheets
as to you, who, in the elegant retirement of private life, have
occupied so many of your leisure hours in studying the œconomy and
management of Bees, and to whom, by the aid and encouragement you
have afforded me, is mainly to be attributed the commencement,
progress, and completion of the work?_

_I know of no one; and have therefore to request that you will allow
me to offer you this public testimony of my gratitude and respect;
and believe me to be_

                _Your faithful and obliged friend,_

                                          _EDWARD BEVAN._

  Woodland Cottage,
   April 5th, 1827.




                          ADVERTISEMENT.

                              --<>--


+The+ work which is now submitted to the judgement of the public,
in addition to other faults with which it will no doubt be justly
chargeable, may be thought by many to be defective in arrangement; and
if the author had aimed to produce a purely scientific work, he would
consider such charge as being well founded: but in making a humble
attempt to afford a popular view of the present state of apiarian
knowledge, historical, physiological and practical, he conceived that
he should most effectually attain his object by mingling the different
departments together, particularly where the two former would serve to
illustrate or explain the rationale of the latter. Moreover, his first
intention was not to offer much more to the public than is contained
in Part I. of the work; but the materials grew upon his hands, and
consequently after that part was modelled, he was induced by the very
great interest which was excited in his mind by the prosecution of his
inquiries, to exceed the limits which bounded his original plan:--the
result will be found in Part II. The subject would have admitted of still
further extension; but to have increased the volume beyond its present
size would have been to defeat one of the objects of the author, which
was so to compress his matter as to place his book within the reach of
as many as possible of those to whom he flatters himself it may prove
practically useful. Should the public, however, require a second edition,
and sufficing reasons urge him to place this series of bee-knowledge
under distinct heads, he will endeavour to re-model it, as well as
otherwise to improve it, by such alterations as ingenuous criticism may
suggest.




                           INTRODUCTION.

                              --<>--


+Although+ the great addition which has of late been made to our
knowledge of the honey-bee, may seem to render a reference to ancient
writers comparatively unimportant; yet a few prefatory observations, upon
the rise and progress of apiarian science, may not be out of season.

The natural history and management of bees would probably occupy the
attention of man at an early period. Surrounded by a boundless variety
of living creatures, he would naturally be led to notice their habits
and œconomy; and no part of the animal world, or at any rate no part of
the world of insects, would be more likely to engage his consideration
than the honey-bee. Honey would, in all probability, constitute one of
his earliest luxuries; and as he advanced in civilization, he would, as
a matter of course, avail himself of the industry of its collectors, by
bringing them as much as possible within his reach; and by this means he
would take an important step towards an acquaintance with entomology.
But the progress made by our earliest progenitors, in this or any other
science, is involved in the obscurity and uncertainty necessarily
appertaining to the infancy of society.

The first indications of attention to natural history are contained
in the Old Testament. The interest which it excited in the mind of
+Solomon+, evinces how highly it was esteemed in his time. The records of
its first progression are however entirely lost, and no regular history
of this science exists prior to the days of +Aristotle+, who under the
auspices and through the munificence of his pupil Alexander the Great,
was enabled to prosecute with the greatest advantage, for the time in
which he lived, his experiments and inquiries into every department
of natural history. Alexander felt so strong a desire to promote this
object, that he placed at the disposal of Aristotle a very large sum of
money, and in his Asiatic expedition employed above a thousand persons
in collecting and transmitting to him specimens from every part of the
animal kingdom. +Aristotle+ is therefore to be regarded as having laid
the first foundation of our knowledge of that kingdom. He must likewise
have derived great advantages from the discoveries and observations of
preceding writers, to whose works he would probably have easy access. No
individual naturalist could, without such assistance, have produced so
valuable and extensive a work on natural science as that which Aristotle
has bequeathed to posterity. And though the opinions of himself and his
contemporaries have been transmitted to us in an imperfect manner, and
abound in errors, still he and his editor +Theophrastus+ may be regarded
as the only philosophical naturalists of antiquity, whose labours and
discoveries present us with any portion of satisfactory knowledge.

The observations of Aristotle on the subject of the honey-bee were
afterwards "embellished and invested with a species of divinity, by
the matchless pen of +Virgil+," in his fourth Georgic; and it excites
feelings of regret, that poetry which for its beauty and elegance is so
universally admired, should be the vehicle of opinions that are founded
in error.

+Aristomachus+ of Soli in Cilicia had his contemplations for nearly sixty
years almost solely occupied by bees; and +Philiscus+ the Thracian spent
a great portion of his time in the woods, that he might investigate their
manners and habits without interruption; whence he acquired the name of
_Agrius_. However small their contribution of knowledge may appear to
this enlightened age, these ancient worthies must have aided the early
progress of their favourite science, and are at all events evidences of
the zeal with which it was prosecuted in their day.

About the commencement of the Christian æra, +Columella+, who was a very
accurate observer and exhibited considerable genius as a naturalist,
made some curious and useful remarks upon bees in his Treatise _De Re
Rusticá_: but Columella, like Virgil, appears to have acquiesced in and
copied the errors of his predecessors.

After him the elder +Pliny+ gave a sanction to the opinions which he
found prevalent, and added to them others of his own. But Pliny, though a
laborious compiler, occupied himself with too great a variety of pursuits
to attain excellence in any. As a naturalist, however, he is happy in
some of his descriptions. To him we are indebted for the transmission to
us of all that was actually known, or supposed to be known, of natural
history in his day. I say--supposed to be known, for many of the opinions
and conjectures which he has put forth, have been shown by modern
investigators to be ill-founded.

The notions of the ancients respecting natural philosophy rested on no
rational foundation; ideas of charms and of planetary influence directed
their most important pursuits, and led to the formation of very absurd
theories. When the writer last named recommends that the dust in which
a mule has rolled should be sprinkled on persons who are violently in
love, as a sovereign remedy for amatory ardour, and gravely tells us
that snakes are sometimes produced from the human medulla,--with much
nonsensical stuff of the like kind; we may safely pronounce that he or
his contemporaries or both were very credulous, and that the science of
experimental philosophy was scarcely cultivated among them.

After the compilation of Pliny's vast Compendium, nearly fourteen hundred
years rolled away without anything being done for entomology or for
natural history in general. +The Arabians+, who alone preserved a glimmer
of science during those dark ages that succeeded the fall of the Roman
empire, cultivated natural history only as a branch of medicine, and from
their writings little can be gleaned in furtherance of our present object.

On the revival of learning in the fifteenth century, and after the
discovery of the art of printing, various editions were published of
the works on natural history, written by the Withers of that science.
+Sir Edward Wotton+, +Conrade Gesner+, and others, produced conjointly
a work on insects, the manuscripts of which came into the possession
of +Dr. Thomas Penry+, an eminent physician and botanist in the reign
of Queen Elizabeth. After devoting fifteen years to the improvement
of the work, the Doctor died, and the unfinished manuscripts were
purchased at a considerable price by +Mouffet+, a contemporary English
physician of singular learning, who with great labour and at great
expense arranged, enlarged, and completed the work. When nearly ready
for the press, he also died; and the papers, after lying buried in dust
and obscurity for several years, at last fell into the hands of +Sir
Theodore Mayerne+ (_Baron d'Aubone_), a court physician in the time of
Charles the First, who gave them to the world in 1634. The arrangement of
this work is defective; but for the period in which it was written, it
is a very complete and respectable Treatise on Entomology. It was highly
recommended by Haller; and as a storehouse of ancient entomological lore
it has not yet lost its utility. Its pages are embellished with nearly
500 wood-cuts. An English translation of it was published in 1658.

According to Fabius Columma, +Prince Frederic Cesi+, president of the
Roman Academy of Sciences, wrote a treatise upon bees; but the work has
not been preserved, and we are unacquainted with its merits.

These authors were succeeded by Goedart, Swammerdam, Maraldi, Ray,
Willughby and Lister, who by their indefatigable exertions, towards
the close of the 17th century threw very considerable light upon every
branch of natural knowledge. Goedart spent forty years of his life in
attending to the proceedings of insects, "daily conversing with insects,"
as he expresses it, and published in 1662 a work on their natural
history; but the plates with which it is embellished form the best part
of it. +Swammerdam+ published his celebrated work, "A General History
of Insects," in 4to, in 1669: a more enlarged edition in two volumes
folio, containing the history of bees, was afterwards published in 1737,
under the auspices of Boerhaave, from the manuscript of Swammerdam.
Those readers who have patience to wade through these tedious volumes,
will find it rewarded by the attainment of much curious information.
+Maraldi+ published in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences for
1712, his account of the manners, genius, and labours of the bee. He is
said to have been the inventor of glass hives, and to that invention
may be attributed the success of his inquiries. Swammerdam founded his
system upon what has been called the metamorphotic basis; and +Ray+, in
conjunction with his friend +Willughby+, whom he calls the profoundest
of naturalists and the most amiable and virtuous of men, erected his
superstructure on the same basis. In the _Historia Insectorum_ of Ray,
evidently the joint production of himself and +Willughby+, especial
attention is paid to the Hymenoptera: it contains various interesting
observations on their manners and characters; and the descriptions,
in which he was assisted by the use of very powerful microscopes, are
concise and well drawn. +Dr. Martin Lister+, in an appendix to Ray's
work, and in various other writings also, contributed materially to
elucidate the science of entomology. +Madame Merian+ likewise deserves
well, for her industrious pursuit of this subject, particularly for her
beautiful illustration of the metamorphoses of insects in Surinam.

The French natural historian +Reaumur+ stands prominent among the
students of entomology, for the unsurpassed enthusiasm and accuracy with
which he has investigated some of its most intricate parts. To him the
genus Apis is under greater obligations perhaps than to any entomologist
either of ancient or modern times. See his immortal work, "Memoires pour
servir à l'Histoire des Insectes," in 6 vols. 4to. 1732-1744.

About this period also flourished the great, the illustrious +Linnæus+,
whose labours diffused light over every department of natural science,
and have justly caused him to be regarded as one of its brightest
ornaments. He has generally been considered as the founder of the
artificial system of arrangement; but a very near approach to it was made
by that brilliant constellation of naturalists whom I have enumerated as
having flourished at the close of the 17th century, and who may probably
be regarded as having paved the way, and prepared materials, for the
formation of his more perfect system.

Afterwards appeared the works of the celebrated +Bonnet+ of Geneva, the
admiring correspondent of Reaumur, and the patron and friend of Huber.
This great physiologist became addicted to the study of entomology
before he was seventeen years of age, from reading _Spectacle de
la Nature_; and his decisive experiments upon Aphides do him the
highest credit. His works are universally admired for their candour
and ingenuity, as well as for their manifest tendency to promote the
happiness of man, by exciting in him the love of knowledge and virtue.

We now come to the physiological discoveries of +Schirach+, +Hunter+ and
+Huber+, men who have wonderfully advanced the science of entomology,
by a series of experiments most ably conducted, by the most patient
investigation, and the most accurate and enlightened observation, and
placed it upon the solid foundation of rational induction.

Several other writers also, both in systematic works and in periodical
publications, have contributed to throw much light upon the œconomy and
habits of the bee. Of the latter description in our own country may be
enumerated +Arthur Dobbs+, Esq.; +Thomas Andrew Knight+, Esq.; Sir +C. S.
Mackenzie+, and the +Rev. W. Dunbar+.

Hitherto I have referred to the writers on natural history in general,
or to the natural historians of bees in particular: many writers,
however, have paid great attention to the domestic management of these
insects. Their culture is indeed an object highly deserving the attention
of the agriculturist as well as of the natural philosopher. In the hands
of a judicious and moderately attentive apiarian, they may become a
profitable branch of rural œconomy: even the most humble cottager may
be made to participate in the benefit of an improved mode of managing
them: and as there is so much to admire in their general œconomy and
peculiar habits, the man of leisure may secure to himself a source of
pleasing and rational amusement in the possession of an Apiary; for the
pursuit of apiarian science, in common with the study of other branches
of natural history, leads to a salutary exercise of the mental faculties,
induces a habit of observation and reflection, and may sometimes prove a
valuable resource for keeping off that _tædium vitæ_, but too frequently
attendant upon a relinquishment of active life. No pleasure is more
easily attainable, nor less alloyed by any debasing mixture; it tends to
enlarge and harmonize the mind, and to elevate it to worthy conceptions
of Nature and its Author:

                             "The men
    Whom Nature's works can charm, with God himself
    Hold converse; grow familiar, day by day.
    With his conceptions; act upon his plan.
    And form to his the relish of their souls."

                                                        +Akenside.+

In the following Treatise it has been my endeavour to combine, as much
as possible, the profitable with the instructive and amusing; in seeking
which object, I have endeavoured to clear the ground before me, of the
wild-flowers of conjecture and hypothesis, with which the fecundity of
the human imagination has strewed it, and to substitute in their place
the less showy but more useful products of experiment and rational
deduction, the growth of which it should be the object of every labourer
in the field of science to promote. Always bearing in mind that false
theories often lead to erroneous practices, I have carefully abstained
from an indulgence in theory of a merely speculative kind, and confined
myself simply to offering such opinions to the attention of my readers,
as have been confirmed by repeated experiment and observation, and to the
recommendation of such practices as have been found useful by myself, or
by others on whose reports I can place the fullest reliance.

Among the writers who have improved the domestic management of bees, may
be enumerated +Warder+, +White+, +Thorley+, +Wildman+, +Keys+, +Bonner+
and +Huish+, all of whom have devoted many years of their lives to this
important object. Persevering, however, as have been the efforts of the
before-named writers to obtain an accurate knowledge of the physiology
of bees, and to discover the best plan for their management, there is
still much to be learned in both these departments, before the former
can be thoroughly understood, or the latter satisfactorily regulated.
I do not presume to imagine that I can throw much light upon either of
these topics; but, judging from the difficulties which I have myself
encountered in collecting the scattered materials of apiarian science, I
think that I shall confer a benefit upon future inquirers, if I enable
them to possess within a moderate compass such information as can be
relied on. Strongly impressed by the importance of the subject, I have
for several years devoted much of my time to its consideration; and
independently of the pleasure I have experienced in the prosecution of
it, as a most interesting branch of natural history, I have considered
that by contributing to extend and improve the culture of the bee, I
should assist in converting to useful purposes some portions of those
products of the earth which might otherwise be dissipated in the air,
washed away by the rain, or chemically changed by the action of various
surrounding substances, and in either case be rendered comparatively
useless.

Many of the tracts on bees are professedly written for the perusal of the
cottager. To him I do not so particularly address myself, as to the more
intelligent members of the community; and so far as I am able to succeed
in making an impression upon them, I shall consider myself as virtually
benefiting the cottager. The latter is generally too much of a machine
to be the first to adopt any improvement, however important; he is more
likely therefore to obtain bee-knowledge from the example or _vivâ voce_
instruction of his enlightened neighbours, than through the direct medium
of the press.

How far I may have succeeded in the object I propose to myself, I must
leave to the decision of my readers. It seems to be generally admitted,
that a Treatise exhibiting a concise view of the present state of our
knowledge of the bee is much wanted; and this result of an attempt to
supply that desideratum I now offer to the public, with a hope that it
may not be unworthy of its notice.




CORRIGENDA.


  Page. Line.

  193, 17, for _lives_ read _hives_.
  228,  2, after "higher flavour" add "and in its never
             candying, nor even losing its fluidity by
             long keeping."

[Transcriber Note: Above changes were made to text.]




                        TABLE OF CONTENTS.

                              --<>--

                              PART I.

  Chap.                                                          Page.

      I. The History and Physiology of the Bee                       1

     II. The Apiary                                                 47

    III. The Bee-house                                              52

     IV. Pasturage                                                  55

      V. Honey-dew                                                  71

     VI. The Purchase of Bees                                       80

    VII. Bee-boxes                                                  83

   VIII. Bee-hives                                                  95

     IX. Comparative Advantages of Wooden Boxes and Straw Hives    100

      X. Leaf Hives                                                102

     XI. Dividers                                                  107

    XII. Storifying                                                109

   XIII. Swarming                                                  115

    XIV. Comparative Advantages of Storifying and Single-hiving    122

     XV. Symptoms which precede Swarming                           127

    XVI. Hiving of Swarms                                          136

   XVII. On removing Bees from common Straw Hives to Storifying
           Hives or Boxes                                          148

  XVIII. Super- and Nadir-hiving by means of Binders               151

    XIX. Uniting Swarms or Stocks                                  154

     XX. Proper Periods of Deprivation                             162

    XXI. Taking Money by means of Dividers                         167

   XXII. The Bee-dress                                             176

  XXIII. Feeding                                                   179

   XXIV. Diseases of Bees                                          184

    XXV. Enemies of Bees                                           199

   XXVI. Exotic Bees                                               210

  XXVII. Separation of Wax and Honey                               216

 XXVIII. Wax                                                       220

   XXIX. Honey                                                     226

    XXX. Mead                                                      236


                             PART II.

   XXXI. The Anatomy of Bees                                       249

  XXXII. Senses of Bees                                            302

 XXXIII. Instincts of Bees                                         318

  XXXIV. On the Architecture of Bees                               339

   XXXV. An Inquiry into the Source and Nature of Bees-wax         356

  XXXVI. Pollen                                                    370

 XXXVII. Propolis                                                  375

XXXVIII. Importance of Bees to the Fructification of Flowers       380




                          A GENERAL VIEW

                              OF THE

                      HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY

                                OF

                             THE BEE.


                           ------------


                              PART I.


                              --<>--


                            CHAPTER I.

                      HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY.


+The Bee+ is considered by Naturalists as belonging; to what are called
perfect societies of insects, and, in entomological arrangements,
is placed in the order Hymenoptera, genus Apis. Of this genus there
are many species; Linnæus has enumerated 55; in the Dictionnaire des
Sciences Naturelles 70 species are characterized; and Mr. Kirby, in his
Monographia Apum Angliæ, has described above 220, natives of England. The
species to which I shall principally call the attention of my readers is
the _domestic_ +honey-bee+.

Every association of bees comprises three descriptions of individuals;
and each description is distinguished by an appearance and cast of
character peculiar to itself.

    "First of the throng and foremost of the whole,
     One 'stands confest the sovereign and the soul.'"

This couplet may, to a limited extent, be applied to other kinds of bees;
but it is more peculiarly applicable to hive-bees, as amongst them there
has never been found, in any single family, more than one acknowledged
regnant chief, usually designated by the name of Queen; of whom, as
having the highest claim to our attention, I shall first proceed to speak.

The +queen+, who is at once the mother and the mistress of the hive,
differs, as Mr. Hunter has observed, from the royal chiefs of other
insects, such as hornets, wasps and humble-bees; for the chiefs of
these latter societies seem to _work themselves into royalty_, whereas
the queen of the hive-bees _reigns from her very birth_. She is
distinguishable from the rest of the society by her majestic movements,
by the great length of her body, the proportional shortness of her wings,
and her bent sting. Her body tapers gradually to a point, her fangs are
shorter, her head is rounder, and her trunk not half so long as that of
the working bee. Her wings extend only half the length of her body, but
are strong and sinewy. Her colours also distinguish her as much as her
shape; they are much more distinct; the back is of a much brighter black;
the concentric rings on the under side of her body are darker, and the
lighter interstitial part of the same region appears of a brighter and
more lively hue. The legs also are of a deep golden yellow colour.

Next in order come the +working bees+: these are, by some, called
_neuters_ or _mules_; by others, _female non-breeders_. From what will
be said hereafter, I think that my readers will consider the latter
as the more appropriate title, the workers being sterile females with
undeveloped ovaries. In a single hive the number of these varies from
12,000 to 20,000: they are the smallest members of the community, are
furnished with a long flexible proboscis, have a peculiar structure of
the legs and thighs, on the latter of which are small hollows or baskets,
adapted to the reception of the propolis and farina which they collect,
and they are armed with a straight sting. Upon them devolves the whole
labour of the colony; they rear the young, guard the entrances, elaborate
the wax, collect and store the provision, and build the cells in which it
is warehoused, as well as those that contain the brood.

Thirdly, there are the +drones+ or +males+, to the number of perhaps
1500 or 2000. These make their appearance about the end of April, and
are never to be seen after the middle of August, excepting under very
peculiar circumstances which will be stated hereafter. They are one-third
larger than the workers, somewhat thicker and of a darker colour; they
have a shorter proboscis and are more blunt at the tail than either the
queen or the workers; the last ring of the body is fringed with hairs,
extending over the tail and visible to the naked eye. They make a greater
noise in flying and have no sting; are rather shorter than the queen but
much larger. Underneath the tail two small protuberances of a yellowish
colour may be seen, which are regarded as the distinctive marks of their
sex. In some swarms no drones are observable: probably these are first
swarms, which, being always led off by old queens, have no occasion for
drones, if there be any truth in the theory to be hereafter stated.

[Illustration:

             _Queen._

      _Drone._       _Worker._ ]

Contrary to what occurs in the human species and in other parts of the
animal creation, among bees, the females alone exhibit activity, skill,
diligence and courage, whilst the males take no part whatever in the
labours of the community, but are idle, cowardly and inactive, and
possess not the usual offensive weapon of their species. The only way
in which the drones promote the welfare of the society is a sexual one;
and I shall endeavour to show, in the course of this chapter, that they
serve no other purpose than that of impregnating such of the young queens
as may lead forth swarms in the season, or be raised to the sovereignty
of the parent hive. As the drones are "never seen settling on any kind
of flowers, nor laying up honey in the cells, they most probably feed at
home, and fully answer the description given of them by the poet:"

    "Immunisque sedens aliena ad pabula fucus."

                                                          +Virgil.+

                      "Their short proboscis sips
    No luscious nectar from the wild thyme's lips,
    From the lime's leaf no amber drops they steal,
    Nor bear their grooveless thighs the foodful meal:
    On others toils, in pamper'd leisure thrive
    The lazy fathers of th' industrious hive."
    "Yet oft, we're told, these seeming idlers share
    The pleasing duties of parental care.
    With fond attention guard each genial cell,
    And watch the embryo bursting from its shell."

                                                        +Evans.+[A]

[Footnote A: The elegant writer from whose unfinished poem, "The Bees," I
have made the above quotations, was for many years an eminent physician
in Shrewsbury, but has now retired into Wales, where I hope he will find
sufficient leisure and encouragement to resume the truly classical theme
which he has so nearly completed. Of the three parts which have been
already published, I shall frequently avail myself in the course of this
treatise, as well as of the highly interesting notes which are appended
to them.]

Mr. Morris of Isleworth, in the Transactions of the Society for the
encouragement of Arts, &c. for 1791, gives it as his opinion that the
drones "_sit upon the eggs_, as the mother lays them;" and says that he
has "often seen them sit in a formal manner on the combs, when the brood
is hatching, while the other bees were very busy at work." I suspect
that Mr. Morris mistook _sleeping_ for _brooding_, and that the drones
were only taking a nap. Fabricius says that insects never sit on their
eggs. Messrs. Kirby and Spence, however, have observed that the female
ear-wig does: they also make one other exception in favour of the field
bug (_Cimex griseus_), but add that these are the only ones. De Geer has
given a very interesting account of both these insects, particularly of
the strength of parental affection exhibited by the females. The female
of the former assiduously sits upon her eggs, as if to hatch them,
and after they are hatched, broods over the young as a hen over young
chickens. And when the eggs of the latter are hatched, she also, after
the manner of a hen, goes about with the brood, consisting of thirty or
forty in number and never leaves them: they cluster round her when she is
still, and follow her closely wherever she moves.

Besides the three essential members of the bee community, which I have
just described, Huber has called the attention of the Apiarian to a
fourth kind, which appear to be only casual inmates of the hive, from
which however they are soon expelled by the workers. He has called them
_black bees_, and says he first noticed them in two of his hives, in
the year 1809, and on several other occasions from that time to the
year 1813. They present a perfect resemblance to the working bees,
excepting in their colour, which, in consequence of their being less
downy, appears darker. On dissection, their internal structure also
appears to be the same. Huber regards them as imperfect bees, but leaves
to future naturalists an inquiry into their nature and origin. Messrs.
Kirby and Spence have thrown out a conjecture that these black bees may
be _superannuated bees_, that being no longer capable of contributing
towards the labours of the community, are banished or destroyed by its
younger members. They found their conjecture upon the usual effect of
superannuation in rubbing off the hair of insects and thereby giving them
a darker hue.

It is the office of the queen-bee to lay eggs, which she deposits in
cells constructed for their reception by the working bees. These cells
vary from one another in size, (and in the instance of the royal cells,
they also vary in form), according as they are intended to be the
depositories of eggs that are to become drones, or of those that are
to become workers. But for a more particular account of these cells,
_Vide_ Part II. "Architecture of Bees." The Rev. W. Dunbar, minister of
Applegarth, who has recently added some important particulars to our
general stock of knowledge respecting bees, states that when the queen is
about to lay, she puts her head into a cell, and remains in that position
for a second or two, probably to ascertain its fitness for the deposit
which she is about to make. She then withdraws her head, and curving her
body downwards, inserts her tail into the cell: in a few seconds she
turns half round upon herself and withdraws, leaving an egg behind her.
When she lays a considerable number, she does it equally on each side of
the comb, those on the one side being as exactly opposite to those on the
other, as the relative position of the cells will admit. The effect of
this is to produce a concentration and œconomy of heat for developing the
various changes of the brood. The following sketch is taken from a plate
given by Mr. Dunbar in the Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, to represent
the comb upon which his observations were made, and to show that part of
it which was occupied by brood, the surrounding part of the square being
full of sealed honey.

[Illustration]

The _eggs_ of bees are of a lengthened oval shape, with a slight
curvature, and of a blueish white colour: they are composed of a thin
membrane, filled with a whitish liquor, and being besmeared, at the
time of laying, with a glutinous substance, they adhere to the bases of
the cells, where they stand upright, and remain unchanged in figure or
situation for four days; they are then hatched, the bottom of each cell
presenting to view a small white worm or maggot, with several ventral
rings. On its growing, so as to touch the opposite angle of the cell, it
coils itself up in the shape of a semicircle, and floats in a whitish
transparent fluid, by which it is probably nourished and enlarged in its
dimensions, till the two extremities touch one another and form a ring.
In this state it obtains indifferently the name of _worm_, _larva_,
_maggot_ or _grub_, and is fed with farina or bee-bread, to receive the
welcome morsels of which, it eagerly opens its two lateral pincers. It
is the opinion of Reaumur and others that farina does not constitute the
sole food of the bee-larvæ, but that it consists of a mixture of farina
with a certain proportion of honey and water, partly digested in the
stomachs of the _nursing_[B] _bees_, the relative proportions of honey
and farina varying according to the age of the young. It is insipid
whilst they are very young, and becomes sweeter and more acescent the
nearer they approach maturity.

[Footnote B: For an account of these see Part II. "Nature and Origin of
Bees-wax."]

Schirach imagined that the semen of the male was the food of the larvæ:
Bonnet entertained the same opinion, founded upon his observation that
the drones, in going across the combs, pass by those cells that contain
no maggots, but stop at those which do, giving a knock with the tail at
them three times. Upon this Mr. Hunter observes that _three_ is a famous
number! and we know very well that the development is complete in hives
that do not contain a single drone.

The larva having derived support in the manner above described, for four,
five or six days, according to the season[C], continues to increase
during that period, till it occupies the whole breadth and nearly the
length of the cell. The nursing-bees now seal up the cell, with a light
_brown_ cover, externally more or less _convex_, (the cap of a drone-cell
is more convex than that of a worker,) and thus differing from that of
a honey-cell, which is _paler_ and somewhat _concave_. It is no sooner
perfectly inclosed than it begins to labour, alternately extending and
shortening its body, whilst it lines the cell by spinning round itself,
after the manner of the silk-worm, a whitish silky film or _cocoon_, by
which it is encased, as it were, in a pod or pellicle. "The silken thread
employed in forming this covering, proceeds from the middle part of the
under lip, and is in fact composed of two threads gummed together as they
issue from the two adjoining orifices of the spinner[D]." When it has
undergone this change, it has usually borne the name of _nymph_ or _pupa_.

[Footnote C: Schirach asserts, that in cool weather the development takes
place two days later than in warm.]

[Footnote D: Kirby and Spence.]

It may appear somewhat extraordinary that a creature which takes its
food so voraciously prior to its assuming the pupa state, should live
so long without food, after that assumption: but a little consideration
will perhaps abate our wonder; for when the insect has attained the state
of pupa, it has arrived at its full growth, and probably the nutriment,
taken so greedily, is to serve as a store for developing the perfect
insect.

The bee, when in its pupa state, has been denominated, but improperly,
_chrysalis_ and _aurelia_; for these, as the words import, are of a
golden yellow colour and they are crustaceous; whilst the bee-nymphs
appear of a pale, dull colour, and readily yield to the touch. The golden
splendour, to which the above names owe their origin, is peculiar to a
certain species only of the papilio or butterfly tribe. The higher class
of entomologists, following the example of Linnæus, apply the term pupa
to this state of the embryo bee, a term which signifies that the insect
is enveloped in swaddling clothes like an infant, a very apt comparison.
Kirby and Spence have remarked that it exhibits no unapt representation
of an Egyptian mummy. Huber's translator says that naturalists of the
present day incline to use the name of larva, in all cases where the worm
is not seen under its final aspect.

The _working bee-nymph_ spins its cocoon in thirty-six hours. After
passing a certain period in this state of preparation for a new
existence, it gradually undergoes so great a change, as not to wear a
vestige of its previous form, but becomes armed with a firmer mail, and
with scales of a dark brown hue, fringed with light hairs. On its belly
six rings become distinguishable, which by slipping one over another,
enable the bee to shorten its body whenever it has occasion to do so; its
breast becomes entirely covered with gray feather-like hairs, which as
the insect advances in age assume a reddish hue.

When it has reached the twenty-first day of its existence, counting from
the moment the egg is laid, it quits the exuviæ of the pupa state, comes
forth a perfect winged insect, and is termed an _imago_. The cocoon or
pellicle is left behind and forms a closely attached and exact lining
to the cell in which it was spun: by this means the breeding-cells
become smaller, and their partitions stronger, the oftener they change
their tenants; and when they have become so much diminished in size, by
this succession of pellicles or linings, as not to admit of the perfect
development of full-sized bees, they are converted into receptacles for
honey.

Such are the respective stages of the working bee; those of the royal
bee are as follow. She passes three days in the egg and is five a worm;
the workers then close her cell[E], and she immediately begins spinning
the cocoon, which occupies her twenty-four hours. On the tenth and
eleventh days, as if exhausted by her labour, she remains in complete
repose, and even sixteen hours of the twelfth. Then she passes four days
and one-third as a nymph. It is on the sixteenth day therefore that the
perfect state of queen is attained.

[Footnote E: Instead of being nearly horizontal like the other
brood-cells, those of the queens are perpendicular and considerably
larger; in form they are oblong spheroids, tapering gradually downwards;
their mouths being always at the bottom. _Vide_ Part II. "Architecture of
Bees."]

The male passes three days in the egg, six and a half as a worm, and
metamorphoses into a fly on the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth day,
after the egg is laid. The great epoch of laying the eggs of males may
be accelerated or retarded by the state of the atmosphere promoting
or impeding the collections of the bees. The _development_ of _each_
species likewise proceeds more slowly when the colonies are weak or the
air cool, and when the weather is very cold it is entirely suspended.
Mr. Hunter has observed that the eggs, maggots and nymphs, all require
a heat above 70° of Fahrenheit for their evolution. The influence of
temperature in developing embryo insects is very strongly illustrated
in the case of the _Papilio Machaon_. According to Messrs. Kirby and
Spence, "if the caterpillar of the _Papilio Machaon_ becomes a pupa in
July, the butterfly will appear in thirteen days; if it do not become a
pupa till September, the butterfly will not make its appearance until the
following June." And this is the case, say they, with a vast number of
other insects. Reaumur proved the influence of temperature, by effecting
the regular changes in a hot-house, during the month of January. He also
proved it conversely, by having recourse to an ice-house in summer, which
enabled him to retard the development for a whole year.

"The larvæ of bees, though without feet, are not always without motion.
They advance from their first station at the bottom of the cell, in
a spiral direction: this movement, for the first three days, is so
slow as to be scarcely perceptible; but after that it is more easily
discerned. The animal now makes two entire revolutions, in about an hour
and three quarters; and when the period of its metamorphosis arrives,
it is scarcely more than two lines from the mouth of the cell. Its
attitude, which is always the same, is a strong curve. This occasions
the inhabitant of a horizontal cell to be always perpendicular to the
horizon, and that of a vertical one to be parallel with it[F]."

[Footnote F: Kirby and Spence.]

The young bees break their envelope with their teeth, and, assisted
at first by the working-bees, proceed to cleanse themselves from the
moisture and exuviæ with which they were surrounded: this operation being
completed, they begin to exercise their intended functions, and in a few
minutes are gathering provision in the fields, loading "in life's first
hour the hollow'd thigh." M. Maraldi assures us that he has "seen bees
loaded with two large balls of wax, returning to the hive, the same
day they became bees." "We have seen her," says Wildman, "the same day
issue from the cell, and return from the fields loaded with wax, like the
rest." The error of Maraldi and Wildman in using the term wax instead of
pollen, does not at all affect the accuracy of their observations. As
soon as the young insect has been licked clean and regaled with a little
honey by its companions, the latter clean out the cell, preparatory to
its being re-occupied by a new tenant or with honey.

With respect to the cocoons spun by the different larvæ, both workers
and drones spin _complete cocoons_, or inclose themselves on every
side: royal larvæ construct only _imperfect cocoons_, open behind,
and enveloping only the head, thorax, and first ring of the abdomen;
and Huber concludes, without any hesitation, that the final cause of
their forming only incomplete cocoons is that they may thus be exposed
to the mortal sting of the first hatched queen, whose instinct leads
her instantly to seek the destruction of those who would soon become
her rivals. If the royal larvæ spun complete cocoons, the stings of
the queens regnant might be so entangled in their silken meshes, as to
be with difficulty disengaged from them. "Such," says Huber, "is the
_instinctive enmity of young queens to each other_, that I have seen one
of them, immediately on its emergence from the cell, rush to those of
its sisters, and tear to pieces even the imperfect larvæ."

A curious circumstance occurs with respect to the hatching of the
queen-bee. When the pupa or nymph is about to change into the perfect
insect, the bees render the cover of the cell thinner, by gnawing away
part of the wax; and with so much nicety do they perform this operation
that the cover at last becomes pellucid, owing to its extreme thinness,
thus facilitating the exit of the fly. After the transformation is
complete, the young queens would, in common course, immediately emerge
from their cells, as workers and drones do; but the former always keep
the royal infants prisoners for some days, supplying them in the mean
time with honey for food, a small hole being made in the door of each
cell, through which the confined bee extends its proboscis to receive it.
The _royal prisoners_ continually utter a kind of song, the modulations
of which are said to vary. _Vide_ Chapter XV. Huber heard a young
princess in her cell emit a very distinct sound or clacking, consisting
of several monotonous notes in rapid succession, and he supposes the
working bees to ascertain, by the loudness of these tones, the ripeness
of their queens. Huber has suggested that the cause of this temporary
imprisonment may possibly be to enable the young queens to fly away at
the instant they are liberated.

The queen is a good deal harassed by the other bees, on her liberation.
This has been attributed to their wishing to impel her to go off with
a swarm as soon as possible, but this notion is probably erroneous; it
certainly is so if Huber be correct, in saying that the swarms are always
accompanied by the older queens. The queen has the power of instantly
putting a stop to their worrying, by uttering a peculiar noise, which
has been called the _voice of sovereignty_. Bonner however declares
that he never could observe in the queen anything like an exercise of
sovereignty. But Huber's statement was not founded upon a solitary
instance; he heard the sound on various occasions, and witnessed the
striking effect which it always produced. On one occasion, a queen having
escaped the vigilance of her guards and sprung from the cell, was, on
her approach to the royal embryos, pulled, bitten and chased by the
other bees. But standing with her thorax against a comb and crossing her
wings upon her back, keeping them in motion, but not unfolding them, she
emitted a particular sound, when the bees became, as it were, paralysed
and remained motionless. Taking advantage of this dread, she rushed to
the royal cells; but the sound having ceased as she prepared to ascend,
the guardians of the cells instantly took courage and fairly drove her
away. This voice of sovereignty, as it has been called, resembles that
which is made by young queens before they are liberated from their cells;
it is a very distinct kind of clicking, composed of many notes in the
same key, which follow each other rapidly. The sound accompanied by the
attitude just described, always produces a paralysing effect upon the
bees.

Bees, when deprived of their queen, have the power of selecting one or
more grubs of workers, and converting them into queens. To effect this,
each of the promoted grubs has a royal cell or cradle formed for it, by
having three contiguous common cells thrown into one; two of the three
grubs that occupy those cells are sacrificed, and the remaining one is
liberally fed with royal jelly. This _royal jelly_ is a pungent food
prepared by the working bees, exclusively for the purpose of feeding
such of the larvæ as are destined to become candidates for the honours
of royalty, whether it be their lot to assume them or not. It is more
stimulating than the food of ordinary bees, has not the same mawkish
taste, and is evidently acescent. The royal larvæ are supplied with
it rather profusely, and there is always some of it left in the cell,
after their transformation. Schirach, who was secretary to the Apiarian
Society in Upper Lusatia and vicar of Little Bautzen, may be regarded
as the discoverer, or rather as the promulgator of this fact; and his
experiments, which were also frequently repeated by other members of the
Lusatian Society, have been amply confirmed by those of Huber and Bonner.
Mr. Keys was a violent sceptic upon this subject (See his communications
to the Bath Society); so likewise was Mr. Hunter (_Vide_ Philosophical
Transactions). But notwithstanding the criticisms and ridicule of the
former, and the sarcastic strictures of the latter, the sex of workers
is now established beyond all doubt. The fact is said to have been known
long before Schirach wrote: M. Vogel and Signor Monticelli, a Neapolitan
professor, have both asserted this; the former states it to have been
known upwards of fifty years, the latter a much longer period; he says
that the Greeks and Turks in the Ionian Islands are well acquainted
with it, and that in the little Sicilian island of Favignana, the art
of _producing queens_ has been known from very remote antiquity; he
even thinks that it was no secret to the Greeks and Romans, though, as
Messrs. Kirby and Spence observe, had the practice been common, it would
surely have been noticed by Aristotle or Pliny. The result of Schirach's
experiments was that all workers were originally females, but that their
organs of generation were obliterated, merely because the germs of
them were not developed; their being fed and treated in a particular
manner, in their infancy or worm state, being necessary, in his opinion,
to effect that development. Subsequent experiments conducted under the
auspices of Huber, have shown, however, that the organs are not entirely
obliterated.

Huber has been regarded as a man of a very vivid imagination; and as
his eye-sight was defective, he was obliged to rely very much upon the
reports of Francis Burnens, his assistant; on both which accounts other
apiarian writers have thrown some distrust upon his statements. Huish may
be reckoned among the number; he has also made some observations upon
Schirach's theory, and treated it with much petulance and ridicule. In
answer to him and all other cavillers, I shall detail an experiment made
by Mr. Dunbar, in his mirror hive. In July, when the hive had become
filled with comb and bees, and well stored with honey; and when the queen
was very fertile, laying a hundred eggs a-day, Mr. D. opened the hive
and took her majesty away. The bees laboured for eighteen hours before
they appeared to miss her; but no sooner was the loss discovered than
all was agitation and tumult; and they rushed in crowds to the door, as
if swarming. On the following morning he observed that they had founded
five queen cells, in the usual way under such circumstances; and in
the course of the same afternoon, four more were founded, in a part of
the comb where there were only eggs a day or two old. On the fourteenth
day from the old queen's removal, a young queen emerged and proceeded
towards the other royal cells, evidently with a murderous intent. She was
immediately pulled away by the workers, with violence, and this conduct
on their part was repeated as often as the queen renewed her destructive
purpose. At every repulse she appeared sulky, and cried _peep peep_,
one of the unhatched queens responding, but in a somewhat hoarser tone.
(This circumstance affords an explanation of the two different sounds
which are heard, prior to the issuing of second swarms.) On the afternoon
of the same day, a second queen was hatched; she immediately buried
herself in a cluster of bees. Next morning Mr. D. observed a hot pursuit
of the younger queen by the elder, but being called away, on his return
half an hour afterwards, the former was dying on the floor, no doubt
the victim of the other. Huber has stated that these artificial queens
are mute; but the circumstance noticed by Mr. Dunbar of the two queens,
just referred to, having answered each other, disproves that statement.
Contrary also to the experience of Huber, Mr. D. found that the cells of
artificial queens were surrounded by a guard. I have just adverted to the
protection which they afforded to the royal cells, when assailed by the
first hatched queen.

That _the working bees are females_ is clear from the circumstance of
their being known occasionally to lay eggs. This fact was first noticed
by Riem, and was afterwards confirmed by the experiments of Huber, whose
assistant, on one occasion seized a fertile worker in the very act of
laying. It is a remarkable fact that these _fertile workers_ never lay
any but _drones'_ eggs. This uninterrupted laying of drones' eggs was
noticed by the Lusatian observers, as well as by the naturalist of the
Palatinate. Bonnet, on referring to this fact, supposes there must have
been small queens mixed with the workers upon which the experiments were
made, whose office it was to lay male eggs in _all_ hives; for neither
he nor the before-named observers imagined that the workers were ever
fertile, though from the oft repeated experiments, just alluded to, they
must have regarded them as females. Probably the fertility of these
workers is occasioned by some royal jelly being casually dropped into
their cells, when grubs, as they uniformly issue from cells adjoining
those inhabited by grubs, that have been raised from the plebeian to the
royal rank; of course therefore they are never found in any hives but
those which have had the misfortune to lose their queen. Fertile workers
appear smaller in the belly and more slender in the body than sterile
workers, and this is the only external difference between them.

If any further proof were required to establish the opinion that working
bees are females, the question has been set at rest for ever, by _the
dissections of Miss Jurine_, daughter of the distinguished naturalist
of Geneva: what had eluded the scalpel and the microscope of that
penetrating and indefatigable naturalist Swammerdam, was reserved for
the still finer hand and more dexterous dissection of a lady. Miss
Jurine, by adopting a particular method of preparing the object to be
examined, brought into view the rudiments of the ovaria of the common
working bee: her examinations were several times repeated, and always
with success: in form, situation and structure, they were found to be
perfectly analogous to those of the queen-bee, excepting that no ova
could be distinguished in them. M. Cuvier, however, thinks that he has
observed minute chaplets in common bees, resembling those in the oviducts
of queens; an additional confirmation, if any were wanted, of the opinion
that workers are females whose organization is not developed. Miss Jurine
undertook the delicate task to which I have just referred, at the request
of M. Huber, who speaks of her as a young lady who had devoted her time
and the liberal gifts of nature to similar studies, and says that she
already rivalled Lyonnet and Merian; but adds, "we had soon to deplore
her loss." The research was first made to ascertain whether black bees,
which, when they appear in a hive, are much persecuted, were exposed to
this persecution in consequence of their sex exciting the jealousy of the
queen. The success of the investigation induced this accomplished young
lady to extend her dissection to the common workers, which was crowned
with a result equally gratifying. Parallel instances have been observed
with regard to the humble-bee, the wasp and the ant, amongst which, those
that have usually been called neuters are found to be females, and when
fertile, they, like the fertile workers in a bee-hive, produce males
universally.

Having now traced these insects through their regular stages of egg,
larva, nymph, until they become perfect bees, and having noticed the
facts which show the working bees to be females, I shall advert to
the more intricate and mysterious business of _Impregnation_. This is
a subject which was long involved in obscurity, and which indeed is
still clouded by some uncertainty. Schirach and Bonner stoutly denied
the necessity of sexual intercourse between the queen and the drones,
considering the former as a mother and yet a virgin, and Swammerdam was
of the same opinion; he ascribes impregnation to a vivifying seminal
aura, which is exhaled from the drones and penetrates the body of the
queen. This opinion arose from his observing a very strong odour to
be exhaled, at certain times, from the drones; "Hanc sententiam ratam
habuit, quia organa apum propagini servientia, sexus utriusque, ritè
dissecta, inter se ita disparia videbantur, ut congressus ne fieri quidem
ullo pacto posset." His opinion with respect to the vivifying influence
of the seminal aura also accounted satisfactorily, to his own mind, for
there being such a prodigious number of drones, as, in proportion to
their number, would of course be the intensity of their peculiar odour.
Reaumur very successfully combated this fanciful doctrine, and Huber
has confuted it by direct experiment. Reaumur inclined to the opinion
that there was a sexual intercourse, though his experiments left that
question undecided. Arthur Dobbs, Esq. has given it as his opinion that
the queen's eggs were impregnated by coition with the drones, and that a
renewal of the intercourse was unnecessary. He however thought that she
had intercourse with several, instead of with one only, in order that
there might be a sufficient deposition of sperm to impregnate all her
eggs. About the beginning of the last century, Maraldi broached another
hypothesis; he imagined that the eggs were fecundated by the drones,
after the queen had deposited them in the cells, similarly to what
takes place in the fecundation of fish-spawn. In 1777 that ingenious
naturalist Mr. Debraw, who was apothecary to Addenbroke's Hospital at
Cambridge, also adopted this opinion; and even so late as the year 1817
Huish has supported the same doctrine, and I believe does so at the
present time. Debraw thought he had discovered the prolific fluid of the
drones, in the brood-cells, which fertilizing the eggs caused them to
produce larvæ. Huber repeated the experiments of Debraw, and at first
gave him credit for the reality of the discovery; but further and more
minute observation convinced him that it was illusory, and that what he,
as well as Debraw had taken for seminal fluid, was nothing more than
light reflected from the bottoms of the cells, when illuminated by the
sun's rays. Moreover, it did not escape the acute mind of Huber, that
eggs were laid and larvæ hatched, when there were no drones in existence,
viz. between the months of September and April. The two hypotheses
just mentioned, accounted satisfactorily, to their supporters, for the
prodigious disproportion in the number of the sexes. But Huber made
the experiment of confining the queen and rigidly excluding every male
from a hive; nay more, he carefully examined every comb, and satisfied
himself that there was neither male nymph nor worm present; and lest it
should be supposed that the fertilizing fluid might be imported from
other hives, he totally confined the bees, on two occasions, and still
the eggs were prolific; which proves clearly that their fertility must
have depended upon the previous impregnation of the queen. The analogy
of wasps is indeed admitted, by Huish, to discountenance the opinion
which he entertains in common with Maraldi and Debraw. The queen wasp
alone, survives the winter, and deposits her first eggs in the ensuing
spring in combs of her own construction. Here then impregnation must
have taken place in the preceding autumn, whilst the eggs were in the
ovaria. It was the opinion of Hattorf, Schirach, and probably also of
Bonner, that the queen-bee impregnated herself; but this opinion is too
extravagant to require serious refutation: it arose probably, from their
making experiments upon queens taken indiscriminately from the hives,
and which had previously been impregnated. This no doubt misled Debraw,
who, without knowing it, had chosen for experiment some queens that had
had commerce with the males. The experiments of Huber were made upon
virgin-queens, with whose history he was acquainted from the moment of
their leaving their cells. In the course of his experiments he found
that the queens were never impregnated, so long as they remained in the
interior of the hive; but that _impregnation always takes place in the
open air_, at a time when the heat has induced the drones to issue
from the hive; on which occasions, the queen soars high in the air,
love being the motive for the only distant journey she ever takes. "The
rencontre and copulation of the queen with the drone take place exterior
to the hive," says Lombard, "and whilst they are on the wing." They are
similarly constituted with the whole family of flies. A corresponding
circumstance may also be noted with respect to the queen-ant; and Bonnet,
in his _Contemplations de la Nature_, has observed that _she_ is always
impregnated whilst she is on the wing. The dragon-flies copulate as they
fly through the air, in which state they have the appearance of a double
animal.

          "When noon-tide Sirius glares on high,
           Young Love ascends the glowing sky,
    From vein to vein swift shoots prolific fire,
    And thrills each insect fibre with desire.
    Thence, Nature, to fulfil thy prime decree,
    Wheels round, in wanton rings, the courtier bee;
    Now shyly distant, now with bolden'd air.
    He woos and wins the all-complying fair:
    Through fields of ether, veil'd in vap'ry gloom,
    They seek, with amorous haste, the nuptial room;
    As erst th' immortal pair, on Ida's height,
    Wreath'd round their noon of joy, ambrosial night."

                                                           +Evans.+

The males and the fertile females, among ants, are winged insects; the
former, as in the case of drone bees, perish a short time after their
amours; and the females, having alighted upon a spot suitable for the
formation of a colony, cut off their own wings, as being no longer of
any use to them. (Linnæus had observed that the females lost their
wings a certain period after impregnation.) A domino Hunter didici,
se bombinatrices sub oculos in coitu junctos, ut apud muscas mos est,
vidisse. "Aculeus," inquit, "articulo temporis ejicitur, et inter gemina
insecta, dorso feminæ imponitur. Hoc situ aliquandiù manent." In the
hornet it is the same.

If the queen-bee be confined, though amid a seraglio of males, she
continues barren. Prior to her flight, (which is preceded by the flight
of the drones,) she reconnoitres the exterior of the hive, apparently for
the purpose of recognition, and sometimes, after flying a few feet from
it, returns to it again: finally she rises aloft in the air, describing
in her flight horizontal circles of considerable diameter, till she
is out of sight. She returns from her aërial excursion in about half
an hour, with the most evident marks of fecundation. Excursions are
sometimes made for a shorter period, but then she exhibits no sign of
having been impregnated. It is curious that Bonner should have remarked
those aërial excursions, without suspecting their object. "I have often,"
says he, "seen the young queens taking an airing upon the second or
third day of their age." Yet Huish says, "It is an acknowledged tact
that the queen-bee never leaves the hive, on any account whatsoever."
Perhaps Huish's observations were made upon first swarms; and these,
according to Huber, are uniformly conducted by old queens. Swammerdam
also made the same observation as to _first swarms being always led off
by old queens_. Old queens have not the same occasion to quit the hives
that young ones have,--viz. to have intercourse with the drones; for,
according to Huber, one impregnation is sufficient to fertilize all the
eggs that are laid for two years afterwards, at least. He _thinks_ it is
sufficient to fertilize all that she lays during her whole life. This may
appear, to some, an incredible period; and Huish inquires, admitting that
a single act of coition be sufficient to fecundate all the eggs existing
in the ovaria at the time, how those are fecundated which did not exist
there? But when we consider that in the common spider, according to
Audebert, the fertilizing effect continues for _many years_; and that
the fecundation of the eggs of the female aphides or green lice, by the
males of one generation, will continue for a year, passing, during that
period, through _nine_ or _ten successive generations_ of females, the
causes for doubt will, I think, be greatly diminished: at any rate we
are not at liberty to reject the evidence of facts, because we cannot
understand their _modus operandi_. With respect to the aphis, Bonnet
says the influence of the male continues through _five_ generations,
but Lyonnet carried his experiments to a more extended period; and
according to Messrs. Kirby and Spence, who give it "upon the authority
of Mr. Wolnough of Hollesley (late of Boyton) in Suffolk, an intelligent
agriculturist, and a most acute and accurate observer of nature, there
may be _twenty_ generations in a year." Reaumur has proved that in _five_
generations one aphis may be the progenitor of 5,904,900,000 descendants.
It may be objected to me here, that the aphis is a viviparous insect,
and that the experiments which prove what I have referred to, do not
therefore bear upon the question. It has been ascertained, however, that
they are strictly oviparous at the close of the year (one species is at
all times so), at other times ovo-viviparous; and in either case the
penetrating influence of the male sperm is surely still more remarkable
where there has been no immediate commerce with the male, than in the
direct case of the oviparous bee! It has been observed, however, that
the further the female aphides are removed from the first mother, or
that which had known the male, the less prolific do they become. In
order to put my readers in possession of Dr. Fleming's opinion upon this
subject, I will quote what he has said in his Philosophy of Zoology.
"Impregnation, in insects, appears to take place while the eggs pass
a reservoir containing the sperm, situated near the termination of the
oviduct in the vulva. In dissecting the female parts, in the silk-moth,
says Mr. Hunter, I discovered a bag, lying on what may be called the
vagina or common oviduct, whose mouth or opening was external, but it
had a canal of communication betwixt it and the common oviduct. In
dissecting these parts, before copulation, I found this bag empty; and
when I dissected them afterwards, I found it full. (Phil. Trans. 1792.
p. 186.) By the most decisive experiments, such as covering the ova of
the unimpregnated moth, after exclusion, with the liquor taken from
this bag, in those which had had sexual intercourse, and rendering them
fertile, he demonstrated that this bag was a reservoir for the spermatic
fluid, to impregnate the eggs, as they were ready for exclusion, and that
coition and impregnation were not simultaneous." Linnæus thought that
there was a sexual intercourse between the queens and the drones, and he
even suspected that it proved fatal to the latter. His opinion, on both
these points, seems to be confirmed by the experiments of Huber; who
ascertained by repeated observations on newly impregnated queens, "Fuci
organum, post congressum, in corpore feminæ hæsisse, unde exitus fatalis
expectandus est; ita autem accidere re verâ non liquet." "Apum regina et
mater," says Mr. Kirby, "in sublime fertur maritum infelicem petens,
qui voluptatem brevem vitâ emat." Reaumur thought sexual union necessary
to impregnation, and tried many experiments to ascertain the fact; such
as confining a queen under a glass in company with drones: and these
experiments were repeated by Huber. Both these naturalists witnessed
the solicitations and advances of the queens towards the drones,
"nihilominùs, coeuntia tempore quovis conspicere non possent." Reaumur
_fancied_ he saw it; there is, however, very great reason to believe that
he was mistaken: the queens so exposed all proved barren. Swammerdam
asserted that clipping the wings of queens rendered them sterile, a fact
which militates very much against his own theory of impregnation being
produced by a seminal aura, but strongly confirms the theory of Huber;
as in all probability the mutilating experiments of Swammerdam were made
upon virgin queens, which thereby lost the power of quitting the hives.
Huber found that clipping the wings of _impregnated_ queens produced no
effect upon them; it neither diminished the respectful attentions of the
workers, nor interfered with their laying of eggs. Why impregnation can
only take place in the open air and when the insects are on the wing, at
present remains a mystery.

The young virgin-queens, generally, set out in quest of the males, the
day after they are settled in their new abode, which is usually the
fifth day of their existence as queens, two or three days being passed
in captivity, one in the native hive after their liberation, and the
fifth in the new dwelling. The ancients seem to have been very solicitous
to establish for the bees a character of inviolable chastity: Pliny
observes, "Apium enim coitus visus nunquam." And Virgil endeavours to
support the same opinion:

    "But of all customs which the bees can boast,
     'Tis this that claims our admiration most;
     That none will Hymen's softer joys approve,
     Nor waste their spirits in luxurious love:
     But all a long virginity maintain.
     And bring forth young without a mother's pain."

It was the opinion of most ancient philosophers that bees derived their
origin from the putrid carcases of animals. _Vide_ Chap. II. Some also
have supposed them to proceed from the parts of fructification in
flowers. Virgil, borrowing as usual from Aristotle, among the rest:

    "Well might the Bard, on fancy's frolic wing,
     Bid, from fresh flowers, enascent myriads spring,
     Raise genial ferment in the slaughter'd steer.
     And people thence his insect-teeming year;
     A fabled race, whom no soft passions move.
     The smile of duty nor the glance of love."

                                                           +Evans.+

"To vindicate, in some measure, the character of the insect queen, Mr.
Wildman boldly dared to stem the torrent, and revive the long forgotten
idea suggested by Mr. Butler in his _Feminine Monarchy_, that queens
produce queens only, and that the common bees are the mothers of common
bees." But all these fanciful notions must yield to the clear and
decisive experiments of Huber, who has satisfactorily shown that _the
queen is the general mother of all_; he has also resolved the causes
of former mistaken opinions. Many apiarians have found a difficulty
in admitting the theory of Huber, in consequence of the very great
disproportion in the number of the sexes, there being only one female
to several hundred males, and one impregnation being, in his opinion,
all that is required to fertilize myriads of eggs. The number of drones
may be considered as in accordance, in some degree, with the general
profusion of nature: we find her abounding with supernumeraries in a
great variety of instances, in the blossoms of trees and flowers, as well
as in the relative number of one sex to the other among animals. Huber
conceives that it was necessary there should be a great number of drones,
that the queen might be sure of finding one, in her excursion through the
expanse of the atmosphere, and run no risk of sterility.

In page 26 I have stated the opinion of Mr. Dobbs, that a queen has
intercourse with several drones; and what I have also stated upon the
authority of Mr. Hunter, in page 34, with respect to the silk-moth
and other insects, gives countenance to that opinion: nor do I see its
inconsistency with the discovery made by Huber. Though there is reason
to believe that the act proves fatal to one devoted drone, yet those
that are so fortunate as to obtain the first favours of her majesty,
may escape uninjured. If the conjecture which I have thus hazarded be
correct, it will appear less surprising that so many drones should be
brought into existence.

The queen begins to lay her eggs as soon as a few portions of comb are
completely formed. By the time that combs five or six inches square
are constructed, eggs, honey and bee-bread will be found in them.
Huber states that _the laying usually commences forty-six hours after
the intercourse with the male; and that during the eleven succeeding
months, the eggs of workers only are laid; after which a considerable
and uninterrupted laying of drones' eggs commences_. This period may be
retarded by the temperature of the atmosphere. Huber relates an instance
where, the weather having become suddenly cold, after an impregnation
which took place on the 31st of October, that queen did not lay till the
March following. The effects of retardation will be noticed presently.
_Twenty days after the queen has begun to lay the eggs of drones, "the
working bees,"_ says Huber, "_construct the_ +royal cells+, _in which
the queens, without discontinuing the laying of male eggs, deposit,
at the interval of one, two or three days, those eggs from which the
queens are successively to spring_." This laying of the eggs of drones,
which is called the great laying, usually happens in May. There seems
to be a secret relation between the production of these eggs, and the
construction of royal cells: the laying commonly lasts thirty days, and
regularly on the 20th or 21st day, as has been already observed, royal
cells are founded. _When the larvæ, hatched from the eggs laid by the
queen in the royal cells, are ready to be transformed to nymphs, this
queen leaves the hive, conducting a swarm along with her._ A swarm is
always led off by a single queen; and Huber remarks that it was necessary
for instinct to impel the old queen to lead forth the first swarm; for,
being the strongest, she would never fail to overthrow the younger
competitors for the throne, near which "the jealous Semiramis of the
hive will bear no rival." The queen, having finished her laying of male
eggs and of royal eggs, prior to her quitting the old hive, is ready
to commence, in the new one, with the laying of workers' eggs, workers
being first needed, in order to secure the continuance and prosperity
of the newly founded commonwealth. The bees that remain in the old hive
take particular care of the royal cells, and prevent the young queens,
successively hatched, from leaving them, except at an interval of several
days from each departure. But I have already adverted to their mode of
proceeding on these occasions. _Vide_ page 17. _The law of primogeniture_
is always strictly observed towards these royal insects, the first-born
or princess-royal being always selected to go off with the second swarm,
or to reign over the parent stock, as the case may be; and so on with
respect to the third and fourth, or whatever number may issue. It is
remarkable that a queen seldom, if ever, leads forth a swarm, except
there be sunshine and calm air. Such a ferment occasionally rages in the
hives, as soon as the young queens are hatched, that Huber has often
observed the thermometer placed in the hive, rise suddenly from about 92°
to above 104° Fahrenheit. This suffocating heat he considers as one of
the means employed by nature for urging the bees to go off in swarms. _In
warm weather one strong hive has been known to send off four swarms in 18
days._ _Vide_ Chap. XIII.

According to Huber, _the queen ordinarily lays about 12,000 eggs in two
months_, one impregnation serving, as has been before stated, for the
whole complement of eggs, of every description, which she lays during
two years at least. It is not to be supposed that she lays at the rate
of 12,000 eggs every two months, but she does so at the principal
laying in April and May: there is also another great laying in August.
Early in November the laying usually ceases. Reaumur states the number
of eggs laid by a queen in two months at double the amount of Huber's
calculation; viz. 200 a day, on an average. This variation may have
arisen from variety of climate, season, or other circumstances. _A
moderate swarm has been calculated to consist of from 12,000 to 20,000_,
which is about a two months' laying. Schirach says that _a single queen
will lay from 70,000 to 100,000 eggs in a season_. This sounds like a
great number; but it is greatly exceeded by some other insects. The
female of the white ant extrudes not less than 60 eggs in a minute, which
gives 3600 in an hour, 86,400 in a day, 2,419,200 in a lunar month, and
the enormous number of 211,449,600 in a year. Though she does not lay all
the year probably, yet, setting the period as low as possible, her eggs
will exceed the number produced by any other known animal in creation.

If the _impregnation_ of a queen be by any means _retarded_ beyond the
20th or 21st day of her life, a very extraordinary consequence ensues.
Instead of first laying the eggs of workers, and those of drones, at
the usual period afterwards, she begins from the 45th hour to lay the
latter, and lays no other kind during her whole life. It should seem
as if the rudiments of the workers' eggs withered in the oviducts, but
without obstructing the passage of the drones' eggs. The only known fact
analogous to this is the state of certain vegetable seeds, which lose
the faculty of germination from age, whatever care may have been taken
to preserve them. This retardation seems to have a singular effect upon
the whole animal œconomy of the queen. "The bodies of those queens,"
says Huber, "whose impregnation has been retarded, are shorter than
common; the extremities remain slender, whilst the first two rings, next
the thorax, are uncommonly swollen." In consequence of the shortening
of their bodies, their eggs are frequently laid on the sides of the
cells, owing probably to their not being able to reach the bottom; the
difficulty is also increased by the two swollen rings. In these cases
of retarded impregnation and exclusive laying of drones' eggs, the
prosperity of the hive soon terminates; generally before the end of the
queen's laying. The workers receiving no addition to their number, but
on the contrary, finding themselves overwhelmed with drones, sacrifice
their queen and abandon the hive. These retarded queens seem to have
their instincts impaired; for they deposit their eggs indiscriminately
in the cells, whether originally intended for drones or for workers,--a
circumstance which materially affects the size of the drones that
are reared in them. There are not wanting instances of royal cells
being occupied by them, and of the workers being thereby so completely
deceived as to pay the tenants, in all respects, the honours of royalty.
This circumstance appears the more extraordinary, since it has been
ascertained that when eggs have been thus inappropriately deposited, by
fertile workers, they are uniformly destroyed a few days afterwards,
though for a short time they receive due attention.

The workers have been supposed by some apiarians to transport the eggs
from place to place;--if ever such were the case, this would seem to
be an occasion calling for the practice: on the contrary, instead of
removing the eggs from the sides to the bottoms of the cells, for the
sake of better accommodation, this object is accomplished by their
lengthening the cells, and advancing them two lines beyond the surface
of the combs. This proceeding affords pretty good evidence that _the
transportation of eggs_ forms no part of the workers' occupation. It is
still further proved by their eating any workers' eggs, that a queen may,
at any time, be forced to deposit in drones' cells, or drop at random
in other parts of the hive; a circumstance which escaped the notice
of former naturalists, and misled them in their opinion respecting
transportation. A somewhat similar circumstance was noticed by Mr. Dunbar
in his mirror hive. (For an account of this hive see Chap. X.) Mr. Dunbar
observed that whenever the queen dropped her eggs carelessly, they were
eagerly devoured by the workers. Now if transportation formed a part of
their employment, they would in these cases, instead of eating the eggs,
have deposited them in their appropriate cells. It seems very evident
therefore that the proper disposition of the eggs is left entirely to the
instinct of the queens. The workers having been seen to run away with
the eggs, in order to devour them, in all probability gave birth to the
mistaken notion that they were removing them to their right cells. Among
humble-bees, there is a disposition, among the workers, to eat the eggs,
which extends even to those that are laid in proper cells, where the
queens often have to contend for their preservation.

After the season of swarming, viz. towards the end of July, as is well
known, a general _massacre of the drones_ takes place. The business of
fecundation being now completed, they are regarded as useless consumers
of the fruits of others labour, "fruges consumere nati;" love is at
once converted into furious hate, and a general proscription takes
place. The unfortunate victims evidently perceive their danger; for
they are never, at this time, seen resting in one place, but darting
in or out of the hive, with the utmost precipitation, as if in fear
of being seized. Their destruction has been generally supposed to be
effected by the workers harassing them till they quit the hive: this
was the opinion of Mr. Hunter, who says the workers pinch them to and
fro, without stinging them, and he considers their death as a natural
rather than an untimely one. In this Bonnet seems to agree with Mr.
Hunter. But Huber has observed that _their destruction is effected by the
stings of the workers:_ he ascertained this by placing his hives upon
a glass table, as will be stated under the anatomy of the bee, article
"Sting." Reaumur seems to have been aware of this, for he has remarked
that "notwithstanding the superiority which the drones seem to have from
their bulk, they cannot hold out against the workers, who are armed with
a poniard which conveys poison into the wounds it makes." The moment this
formidable weapon has entered their bodies, they expand their wings and
expire. This sacrifice is not the consequence of a blind indiscriminating
instinct, for _if a hive be deprived of its queen, no massacre takes
place_, though the hottest persecution rage in all the surrounding
hives. This fact was observed by Bonner, who supposed the drones to be
preserved for the sake of the additional heat which they would generate
in the hive during winter; but according to Huber's theory, they are
preserved for the purpose of impregnating a new queen. The lives of the
drones are also spared in hives which possess fertile workers only,
but no proper queen, and likewise in hives governed by a queen whose
impregnation has been retarded; but under any other circumstances the
drones all disappear before winter. Not only all that have undergone
their full transformations, but every embryo, in whatever period of its
existence, shares the same fate. The workers drag them forth from the
cells, and after sucking the fluid from their bodies, cast them out of
the hive. In all these respects the hive-bees resemble wasps, but with
this difference; among the latter, not only are the males and the male
larvæ destroyed, but all the workers and their larvæ, (and the very combs
themselves,) are involved in one indiscriminate ruin, none remaining
alive during the winter but the queens, which lie dormant in various
holes and corners till the ensuing spring,--of course without food, for
they store none. The importance of destroying these mother wasps in the
spring will be noticed in another place.

Morier in his second journey through Persia (page 100) has recorded a
fact, which, though it did not come under his own immediate observation,
was related to him by a person on whose authority he could place full
reliance, and which is directly the reverse of what I have stated
respecting bees. It is, that among the locusts, when the female has done
laying, she is surrounded and killed by the males.




CHAPTER II.

THE APIARY.

The first object of consideration, in the establishment of an apiary, is
situation.

The aspect has, in general, been regarded as of prime importance, but I
think there are other points of still greater importance.

An apiary would not be well situated near a great river, nor in the
neighbourhood of the sea, as windy weather might whirl the bees into the
water and destroy them.

It was the opinion of the ancients that bees, in windy weather, carried
weights, to prevent them from being whiffled about, in their progress
through the air: Virgil has observed that

    "They with light pebbles, like a balanc'd boat,
     Pois'd, through the air on even pinions float."

                                              +Sotheby's Georgics.+

This assertion, which was probably borrowed by the poet from his
predecessor Aristotle, and which has since been repeated by Pliny, is
now ascertained to be erroneous. The error has been noticed by both
Swammerdam and Reaumur, and ascribed by them to preceding observers
having mistaken the mason bee for a hive-bee. The former builds its
nest against a wall, with a composition of gravel, sand and its own
saliva, and when freighted with the former article, may easily have led a
careless observer into the erroneous opinion above alluded to.

From a similar inaccuracy of observation, it is probable that flies were
confounded with bees by ancient naturalists, and that from thence arose
the absurd notion, of the latter being generated in putrid carcases, as
we know the former to be; and this error was most likely confirmed by
their having found both honey and bees in the carcases of dead animals,
as recorded in the case of Samson.

Though, for the reasons above stated, an apiary would not be well
situated near a large river, yet it should not be far from a rivulet
or spring: small ones, that glide gently over pebbles, are the most
desirable, as affording a variety of resting places for the bees to
alight upon. If neither spring nor streamlet be near, a broad dish of
water should be placed for the bees, the bottom being covered with small
stones or duckweed, to facilitate their drinking and prevent drowning.

This, in a hot dry season, is of considerable importance, as it will
save that time, which must otherwise be spent, in fetching water from a
distance; for without water, as will be noticed hereafter, no wax can be
formed.

It is of course of the greatest importance that the apiary be situated
near to good pasturage, such as clover, saintfoin, buckwheat, &c.--better
still if in a garden well stocked with suitable plants.

It should be near the residence of the proprietor, as well for the
purpose of rendering the bees tractable and well acquainted with the
family, as for affording a good view of their general proceedings; if it
be so situated that its front may form a right angle with the window of
the family sitting-room, an easy opportunity will be afforded to watch
the bustle of swarming.

An out-door apiary should admit of being approached at the back part,
to give an opportunity of making observations on the proceedings of the
bees, or to perform any requisite operation upon them.

The hives should be placed upon separate stands, supported by single
posts or pedestals, be raised from sixteen inches to two feet above the
ground, and be three or four feet from each other; and they should stand
quite clear of any wall or fence.

The resting-boards should project several inches in front of the hives,
that the bees may have plenty of room to alight, when they return home
loaded from the fields, and should be screwed down firmly to the tops of
the stands, that the hives may not be overturned by high winds or other
accidents.

They should be free from the droppings of trees, from noisome smells and
disagreeable noises; and be guarded as much as possible from the extremes
of heat and cold.

Most apiarians are agreed that the aspect of the apiary should, in this
country, be more or less southerly, and that it should be well secured
from the north and south-west, by trees, high hedges, or other fences;
this is the opinion of Wildman, Keys, and Huish; Bonner, however, prefers
an easterly aspect; Huish recommends two points to the east and one to
the south. Wildman preferred a south-west aspect, as not tempting the
labourers to emerge too early, and as affording a later light for their
return home in the evening.

    "Skreen'd from the east; where no delusive dawn
     Chills, while it tempts them o'er the dew damp lawn,
     But, as on loaded wing, the labourers roam,
     Sol's last bright glories light them to their home."

                                                           +Evans.+

Milton says: "It is not material in what aspect the stock stands,
provided the sun shines on the hive once in the course of the day, for
that well-peopled hives, kept dry, will thrive in most situations." And
provided due attention be paid to other circumstances calculated to
promote their prosperity, I coincide in opinion with Milton.

Some recommend a valley or hollow glen, for the convenience of the bees
returning home with their loads. At any rate care should be taken that no
walls, trees, houses, nor anything else, impede the issuing forth of the
bees to their pasturage, nor obstruct their return in right lines to the
hives. They should be able to fly off from the resting-boards at an angle
of about forty degrees with the plane of the horizon.

To those who, residing in towns, may consider it as indispensable to
the success of an apiary, that it should be in the _immediate_ vicinity
of good pasturage, and be thereby deterred from benefiting and amusing
themselves by keeping bees; it may be satisfactory to learn, that the
apiary of the celebrated Bonner was situated in a garret, in the centre
of Glasgow, where it flourished for several years, and furnished him with
the means of making many interesting and valuable observations, which he
gave to the world about thirty years ago.




CHAPTER III.

THE BEE-HOUSE.


No one that could afford to purchase bee-boxes, and to construct a
bee-house, or to convert to that use some building already constructed,
would hesitate, I should think, to give them the preference over common
straw-hives and an out-door apiary, whether he looked to ultimate profit
or to present convenience and security.

Perhaps I cannot give a better notion of what I consider as the most
eligible plan of a bee-house, than by describing the construction of my
own. The whole building, besides answering the purpose of an apiary, may
be made subservient to other uses;--my own serves for storing potatoes.
The potatoe-cellar is sunk two thirds of its depth in the earth, and the
bee-house is raised upon it, having a couple of steps up to the door. The
dimensions of both are seven feet six inches by six feet clear within,
which affords room for five colonies.

The piles or stories of bee-boxes are placed in the bee-house at somewhat
less than two feet apart, so as to make the external entrance to each
pile respectively, about a yard asunder.--See the plate which forms the
frontispiece of this work.

On the inside of the bee-house, the boxes in the upper row stand about
table height, those in the lower row, about six inches above the floor.
On the outside, the entrances to the upper row are about five feet,
the entrances to the lower row about three feet from the ground. The
entrances through the wall may be cut in stone, bricks or wood, and
should be chamfered away on the outside, leaving the wall at those parts
as thin as practicable, and letting the opening correspond in size with
the outlets that are sunk in the floor boards to be hereafter described.
The potatoe-cellar is built with bricks, the bee-house of timber, lathed
and plastered within, and thatched on the outside.

Where the bees enter the boxes, two wooden shelves or resting-boards are
fixed, two or three inches thick, to prevent warping; they extend the
whole length of the building, are about a foot wide, and rest on cross
pieces, nailed fast to the uprights with which the bee-house is built:
these cross pieces extend also about fifteen inches into the bee-house,
where they serve as supporters for the shelves on which the bee-boxes are
placed. The resting-boards on the outside are divided, by bricks on the
edge, into several compartments, as shown in the frontispiece; the bricks
extend the full width of the resting board, and all the compartments
are slated over. By this means the entrances are well sheltered, and
accommodation is afforded for the bees, when they are at any time driven
home, by stress of weather, in greater numbers than can readily pass
through the entrances into the boxes; for on the approach of a storm, the
bees will sometimes return home from the fields, in such numbers and with
such precipitation, as almost to block up the entrances into the hives.

The building is not only thatched on the top, but down the sides and
ends, as low as the potatoe-cellar. On that side where the bees enter the
boxes, the thatch of course terminates at the top of the compartments,
over which it is spread out so as to conceal the slate coverings. The
floor of the bee-house is boarded and the potatoe-cellar is ceiled, the
space between the ceiling and the floor above being filled with dry
sawdust. The door may be situated where most convenient; but the window
or windows should be at one end or at both ends, that the light may fall
sideways on the bee-boxes, and should be made to open, as in case of any
of the bees accidentally getting into the bee-house, they may be let out
more conveniently.

It is necessary to have an extra entrance, or rather an extra outlet, for
discharging the bees when the time of deprivation arrives, which will be
hereafter explained. My own outlet is placed in a line with and between
the lower tier of boxes.




CHAPTER IV.

PASTURAGE.


It is of the first importance to the success of an apiary, that it should
be in a neighbourhood where the bees can be supplied with an abundance of
good pasturage, as upon that will depend the fecundity of the queen and
the harvest of wax and honey.

If _Dutch clover_ (_Trifolium repens_) be neither grown abundantly by
the neighbouring farmers, nor the spontaneous growth of the surrounding
country, the apiarian should, if possible, crop some ground with it
himself, as it is one of the grand sources from which bees collect their
honey in the spring, and indeed during a considerable portion of the
principal gathering season. From the value of clover in this respect,
one species of it (_Trifolium pratense_) has acquired the name of
Honey-suckle clover. _Yellow trefoil_ also (_Medicago lupulina_), though
not so great a favourite with the bees as Dutch clover, is nevertheless
a valuable pasturage for them, in consequence of its blossoming earlier
than the clover.

Though I have made Dutch clover take precedence of every other bee
pasturage,--a precedence which in this country at least it is fairly
entitled to,--yet it is by no means the first in the order of the
seasons.

    "First the gray willow's glossy pearls they steal.
     Or rob the hazel of its golden meal,
     While the gay crocus and the violet blue
     Yield to the flexile trunk ambrosial dew."

                                                           +Evans+

The earliest resources of the bee are _the willow, the hazel, the
osier, the poplar, the sycamore_ and _the plane_, all which are very
important adjuncts to the neighbourhood of an apiary. The catkins of
several of them afford an abundant supply of farina, and attract the
bees very strongly in early spring when the weather is fine. Mr. Kirby,
in his _Monographia Apum Angliæ_, considers the _female_ catkins of the
different species of Salix as affording honey, the _male_ ones, pollen.

To these may be added _the snowdrop, the crocus, white alyssum,
laurustinus_, &c.

_Orange_ and _lemon trees_ also, and other _green-house plants_, afford
excellent honey, and might be advantageously presented to the bees at
this season.

_Gooseberry, currant_ and _raspberry trees_ likewise, with _sweet
marjoram, winter savory_ and _peppermint_, should not be far off them.
From the early blossoming of the two first, and from their yielding an
extraordinary quantity of honey, they form some of the first sources of
spring food for the bees, and in all probability furnish them with the
pale green pellets, then seen upon their thighs.

_The peach, nectarine_, &c. are also valuable, on account of their
blossoming very early.

_Apple_ and _pear trees_, which in Worcestershire and Herefordshire,
during several weeks of spring, seem to form

    "One boundless blush, one white empurpled shower
     Of mingled blossoms,"

and give those counties the appearance of a perfect paradise, "may be
said to constitute a second course for the bees, after their earlier
spring feast on the bloom of the currants, gooseberries, and all the
varieties of wall fruit."

_Alder buds_ and _flowers_ are also particularly grateful to bees; the
former are said to afford honey for six months together. The maple and
the lime also afford it for a considerable time.

Dickson, in his "Agriculture," states that the blossoms of _the bean_,
which are highly fragrant, though affording but a scanty supply of honey,
are nevertheless frequented by crowds of bees. "Is this," says Dr. Evans,
"an instance of mistaken instinct?"

The young spotted leaves of _the vetch_ (_Anthyllis vulneraria_) they
likewise ply continually for three months together, as well as its
flowers, even though very distant from their homes. The beans also which
prove most attractive to them are those with spotted leaves.

From the partiality of these natural chemists for the spotted leaves of
the vetch and bean, I suspect that the spotting originates from disease,
which causes those leaves to throw out a honeyed secretion. In this
opinion I am strengthened by what Mr. Hubbard has stated, in a paper
presented to the Society of Arts for 1799, respecting papilionaceous
plants. "It is not," says he, "from the flower, but a small leaf, with a
black spot on it, which, in warm weather, keeps constantly oozing, that
the bees gather their honey." Mr. Hubbard also assures us in the same
paper that _the tare_ (_Ervum hirsutum_ et _tetraspermum_) is highly
useful to bees; and that several acres, sown near his apiary, otherwise
badly situated, rendered it very productive.

_Turnips, mustard_, and all _the cabbage tribe_ are also important
auxiliaries; their culture is strongly recommended by Wildman, as
affording spring food to the bees. In the autumn a field of _buckwheat_
becomes a very valuable resource for them, from its prolonged succession
of bloom. Buckwheat flowers in bunches, which contain ripe seeds in one
part, while blossoms are but just opening in another. Huber has given
his testimony in favour of this black grain, and Worlidge says that he
has known the bees of a very large apiary fill the combs with honey
in a fortnight, in consequence of being placed near a large field of
buckwheat. Bees indeed like to have every thing upon a large scale; whole
fields of clover, beans, the brassica tribe and buckwheat, as has been
just observed, attracting them much more strongly than scattered plants,
though affording finer honey, such as creeping lemon thyme, mignonette,
&c.

Some flowers they pass by, though yielding a considerable quantity of
honey: those of the honey-suckle for instance, though much frequented by
the humble-bee, are never visited by the hive-bee, the superior length
of the proboscis of the former enabling it to collect what is quite out
of the reach of the latter. Every flower of the trumpet honey-suckle
(_Lonicera sempervirens_), if separated from the germen, after it is
open, will yield two or three drops of pure nectar.

In the Transactions of the Society of Arts for 1789, Mr. John. Lane
speaks of the fondness of bees for _leek blossoms_, and says that he
raised leeks extensively for their use.

"Your bees will rejoice," says Mr. Isaac, "when they see the
neighbourhood variegated by the blossoms of _sunflowers, hollyhocks_
and _Spanish broom_, and even the _dandelion_, which embellishes the
garden of the sluggard." Dr. Evans observed that bees not only collect
farina from the numerous assemblage of anthers in the flower of the
hollyhock, but a balsamic varnish also, (most likely propolis,) from
the young blossom buds, and says he has seen a bee rest upon the same
bud for ten minutes at least, moulding the balsam with its fore-feet and
transferring it to the hinder legs. An elegant modern writer, speaking
of the fondness of bees in general for the flowers of the hollyhock,
observes that "it has been held a gross libel upon animals to say, that a
man has made a beast of himself, when he has drunk to such excess as to
lose his reason; but we might without injustice say, that he has made a
humble-bee of himself, for those little debauchees are particularly prone
to intoxication. Round the nectaries of hollyhocks, you may generally
observe a set of determined topers quaffing as pertinaciously as if they
belonged to Wilkes's club; and round about the flower, (to follow up the
simile,) several of the bon-vivants will be found lying on the ground
inebriated and insensible." I have frequently seen the ground beneath
one of my pear-trees strewed over with hive-bees and wasps, in a similar
state, after they had banqueted upon the rich juices of the fallen fruit.
Mr. Kirby, in his _Monographia Apum Angliæ_, observes that the male
humble-bees, when the thistles are in bloom, are often seen asleep or
torpid upon its flowers, and sometimes acting as if intoxicated with the
sweets they have been imbibing.

_The holly, the privet, phillyrea, elder_ and _common bramble_,
together with _sweet fennel, nasturtiums_ and _asparagus_, are also
much frequented by the bees. They are likewise very partial to the
yellow flowers of the _crowfoot_, as well as to the flowers of _the dead
nettle_, especially the white.

The blossoms of _the cucumber, gourd_ and _vegetable marrow_ also, yield
a considerable quantity both of honey and farina, as do likewise those of
the _white lily_.

                "Apes æstate serenâ
     Floribus insidunt variis, et Candida circum
     Lilia funduntur."

                                                          +Virgil.+

Dr. Evans speaks of the _Cacalia_ or _Alpine coltsfoot_ as affording
a great quantity of honey, the scent of which is often diffused to a
considerable distance; and Dr. Darwin, in a note to his "Botanic Garden,"
mentions having counted on one of those plants, besides bees of various
kinds, upwards of two hundred painted butterflies, which gave it the
appearance of being loaded with additional flowers.

    "When o'er her nectar'd couch papilios crowd.
     And bees in clusters hum their plaudits loud."

                                                           +Evans.+

"What is it," says the anonymous writer whom I lately quoted, "that
brings the bees buzzing round us so busily? See, it is this tuft of
coltsfoot, which they approach with a harmonious chorus, somewhat like
the _Non nobis, Domine_, of our singers; and after partaking silently of
the luxurious banquet, again setup their tuneful Pæans."

Ornamental flowers, such as roses, ranunculuses, anemones, pinks and
carnations, afford little or no pabulum for bees, and tulips are probably
pernicious to them, dead bees being frequently found in their flowers.

It would be a great acquisition to the bees to have near them a large
plantation of _borage_, which affords peculiarly delicate honey, as
does also _viper's bugloss_. The former continues blooming for many
months, and, bearing a pendant flower, it is not liable to be washed by
rain; _mignonette_ too, if sown abundantly, is a plant of considerable
importance to the apiary, and for a somewhat similar reason,--its
continuing in bloom till the autumnal frosts set in, and its yielding
honey of peculiar whiteness and delicacy. Instances have been known, of
an abundant crop of these two flowers affording a large supply of honey
to the apiary, near which they were sown, when, at the same time, there
was a general failure of all the neighbouring stocks.

_Lemon thyme_ should be planted in every bee-garden, wherever room can be
afforded for it: it blossoms late, (the beginning of August,) and affords
very fine flavoured honey. It might be advantageously used as an edging
for garden walks and flower-beds, instead of box; some use thrift and
daisies for the same purpose. Box has the character of giving honey a
bitter flavour, and Pliny has observed that the Romans, in laying tribute
upon Corsica, exacted from the inhabitants two hundred pounds of wax, but
wholly excepted honey, on account of its being flavoured by the box-tree.

_The common teasel_ (_Dipsacus sylvestris_) should have a place near
every bee-house, as it not only supplies honey from its rich purple
heads, but yields a seasonable supply of water, in the cups formed by
the leaves at every joint of the stem, which contain from a spoonful
to half a pint of water. This convenience is still more efficiently
supplied by the large floating leaves of _the water lily_, which should
if practicable be introduced near every apiary. As should also the great
hairy _willow-herb_ (_Epilobium hirsutum_), a very ornamental though a
very common plant, growing by the sides of rivulets.

_Furze, broom, heath_ and _saintfoin_, are good neighbours to an apiary.
The blossoms of furze so abound with honey as to be pervaded strongly
by the scent of it, and the broom has been extolled ever since the days
of Pliny. Mr. Bradley speaks in the highest terms of its blossoms,
as affording a great quantity of honey; but he greatly prefers the
Spanish broom, and says that an acre of it would maintain ten stocks.
The culture of saintfoin as a bee-pasture is also well worthy of the
apiarian's attention in some situations; for though it flourishes best in
a calcareous soil, it will thrive in soils which are too poor either for
grass or tillage. Furze and broom are particularly serviceable on account
of their blossoming early and long, and abounding in farina.

On the other hand, the lateness of its bloom makes _ivy_ a very valuable
resource for the bees. On a fine day at the end of October, among the
ivy-mantled towers of an old castle, I have heard their humming noise,
so loud as scarcely to be exceeded by that which they make, among the
trees affected with honey-dew, in summer. I should however conceive that
the ivy blossom is principally serviceable as affording pollen, which
the bees probably warehouse, for feeding the young larvæ in the ensuing
spring. Mr. Hunter recommends St. John's wort (_Hypericum perforatum_),
which also comes in late, as a favourite plant for collecting pollen,
for winter's store. This stored pollen is used for feeding the earliest
hatched larvæ, though it is evident that the bees prefer fresh for the
purpose, from their collecting it as early in the spring as possible, and
from the quantity of stored pollen that is found in every old hive.

_Commons surrounded by woods_ are well known to make an apiary
productive, the commons abounding with wild thyme and various other
flowers, which the scythe never touches; and the trees, in addition
to their farina, affording in some seasons a profusion of honey-dew.
The forwardness and activity of hives thus situated, may, in part, be
attributed to the sheltering protection of the woods.

Keys says he never observed bees to be particularly fond of the wild
thyme. In this he is opposed to almost all the authors who have written
upon the subject. Theophrastus, Pliny, Varro, Columella, and various
other writers, speak in the highest terms of it. The Abbé Barthelemy
speaks thus of bees. "These insects are extremely partial to Mount
Hymettus, which they have filled with their colonies, and which is
covered almost every where with wild thyme and other odoriferous plants;
but it is chiefly from the excellent thyme the Mount produces, that they
extract those precious sweets, with which they compose a honey in high
estimation throughout Greece."

    "Here their delicious task the fervent Bees,
     In swarming millions, tend: around, athwart,
     Through the soft air the busy nations fly,
     Cling to the bud, and, with inserted tube.
     Suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul;
     And oft with bolder wing, they soaring dare
     The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows,
     And yellow load them with the luscious spoil."

                                                           +Thomson+

That flowers impart a portion of their flavour to honey, seems to be
generally admitted, though probably not so much as some have imagined. It
is not to be supposed that the bee confines itself, in this country at
least, to a few particular flowers,--it ranges through a great variety;
excellent honey has been produced where the bees had little access to any
flowers but those of nettles and other weeds.

Still however the balm of Pontus, the thyme of Hymettus, and the rosemary
of Narbonne, are generally supposed, from their aromatic flowers, to give
its peculiar excellence to the celebrated honey of those places.

It should seem therefore that _rosemary_ might prove of importance in
the neighbourhood of an apiary, by improving the quality and increasing
the quantity of honey in certain seasons, viz. if the weather were very
hot and dry, when it blossomed; for it never affords much honey in this
country, excepting in such a season. It blossoms the earliest of aromatic
herbs, and should of course be planted in a southern aspect.

Having said thus much upon the power which flowers possess of imparting
a peculiar flavour to the honey which is extracted from them, I will
now advert to what has been stated relative to their impregnating it
with deleterious qualities. During the celebrated retreat of the ten
thousand, as recorded by Xenophon in his _Memorabilia_, the soldiers
sucked some honey-combs in a place near Trebizonde, where was a great
number of bee-hives, and in consequence became intoxicated, and were
attacked with vomiting and purging. He states that they did not recover
their senses for twenty-four hours, nor their strength for three or four
days. Tournefort, when travelling in Asia, bearing in mind this account
of Xenophon, was very diligent in his endeavours to ascertain its truth,
and had good reason to be satisfied respecting it. He concluded that the
honey had been extracted from a shrub growing in the neighbourhood of
Trebizonde, which is well known to produce the before-mentioned effects,
and even to disturb the head by its odour. From his description and that
of others, the plant from which this honey was extracted, appears to be
the _Rhododendron ponticum_ or _Azalea pontica_ of Linnæus, both nearly
allied to each other, and growing abundantly in that part of the country.
The smell resembles honey-suckle, but is much stronger. Father Lamberti
confirms Xenophon's account, by stating similar effects to have been
produced by the honey of Colchis or Mingrelia, where this shrub is also
common.

Dr. Darwin, in his "Temple of Nature," states that some plants afford
a honey which is intoxicating and poisonous to man, and that what is
afforded by others is so injurious to the bees themselves, that sometimes
they will not collect it. And Dr. Barton, in the American Philosophical
Transactions, has stated that, in the autumn and winter of 1790, the
honey collected near Philadelphia proved fatal to many, in consequence
of which, a minute inquiry was instituted under the direction of the
American Government, when it was ascertained satisfactorily, that the
fatal honey had been chiefly extracted from the flowers of the _Kalmia
latifolia_. Still more recently, two persons at New York are said to have
lost their lives by eating wild honey, which was supposed to have been
gathered from the flowers of the dwarf laurel, a thriving shrub in the
American woods. I shall resume this subject in Chap. 24, on Bee-maladies.

It appears also that at the time of the inquiry set on foot by the
American Government, similar fatal consequences were produced among those
who had eaten the common American pheasant, which, on examination, was
found to arise from the pheasants having fed upon the leaves of the same
plant _Kalmia latifolia_. This led to a public proclamation prohibiting
the use of the pheasant for food during that season.

As most of the plants here enumerated are now introduced into our
gardens, they might be supposed to injure the British honey. Most
probably, however, their proportion to the whole of the flowers in bloom
is too small to produce any such inconvenience; whereas on their native
continent they exclusively cover whole tracts of country.

I cannot close this chapter on Bee-Pasturage, without adverting to what
Linnæus has said of the _Fritillaria imperialis_ or _crown imperial_, and
of the _Melianthus_ or _honey-flower_. Of the former, he observes that
"no plant, melianthus alone excepted, abounds so much with honey, yet the
bees do not collect it." Of the latter he remarks "that if it be shaken,
whilst in flower, it distils a shower of nectar." This observation
applies more particularly to the _Melianthus major_. And with respect to
the _Fritillaria_, Dr. Evans says, "that the bees do sometimes visit it;
and he thinks that they would do so oftener, but for the disagreeable
fox-like smell that emanates from it."

The _liquidambar_ and _liriodendrum_, or _tulip-tree_, both which are
so ornamental, the former to our shrubberies and the latter to larger
plantations, have been much extolled, as affording food for bees. The
liquidambar bears bright saffron-coloured flowers, and highly perfumed
and glossy leaves, and its whole rind exudes a fragrant gum. The
liriodendrum is crowned with large bell-shaped blossoms, of every rainbow
hue, which give it a very splendid appearance.




CHAPTER V.

HONEY-DEW.


The term +honey-dew+ is applied to those sweet clammy drops that
glitter on the foliage of many trees in hot weather. The name of this
substance would seem to import, that it is a deposition from the
atmosphere, and this has been the generally received opinion respecting
it, particularly among the ancients; it is an opinion still prevalent
among the husbandmen, who suppose it to fall from the heavens: +Virgil+
speaks of "Aërii mellis cœlestia dona:" and +Pliny+ expresses his doubts,
"sive ille est cœli sudor, sive quædam siderum saliva, sive purgantis se
aëris succus." The Rev. +Gilbert White+, in his Naturalist's Calendar,
regards honey-dew as the effluvia of flowers, evaporated and drawn
up into the atmosphere by the heat of the weather, and falling down
again in the night with the dews that entangle them. But if this were
the case, the fall would be indiscriminate, and we should not have it
confined to particular trees and shrubs, nor would it be found upon
green-house and other covered plants. Some naturalists have regarded
honey-dew as an exudation or secretion from the surface of those leaves
upon which it is found, produced by some atmospheric stroke, which has
injured their health. +Dr. Darwin+ stands in this class. Others have
viewed it as a kind of vegetable perspiration, which the trees emit for
their relief in sultry weather; its appearance being never observed
in a cold ungenial summer. Dr. +Evans+ is of this opinion, and makes
the following comparative remark: "As the glutinous sweat of the negro
enables him to bear the fervours of his native clime, far better than
the lymph-perspiring European; so the saccharine dew of the orange, and
the fragrant gum of the Cretan cistus, may preserve them amidst the
heats even of the torrid zone." Mr. +Curtis+ has given it as his opinion
that the honey-dew is an excrementitious matter, voided by the aphis or
vine-fretter, an insect which he regards as the general cause of what
are called blights. He assures us that he never, in a single instance,
observed the honey-dew unattended with aphids.

I believe it will be found that _there are at least two sorts of
honey-dew; the one a secretion from the surface of the leaf_, occasioned
by one of the causes just alluded to, _the other a deposition from
the body of the aphis_. Sir +J. E. Smith+ observes of the sensible
perspiration of plants, that "when watery, it can be considered only
as a condensation of their insensible evaporation, perhaps from some
sudden change in the atmosphere. Groves of poplar or willow exhibit this
phenomenon, even in England, in hot calm weather, when drops of clear
water trickle from their leaves, like a slight shower of rain. Sometimes
this secretion is of a saccharine nature, as +De la Hire+ observed in
orange trees." "It is somewhat glutinous in the tilia or lime-tree,
rather resinous in poplars, as well as in _Cistus creticus_." "Ovid has
made an elegant use of the resinous exudations of Lombardy poplars, which
he supposes to be the tears of Phaëton's sisters, who were transformed
into those trees. Such exudations must be considered as effusions of the
peculiar secretions; for it has been observed that manna may be scraped
from the leaves of _Fraxinus ornus_, as well as be procured from its stem
by incision. They are often perhaps a sign of unhealthiness in the plant;
at least such appears to be the nature of one kind of honey-dew, found in
particular upon the beech, which, in consequence of an unfavourable wind,
has its leaves often covered with a sweet exudation, similar in flavour
to the liquor obtained from its trunk. So likewise the hop, according to
+Linnæus+, is affected with the honey-dew, and its flowers are rendered
abortive, in consequence of the attacks of the caterpillar of the Ghost
moth (_Phalæna Humuli_) upon its roots. In such case the saccharine
exudation must decidedly be of a morbid nature."

The other kind of honey-dew which is derived from the aphis, appears to
be the favourite food of ants, and is thus spoken of by Messrs. +Kirby+
and +Spence+, in their late valuable Introduction to Entomology. "The
loves of the ants and the aphides have long been celebrated; and that
there is a connexion between them you may at any time in the proper
season, convince yourself; for you will always find the former very
busy on those trees and plants on which the latter abound; and if you
examine more closely, you will discover that the object of the ants,
in thus attending upon the aphides, is to obtain the saccharine fluid
secreted by them, which may well be denominated their milk. This fluid,
which is scarcely inferior to honey in sweetness, issues in limpid drops
from the abdomen of these insects, not only by the ordinary passage,
but also by two setiform tubes placed, one on each side, just above it.
Their sucker being inserted in the tender bark, is without intermission
employed in absorbing the sap, which, after it has passed through the
system, they keep continually discharging by these organs. When no ants
attend them, by a certain jerk of the body, which takes place at regular
intervals, they ejaculate it to a distance." The power of ejecting the
fluid from their bodies, seems to have been wisely instituted to preserve
cleanliness in each individual fly, and indeed for the preservation of
the whole family; for pressing as they do upon one another, they would
otherwise soon be glued together, and rendered incapable of stirring.
"When the ants are at hand, watching the moment at which the aphides
emit their fluid, they seize and suck it down immediately: this however
is the least of their talents; for the ants absolutely possess the art
of making the aphides yield it at their pleasure; or in other words of
milking them." The ant ascends the tree, says Linnæus, _that it may milk
its cows the aphides_, not kill them. Huber informs us that the liquor
is voluntarily given out by the aphis, when solicited by the ant, the
latter tapping the aphis gently, but repeatedly with its antennæ, and
using the same motions as when caressing its own young. He thinks, when
the ants are not at hand to receive it, that the aphis retains the liquor
for a longer time, and yields it freely and apparently without the least
detriment to itself, for even when it has acquired wings, it shows no
disposition to escape. A single aphis supplies many ants with a plentiful
meal. The ants occasionally form an establishment for their aphides,
constructing a building in a secure place, at a distance from their own
city, to which, after fortifying it, they transport those insects, and
confine them under a guard, like cows upon a dairy farm, to supply the
wants of the metropolis. The aphides are provided with a hollow pointed
proboscis, folded under the breast, when the insects are not feeding,
with which instrument they puncture the turgid vessels of the leaf,
leaf-stalk or bark, and suck with great avidity their contents, which are
expelled nearly unchanged, so that however fabulous it may appear, they
may literally be said to void a liquid sugar. On looking steadfastly at
a group of these insects (_Aphides Salicis_) while feeding on the bark
of the willow, their superior size enables us to perceive some of them
elevating their bodies and emitting a transparent substance in the form
of a small shower.

    "Nor scorn ye now, fond elves, the foliage sear,
     When the light aphids, arm'd with puny spear.
     Probe each emulgent vein till bright below
     Like falling stars, clear drops of nectar glow."

                                                           +Evans.+

The _willow_ accommodates the bees in a kind of threefold succession,
the farina of the flowers yielding spring food for their young,--the
bark giving out propolis for sealing the hives of fresh swarms,--and the
leaves shining with honey-dew in the midst of summer scarcity. But to
return to the aphides. "These insects may also be seen distinctly, with
a strong magnifier, on the leaves of the hazel, lime, &c. but invariably
on the inferior surface, piercing the vessels, and expelling the
honey-dew from their hinder parts with considerable force." "These might
easily have escaped the observation of the earlier philosophers, being
usually concealed within the curl of the leaves that are punctured."
The drops that are spurted out, unless intercepted by the surrounding
foliage, or some other interposing body, fall upon the ground, and the
spots may often be observed, for some time, beneath the trees affected
with honey-dew, till washed away by the rain. When the leaves of the
kidney-bean are affected by honey-dew, their surface assumes the
appearance of having been sprinkled with soot.

Honey-dew usually appears upon the leaves, as a viscid, transparent
substance, sweet as honey, sometimes in the form of globules, at others
resembling a syrup, and is generally most abundant from the middle of
June to the middle of July.

It is found chiefly upon the _oak_, the _elm_, the _maple_, the
_plane_, the _sycamore_, the _lime_, the _hazel_ and the _blackberry_;
occasionally also on the _cherry_, _currant_, and other fruit trees.
Sometimes only one species of trees is affected at a time. The oak
generally affords the largest quantity. At the season of its greatest
abundance, the happy humming noise of the bees may be heard at a
considerable distance from the trees, sometimes nearly equalling in
loudness the united hum of swarming. Of the _plane_ there are two sorts;
the _oriental_ and the _occidental_, both highly ornamental trees, and
much regarded in hot climates for the cooling shade they afford.

    "Jamque ministrantem Platanum potantibus umbram."

                                                           +Virgil+

The ancients so much respected the former that they used to refresh its
roots with wine instead of water, believing, as Sir William Temple has
observed, that "this tree loved that liquor, as well as those who used to
drink under its shade."

    "Crevit et affuso latior umbra mero."

                                                           +Virgil+

The _sycamore_ has been discarded from the situation it used formerly
to hold, near the mansions of the convivial, owing to the bees crowding
to banquet on its profusion of honey-dew, and occasioning an early fall
of its leaves. The _lime_ or _linden_ tree has been regarded as doubly
acceptable to the bees, on account of its fragrant blossoms and its
honey-dewed leaves appearing both together, amidst the oppressive heats
of the dog-days; but it seems doubtful whether the flowers have any
attraction but their fragrance, as they are said to have no honey-cup.

It is of great importance to apiarians who reside in the vicinity of such
trees as are apt to be affected with honey-dew, to keep their bees on the
storifying plan, where additional room can at all times be provided for
them at pleasure, as during the time of a honey-dew, more honey will
be collected in one week than will be afforded by flowers in several.
So great is the ardour of the bees on these occasions, and so rapid are
their movements, that it is often dangerous to be placed betwixt the
hives and the dews.

That species of honey-dew which is secreted from the surface of the
leaves, appears to have been first noticed by the +Abbé Boissier de
Sauvages+. He observed it upon the old leaves of the holm-oak and upon
those of the blackberry, but not upon the young leaves of either; and he
remarked at the same time, that neighbouring trees of a different sort
were exempt from it: among these latter he noticed the mulberry tree,
"which," says he, "is a very particular circumstance, for this juice"
(honey-dew) "is a deadly poison to silk-worms."

Some years do not afford any honey-dew, it generally occurs pretty
extensively once in four or five years.




CHAPTER VI.

PURCHASE OF BEES.


Every one who meditates the establishment of an apiary, should be able
to distinguish a good from a bad hive of bees, that he may detect
imposition, if it should be attempted, when he is purchasing his first
swarms or stocks. Bees are commonly purchased in the spring or in the
autumn. The value of a hive of bees, purchased in the spring, if it be a
recent swarm, may be ascertained by its weight, which should not be less
than four or five pounds, on the day of swarming. But the weight _alone_,
of a _stock_ hive, is not a criterion of its worth; several other
circumstances are to be considered,--for the worst _stock_ hives often
weigh the heaviest. Still if a stock-hive be a swarm of the current year,
which is always desirable, weight may be regarded _in a great_ degree,
as a _criterion of value_, its quantity of heterogeneous matters being
probably inconsiderable. Such a hive, purchased in the autumn, should not
weigh less than from twenty-five to thirty pounds, and should contain
about half a bushel of bees.

There are surer grounds, however, upon which its value may be determined.

1st. The combs should be of a pale colour, as dark ones denote age;
though even in this there may be deception, for old combs may be
lengthened out and bordered with new wax.

2ndly. The combs should be worked down to the floor of the hive.

3rdly. The interstices of the combs should be crowded with bees.

All these points may be safely ascertained, by gently turning up the
hive in an evening, when the bees are at rest. It may be well also to
notice the proceedings of the bees in the day-time. If when they quit the
hive, to range the fields, they depart in quick succession and without
lingering about; and if the entrance be well guarded by sentinels; these
are pretty sure indications of a prosperous hive.

The hive, when purchased, should be raised gently from the stool, some
hours prior to its removal, and be supported by wedges, that the bees may
not cluster on the floor, as this would be productive of inconvenience
at the time of their removal. After being wedged up, the hive should
remain undisturbed till night, when, being placed upon a proper board, it
should be carried away carefully, and placed at once where it is intended
to remain, unless it be a recent swarm which is to be removed into a
box.--The mode of proceeding in this case will be noticed hereafter.

The bees of a hive, recently removed, if purchased of a near neighbour,
or if the weather be cold, should be confined for a day or two, or else
many of them, after flying about in quest of provision, will be lost; in
the one case, by returning to their old habitation, and in the other, by
being chilled to death, in searching for their new one.




CHAPTER VII.

BEE-BOXES.


There has been some difference of opinion as to _the most suitable
dimensions of bee-boxes_. I prefer those of Keys, which are twelve inches
square and nine inches deep, _in the clear_. The _best wood_ for them is
_red cedar_, the fragrance of which is regarded by some as agreeable to
the bees; but the chief grounds of preference are its effect in keeping
moths out of the boxes, and its being a bad conductor of heat, from its
lightness and sponginess. Whatever kind of wood be made use of, it should
be well seasoned; _yellow deal_ answers the purpose very well. The sides
of the boxes should be an inch thick, and the bars on the top three
quarters of an inch, about an inch and half wide, and six in number,
which will leave an interspace between each of about half an inch. At
the back of each box, a pane of glass should be fixed in a small rabbet,
which may be covered with a half inch door, hung with wire hinges and
fastened by a button.

[Illustration]

The size of the door may be suited to the wishes of the apiarian: as this
door will only give a view of the centre combs, in case of their being
constructed in a line with the bars, or of one or more of the external
combs, in case of their being attached at right angles with the bars or
diagonally, it will be desirable to have a pane of glass in each side
also, that the proprietor may be enabled to judge at any time of the
stock of honey contained in the box. These small glass windows will
seldom do more than afford the proprietor an opportunity of ascertaining
the strength of his stock of bees, and the quantity of honey they have
in store; if he wish to see more particularly the operations of the
labourers, or to witness the survey which the queen now and then takes of
them, he may have a large bell-glass, surmounted by a straw-hive, which
latter may be occasionally raised, for the purpose of inspection.

    "By this blest art our ravish'd eyes behold,
     The singing Masons build their roofs of gold,
     And mingling multitudes perplex the view,
     Yet all in order apt their tasks pursue;
     Still happier they, whose favour'd ken hath seen
     Pace slow and silent round, the state's fair queen."

                                                           +Evans.+

An opportunity of beholding the proceedings of the queen is so very
rarely afforded, that many apiarians have passed their lives without
enjoying it; and Reaumur himself, even with the assistance of a
glass-hive, acknowledges that he was many years before he had that
pleasure. Those who have been so fortunate, agree in representing her
majesty as being very slow and dignified in her movements, and as being
constantly surrounded by a guard of about a dozen bees, who seem to pay
her great homage, and always to have their faces turned towards her, like
courtiers, in the presence of royalty.

    "But mark, of royal port, and awful mien,
     Where moves with measur'd pace the +Insect Queen+!
     Twelve chosen guards, with slow and solemn gait.
     Bend at her nod, and round her person wait."

                                                           +Evans.+

Mr. Dunbar's observations, upon the movements of the queen in his
mirror-hive, do not correspond altogether with what is here stated. He
says that he did not find her majesty attended in her progress by a
guard, but that wherever she moved the way was cleared; that the heads
of the workers whom she passed upon her route were always turned towards
her, that they fawned upon and caressed her, touching her softly with
their antennæ; but that as soon as she moved onwards, they resumed their
labours, whilst all that she passed in succession paid her the same
homage. This sort of _homage_ is only _paid to fertile queens;_ whilst
they continue virgins, they are not treated with much respect.

The queen is very numerously surrounded, when depositing her first
eggs in the cells, her attendants then cling to one another and form a
living curtain before her, so completely impenetrable to our eyes, as to
preclude all observation of her proceedings; unless the apiarian use the
leaf-hive of Huber, or the mirror-hive of Dunbar, it is hardly possible
to snatch a sight of her, excepting when she lays her eggs near the
exterior parts of the combs. The manner in which bees attach themselves
to each other, when forming a curtain, or when suspending themselves
from a bough, or taking their repose, is, by each bee, with its two
fore-claws, taking hold of the two hinder legs of the one next above it,
thus forming as it were a perfect grape-like cluster or living garland.
Even when thus intertwined with each other, as Swammerdam has observed,
they can fly off' from the bunch, and perch on it again, or make their
way out from the very centre of the cluster, and rush into the air. This
mode of suspension, so voluntarily adopted, must be agreeable to them,
though the uppermost bees evidently bear the weight of all the rest. Mr.
Wildman supposes that they have a power of distending themselves with
air, like fishes, by which they acquire buoyancy.

Each set of boxes must have one _close cover_, which should be an inch
thick and well clamped at each end to prevent warping, as a considerable
quantity of steam arises from the bees at certain seasons. The top, being
intended to take off and on, should be secured by means of four screws,
each placed about an inch and a half from the respective corners; and it
should also be fitted to, and screwed down upon, all the boxes before
any of them are used, that whenever it may be necessary to remove, or to
add a box, the change may be effected with the utmost promptitude. Long
taper screws, as nearly of the same size as possible, should be selected
for fastening on the tops, and be dipped in grease before put in, to
facilitate their removal. Each set of boxes must also have a _loose
floor_, an inch thick and extending about an inch and half beyond the
back and sides of the boxes. The outlet for the bees is usually cut in
the lower edge of the boxes, but I have found it much more convenient
to have it formed by sinking the floor half of its thickness at the
centre of its front edge. The width of the part sunk should be about
four inches, and should gradually diminish in depth till it reach the
centre of the board. The sloping direction thus given will, in case of
beating rain or condensed steam falling upon it, prevent any wet from
lodging within the hive. The floor must also be clamped at the ends, to
prevent warping, though the superincumbent weight renders it less liable
to be warped than the top. Either on the right or left hand side of the
entrance, as may be most convenient, a _groove_ must be cut half an inch
deep and half an inch wide; to this groove a _slide_ must be fitted (made
to run easily), for the purpose of closing the box, and preventing the
egress or ingress of the bees, as occasion may require.

[Illustration]

A _centre board_ between each tier of boxes will likewise be convenient;
it should be of the same size as the floor, and have an oblong hole about
six inches by four in the middle, to give liberty to the bees to pass
from box to box. Apiaries should always have a few supernumerary boards
of each sort, and also some supernumerary boxes.

As the boxes and boards require to be made with great accuracy, that they
may be nicely adapted to each other, a good joiner should be employed to
construct them; for if there be any crevices the bees will, according to
their invariable custom, fill them with propolis, and thereby waste their
valuable time. The square boxes which I have described are the simplest
of any, in their form: some persons prefer the octagon or hexagon form;
in some situations, if windows be placed in the three posterior sides,
those forms may be more convenient for exhibiting the operations of the
bees, or the store of honey in the combs; but they are more expensive and
more cumbrous, if made as capacious as the square ones; and these latter
answer the intended purposes so well, as to satisfy completely those who
have used them. Although I have endeavoured to give a clear description
of the form and mode of constructing a bee-box and its appendages,
probably it may be more satisfactory to young beginners to obtain a sight
or a model of them, I refer them therefore to Mr. Hughes, joiner, Ross,
Herefordshire, or to Mr. John Milton, 10, Great Marybone Street.

I cannot dismiss this part of my subject, without saying a few words
respecting _the hive of Huish_, which is contrived with the view of
allowing the removal of the exterior bars, that support the honey-combs,
without disturbing the brood-combs. The principle of this hive appears
to be very good, but I doubt whether it will come into general use;
for as bees are not very tractable creatures, they are not likely to
construct their combs in direct lines, so as to attach one singly
to each of Mr. Huish's bars: the tops of the boxes which I use are
constructed like Huish's, yet I never saw an instance in which the
combs did not either cross those bars at right angles, or connect
themselves in some way or other with two or three bars, so as to render
it impracticable to remove a comb or two from the outsides, in the manner
that Huish proposes. The sole advantage of Huish's hive consists in this
undisturbing mode of removal; and could it be effected, honey might be
extracted without withdrawing any of the stored pollen or propolis, or
molesting the brood in the centre combs; an inconvenience which, it must
be admitted, may be charged upon the storifying system, though I hope I
have, in my chapter or Deprivation, pointed out a method that will, in
a very great degree, if not entirely, remedy this inconvenience. Huish,
in his instructions for using his hives, admits the difficulty which I
have here stated, as to the attachment of a single comb to more than one
bar, and gives particular directions how to proceed on such occasions;
but even under tolerably favourable circumstances, the recommended
operation would require considerable nicety, and no small portion of
courage; in some cases the difficulty would be completely insurmountable.
A hive very similar to that of Huish is described in Wheeler's Travels.
He states it to be in use in the neighbourhood of Mount Hymettus. "The
hives," says he, "in which they keep their bees, are made of willow or
osiers fashioned like our common dust-baskets, wide at top and narrow at
bottom." "These tops are covered with broad flat sticks, along which the
bees fasten their combs, so that a comb may be taken out whole." We are
informed, by Reaumur and Du Hamel, that this Greek method of keeping bees
and taking honey was introduced into France in 1754. If it had succeeded,
either in France or in this country, I think we should have heard more of
it.

The only way in which I conceive that Huish's idea can be followed up
effectually, is, by employing the experimental hive of Huber; but the
majority of persons who undertake the management of bees, will look to
them as a source of profit; and to these the expense of such a hive
would render it completely unavailable. Huber's first experiments were
made in single leaf-hives an inch and a half wide; his latter trials, on
several of these connected together, each an inch and a quarter wide,
which left the same room for the passage of the bees as the single hive.
See Chapter XI. Reaumur's hives consisted of wooden frames, with glass
windows, but of such a width, as to allow the bees to construct two
combs parallel to each other. This form is unfavourable, inasmuch as it
conceals from the observer whatever passes between them.

Mr. Thorley, who practised the plan of super-hiving, surmounted his
_octagon boxes_ and flat-topped hives, with a _large bell-glass_, over
which he placed a common straw-hive, to take on and off. From an extract
which I have made from Dr. Evans's book in the chapter on Instincts, he
appears to have adopted this method.

It was by the aid of similar glasses that Maraldi was enabled to give to
the world so accurate an account of the natural history and labours of
bees.

    "Long from the eye of man and face of day,
     Involv'd in darkness all their customs lay,
     Until a Sage, well vers'd in Nature's lore,
     A genius form'd all science to explore,
     Hives well contriv'd in crystal frames dispos'd,
     And there the busy citizens inclos'd."

                                                +Murphy's Vaniere.+

Wildman also, in addition to his usual mode of keeping bees, upon the
storifying plan, occasionally employed flat-topped hives surmounted by a
large bell-glass; and at the close of his Treatise we are informed that
he had latterly adopted another method of super-hiving, which is still
practised by apiarians of the present day. Instead of employing one large
glass, he made use of _four_ or _five small ones_, each holding about a
pint; and those who are fond of using honey fresh from the hive, will
find this a convenient mode of keeping their bees, though probably not
so profitable a one as the general plan of storifying. A stock of these
hives and glasses, on the most approved construction, is kept constantly
ready for sale at Mr. John Milton's, 10, Great Marybone Street. The bees,
upon this plan, are hived in the usual way, the top board being kept
closed, till the glasses are placed over it, which may be done as soon
as convenient after the hive has been put in the situation in which it
is intended to remain. The glasses and top board should be covered with
a common straw-hive, to exclude the light, as bees are found to work
best in the dark. When the glasses are sufficiently filled with combs
and honey,--and this period will very much depend upon the season,--if
the bees still remain in them, placing an empty hive under the full one
win generally cause them to descend, and facilitate the removal of the
glasses, which may take place as often as the harvest of honey will
admit, consistently with the leaving of a full winter's supply for the
bees. See chapter on Nadir-hiving. The usual mode of taking the honey
in these glasses is, first to cut off the communication between them and
the hive on which they stand, by loosening the thumbscrew in the centre,
and turning the board so far round as to close the openings; then, by
means of a thin spatula, separating the glasses from their adhesion, and
either carrying them, inverted, a short distance from the hive, into a
shady place, or raising each glass by means of a wedge, and leaving it
thus for about an hour. In either case the bees will quit the glasses
and return to the family by the usual entrance. To effect the removal, I
think it preferable to use two flat pieces of tin, after the manner of
dividers, placing the tins successively under each glass, carrying it
away upon one, and leaving the other over the opening till the glass has
been emptied and replaced or another substituted in its room: and where
it is wished to take only one or two glasses, this mode must always be
adopted. The bees will rarely fill more than one set of glasses, during
the first year; though in future years, if the season be favourable, they
may be expected to fill two sets. The best time for removal is the middle
of a fine day, when the greatest number of bees are roaming the fields.
This method of management will not prevent the bees from swarming, unless
it be combined with storifying, which it very easily may.




CHAPTER VIII.

HIVES.


+Bee-hives+ have been formed with various materials, the selection of
which has depended partly upon the country or district in which they
have been used, and partly upon the fancy of the apiarian. _Osiers_,
_rushes_, _segs_ and _straw_ have all been in requisition for forming
hives, and Bonner, an eminent bee-master in Scotland, proposes to have
them made of _earthenware_. In North America, according to Brookes, they
are formed out of _the hollow trunks of the liquidambar tree_, cut to a
proper length and covered with a board to keep out the rain: for the same
purpose the people in Apulia use _the trunk of the giant fennel_, after
clearing away its fungous pith. In Egypt, says Hasselquist, bee-keepers
make their hives of _coal dust and clay_, which being well blended
together, is formed into hollow cylinders, of a span diameter, and from
six to twelve feet long; these being dried in the sun, become so hard
as to be handled at will. "I saw some thousands of these hives," says
our author, "at a village between Damietta and Mansora; they composed a
wall round a house, after having become unserviceable in the use they
were first made for."--Voyages and Travels in the Levant, &c. By Fred.
Hasselquist, B.D.

Under the head of Storifying, I have given a history of the discovery
and progressive improvement of boxes and storifying hives, and shall
chiefly confine myself, in this chapter, to the form and dimensions of
hives. The common bell-shaped straw-hives used by the cottagers are too
well known to need remark. Premising, therefore, that the _Chelmsford_
and _Hertford hives_ are considered as the handsomest shaped and best
formed, I shall limit my observations to the _straw_ hives which may be
employed for storifying, as some persons may prefer straw to wood. These
have been called _Moreton-hives_, on account of their form _only_, the
material of which they were made being reeds and not straw. The _best
straw_ for constructing hives is that of _unblighted rye, and unthrashed_
is preferable to thrashed straw; for being smooth and entire, the bees
will be spared a good deal of trouble, as they invariably nibble away the
rough sharp spiculæ that they find on the inner surface of a new hive.
The ears of corn may be dissevered from the straw by a chaff-cutter,
and thrashed with other corn. The most approved size for a storifying
straw-hive is nine inches high by twelve inches wide, _in the clear_,
the diameter being the same from top to bottom. The importance of having
all bee-boxes made of the same dimensions has been already dwelt upon,
and it is of course of equal importance with respect to straw-hives. The
upper and lower edges should be made as smooth as possible; which effect
will be greatly promoted, by placing them, soon after making, between
two flat boards with a 56lb. weight upon the uppermost, and leaving them
in that position for a day or two. Within the upper row of straw, a
small hoop should be worked, for the purpose of nailing a board or some
wooden bars to it, and within the bottom row a piece of wood should also
be worked over the part where the bees are to pass in and out, to allow
of a more easy movement of the slide in the floor board. It would be an
improvement if the hoop were perforated through its whole course with
a wimble bit, that it might be stitched with willow or bramble splits,
to the upper round of straw, instead of being worked in with it; and
if a hoop were also stitched in a similar manner to the lower round of
straw, the lower edge of it could be planed, sufficiently smooth, to lie
on the middle or floor boards, as closely as a box, which would render
the use of mortar or other luting unnecessary. The stitch holes in the
hoop should be filled with putty, after the hive has been finished. If
bars be made use of, they should be of the same width, and placed at the
same distances from each other, as recommended for the boxes, and the
vacancies, that would otherwise be left between the ends of the bars,
should be made quite level, with bits of wood, cow-dung, or any other
convenient substance. If a single board be used, that, of course, must
be cut into bars of the proper widths. The direction of the bars should
always be from front to back.

Middle boards and floors will be equally required for storifying hives
as for boxes; but the outside covers should be made of straw, like round
mats, and be wide enough to extend an inch beyond the edges of the
hives, if used in an out-door apiary. The whole story should be covered
with a good _hackel_ or _cap_, secured in its place by an iron hoop or
a properly weighted wooden one, to prevent it from being blown down. As
clean fresh rye straw is most suitable for constructing the hive itself,
so it will be the best for forming the hackel with: the latter should be
changed before it begins to decay, that it may not become offensive to
the bees from its odour, nor be selected by insects as a nidus for their
eggs.

The apiarian, if he be desirous of having glass windows in his
straw-hives, may accomplish this object by cutting with a sharp knife
through two of the bands of straw, in two places, about three inches
asunder. The windows are generally cut opposite the entrance, and about
the centre, but may be made at any part of the hive. The ends of the cut
straw-bands may be secured by stitches of packthread, or, what is better,
with softened mole snap wire, and the panes of glass may be fastened with
putty.

Out-door hives should have a protection not only of straw caps, but of
a _shed_ also, which if made open in _front only_, would afford much
shelter against driving rains and high winds; but the most complete shed
is made with folding or sliding doors _at the back_, and is closed at
the sides, and in front, with the exception of such openings as may be
necessary for the entrance of the bees and for their accommodation in bad
weather. This shed renders hackels unnecessary, and is adapted either to
storifying or single-hiving. In the annexed plate is a back view of it,
with hives arranged in different ways.

[Illustration]




CHAPTER IX.

COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF WOODEN BOXES AND STRAW HIVES.


Most of the writers who have instituted a comparison between hives and
boxes, have decided in favour of the former. But it is to be recollected
that when forming this decision, these writers have always had in their
minds an out-door apiary, for which situation, on account of their
exposure to the variations of temperature and the alternations of drought
and moisture, straw-hives possess advantages over wooden boxes;--they are
not so soon affected by a hot and dry or by a moist atmosphere; they do
not part with so much heat in winter nor admit so much in summer, straw
being, in the language of the chemists, a bad conductor of heat. Being
much cheaper than any others, straw-hives are of course chosen by the
cottager.

Upon the storifying system, and with the advantage of a bee-house, I
think wooden boxes have a great superiority over straw-hives; they are
more firm and steady, better suited for observing the operations of the
bees through the glass windows in the backs and sides, and less liable
to harbour moths, spiders, and other insects; they permit the combs, at
the period of deprivation, to be more easily separated from the sides and
tops, and if well made, have a much neater appearance than straw-hives.




CHAPTER X.

LEAF HIVES.


Narrow hives, with large glazed doors on each side, have been recommended
by apiarian writers, for exposing the operations of bees. That of
+Reaumur+ was too wide: it allowed the construction of two parallel
combs, by which of course, the apiarian was precluded from making
any useful observations, upon the proceedings of the bees, in their
interspace. +Bonnet+ recommended the use of a hive, the doors of which
should be only so far asunder as to allow the building of one comb
between them. This suggestion was successfully adopted by +Huber+; and
to prevent the bees from building short transverse combs, instead of a
single one, parallel to the sides of the hive, he laid the foundation
himself, by fastening a piece of empty comb to the ceiling of the box.

+Huber's+ glass doors had only an interspace of an inch and half betwixt
them: in this hive the bees could not cluster upon the surfaces of
the comb, and yet had room to pass freely over it. Mr. +John Hunter+
recommended the diameter of these narrow hives to be three inches,
and the superficies of the sides to be of sufficient size to afford
stowage for a summer's work. Mr. +Dunbar+, with his mirror-hive,
constructed somewhat like Huber's, has been able to make some interesting
observations on the œconomy of the bee. _Vide_ Edinburgh Philosophical
Journal, vol. iii. The distance of his glass doors from each other is one
inch and two thirds; the height and width of the hive, according to the
plan in the Journal, about a foot. Across the centre of the mirror-hive
Mr. Dunbar introduced a light frame, which though apparently dividing the
hive into four compartments, allowed the bees a free passage: they were
skreened from the light by a pair of folding shutters on each side.

Mr. Dunbar hived a small swarm in one of these narrow boxes, in June
1819: the bees began to build immediately, and he witnessed the whole of
their proceedings, every bee being exposed to his view. The narrowness
of their limits constrained them, from the very commencement, to work
in divisions, so that four separate portions of comb were begun and
continued nearly at the same time.

[Illustration]

But this arrangement did not sufficiently employ these industrious
creatures; for contrary to their usual mode of building, which is from
above downwards, they laid two other foundations of comb, upon the upper
parts of the cross sticks.

[Illustration]

The bees now wrought upwards and downwards at the same time, till the
originally separate portions were united and become one comb.

[Illustration]

For want of proper precautions, the bees of this hive perished, during
the intense cold of January 1820.

On the 25th of March following, Mr. Dunbar introduced another swarm into
the same unicomb hive; and so early as the 27th, he saw the queen laying
the eggs of workers. This second swarm found plenty of honey and farina
in the hive, left by its former tenants. Other particulars reported by
Mr. Dunbar are detailed in the Chapters to which they belong.

These hives are of course only useful to the amateur apiarian, who is in
quest of information or amusement.

Huber carried the principle of this hive still further: he joined several
thin boxes together with hinges: these boxes or wooden frames were
without glasses, and the hinges were so contrived as to admit of easy
removal. Every box or leaf (as Huber called each separate frame), except
the two exterior, was reduced in thickness to an inch and quarter, which,
as there was a free communication between all the leaves, afforded the
same liberty for the operations of the bees as the single box that was
an inch and half wide. This contrivance gave him the power of opening
the leaves separately, and inspecting the proceedings of the bees at all
times: they soon became accustomed to this treatment, and M. Huber was
thus able to examine any one of the divisions, without exciting the anger
of the bees. After they had properly secured the pieces of comb which he
had attached to the roofs of the boxes, they were subjected to a daily
inspection by this indefatigable naturalist.

The preceding sketches may serve to show my readers the progressive
proceedings of the bees in the unicomb hive, and the following outline
may give them a notion of the compound hive.

[Illustration]




CHAPTER XI.

DIVIDERS.


The apiarian who adopts the storifying plan, should have _Keys's
dividers_, which consist of two copper or brass plates, about the
sixteenth of an inch thick, fifteen inches wide, and fifteen and a half
long; the odd half inch, being turned up, serves for the operator to
lay hold of, when the plates are withdrawn. Care should be taken that
the plates be perfect planes, well hardened by hammering, and of proper
thickness. If they exceed the prescribed thickness, the bees may escape
as soon as the plates are partially introduced or partially withdrawn;
and if they be thinner, there will be the same chance of escape from
their want of firmness and elasticity.

These dividers greatly facilitate the various operations which the
apiarian has to perform, and at the same time secure him from the attacks
of the bees.

He should be provided with one of the _long-bladed spatulas_ or knives,
used by apothecaries and painters, which he will find useful in
separating the honey-combs from the sides of the hives or boxes. In some
cases it will also be necessary to have _an iron instrument_, about ten
inches long and half an inch wide, the end of which should be _turned
up about two inches_ and be _double-edged_, that it may cut both ways.
This instrument, which should be fixed in a wooden handle, being passed
between the combs, will enable the operator to separate them from their
attachment to the bars.

Those who make use of the Moreton-hives,--a description of which is given
in the chapter on Hives,--should be furnished with two strips of tin four
inches by fifteen; these will protect the straw bottoms of the upper
hives during the introduction of the dividers, and should be introduced
one on each side, the hives having been previously dissevered by means of
the spatula.




CHAPTER XII.

STORIFYING.

[Illustration]


+Storifying+ means the piling of hives or boxes upon each other, as
shown in the above plate, and preserving a free communication between
them; a method which enables the apiarian to take wax and honey without
destroying the lives of the bees.

Attempts have been made to accomplish this object in different ways.
+Thorley+ placed empty hives or boxes over full ones, +Wildman+ and
+Keys+ placed full boxes over empty ones, +White+ and +Madame Vicat+
placed them collaterally.

Hives and boxes for storifying, as well as for observing the operations
of the bees, have been made of various forms and dimensions, and of
different materials: such as straw, osiers, glass, and wood.

+Aristotle+, +Pliny+, and other ancient writers, speak of contrivances
for taking honey, and inspecting the operations of the bees. Modern
writers, particularly +Mouffet+, ridiculed the ineffectual schemes of
their brethren of antiquity, and indeed they were very soon abandoned.
The way in which _they_ endeavoured to accomplish their objects, was by
the introduction of transparent substances into the sides of the hives or
boxes, such as _isinglass_, _horn_ (_cornu laterna_), _pellucid stone_
(_lapis specularis_), probably _talc_, which is still used in the Russian
navy for cabin windows, on account of its not being liable to break by
the percussion of the air during the firing of cannon, or in tempestuous
weather.

Mr. +Hartlib's+ _Commonwealth of Bees_, published in 1655, contains the
first account, I have seen, of bee-boxes being employed in this country.
He speaks of "an experiment of glassen hives invented by Mr. +W. Mew+,
Minister of Easlington in Gloucestershire: his boxes were of an octagon
shape, and had a glass window in the back." Soon after, in the year 1675,
+Jno. Gedde+, Esq. published, "_A new discovery of an excellent method of
Bee-houses and Colonies_," which was intended to preserve the lives of
the bees: he obtained a patent for his boxes from King Charles.

Gedde's boxes were considerably improved by +Joseph Warder+, a physician
at Croydon, who published an account of them in his work entitled "_The
true Amazons, or the Monarchy of Bees_." Dr. Warder enriched his account
with several curious circumstances respecting bees; some of which will
be detailed in a future chapter. The method of these gentlemen seems
not to have been generally known; for even Swammerdam, who published in
1680, makes no mention of it. Had Swammerdam known it, he would have
been informed of many circumstances, respecting which he was evidently
ignorant. This want of Dr. Warder's information is to be lamented, for
Swammerdam was an accurate observer, and a faithful reporter of what he
did observe.

Gedde and Warder were succeeded by the Rev. +John Thorley+ of Oxford,
who published "_An Enquiry into the Nature, Order, and Government of
Bees_;" and by the Rev. +Stephen White+ of Halton in Suffolk, who wrote
on "_Collateral Bee-boxes, or an easy and advantageous method of managing
Bees_." Collateral boxes have been objected to, because bees, when
the boxes are on a level, have laid their eggs promiscuously in both;
moreover side boxes occupy a great deal more room than storifying boxes.

Mr. +Thorley's son+ improved the method of his father. The indefatigable
Mr. +Wildman+ devoted much of his time to the same subject: to him we
are principally indebted for the present perfection of bee-boxes, and
particularly for obtaining fresh honey throughout the season, by means of
small glasses ranged upon a flat-topped hive. _Vide_ pages 93 and 99.

    "But faintly, Rome, thy waxen cities shone
     Through the dim lantern or refractive stone,
     And faintly Albion saw her film-wing'd train
     Glance evanescent through the latticed pane.
     Ere Wildman's art unveil'd the straw girt round,
     Its broad expanse with crystal vases crown'd,
     And each full vase, like Amalthæa's horn,
     For Man successive graced the festal morn."

                                                           +Evans.+

+Madame Vicat+, a very ingenious lady in Switzerland, published, in the
Memoirs of the Berne Society, some very judicious _Observations on bees
and hives_. She was the first who hinted, that upon the storifying plan,
the duplets and triplets should always be placed under the full hives;
as the bees, in constructing fresh works, evidently prefer descending to
ascending.

Lastly, we have Mr. +Keys's+ very useful book, "_The ancient Bee-master's
Farewell_," which has long been a standard work to the practical
apiarian.

Keys states, that upon the storifying plan, three pecks of bees will
collect more honey in a season, than four pecks divided into two
families, upon the common plan, and that the proportion of pure honey and
pure wax will likewise be greater. He observes, that a good storified
colony has, under favourable circumstances, received an accession of
thirty pounds of honey in seven days; whereas if a swarm had been sent
off, the increase, in the same period, would not, probably, have been
more than five pounds.

This difference of increase is owing, I conceive, to the divided family
occupying a larger proportion of its workers as nurses, than the
storified family employs, there being in the former the brood of two
queens, in the latter the brood of only one, to be attended to. The one
establishment is in fact divided, so as to form two establishments, and
there must be of course, an observance of the accustomed peculiarities
of dignity and office, in each of the two, as there was in the one;
consequently, fewer collecting bees can be spared from the divided
family, than would have been at liberty in their undivided state; and
this reasoning will apply with increasing force as the number of duplets
and triplets is increased.

In single-hiving, if rainy weather occur at the time the bees are
prepared to throw off a swarm, and the hive be filled with comb to
its utmost limit, all the bees must remain idle till the return of
fine weather; whereas if more room be given, as upon the storifying
plan, they will, by embracing every opportunity for collecting, and by
constructing fresh combs by means of the stores already collected, be
enabled to diminish that check to their activity, which wet weather
always occasions. Though rainy weather has this effect upon the bees,
yet are they much less susceptible to moisture than to cold: they may
frequently be seen in full activity upon a warm showery day, whereas on a
cold dry one, they cluster closely together within the hives. The colder
the weather the more closely they cluster. "When the lime-tree and black
grain blossom," says Huber, "they brave the rain, they depart before
sun-rise, and return later than ordinary."

Independently of the benefit derived from storifying, as congregating
a numerous body of bees together, it will always be found advantageous
to have hives of whatever sort well filled, as the bees uniformly work
best when in a numerous body: this has induced Mr. Espinasse and others
strongly to recommend the union of stocks that do not well fill the
hives.




CHAPTER XIII.

SWARMING.


However populous a stock of bees may be in the autumn, its numbers are
greatly reduced during winter, perhaps about six or seven eighths. This
loss is more than replaced in the spring, by the amazing fecundity of the
queen. Hence arises a disposition to throw off swarms, which, of course,
will issue more or less frequently, more or less early, and in greater or
less force, according to the temperature of the season, the fertility of
the queen, the populousness of the stock, and the attention that has been
paid to early feeding.

It is a prevalent opinion, that a swarm consists entirely of young bees;
but this is an error: every swarm contains a mixture of young and old;
the latter are distinguishable by being of a redder hue, and having
ragged wings.

_In favourable seasons, a good stock will throw off three swarms, even
a swarm of the current year will sometimes throw off another swarm_; in
this latter case, there is but a small collection of honey, compared with
the great number of bees which have been called into existence. I have
endeavoured to account for this in page 113. In the Monthly Magazine,
for Sept. 1825, an instance is recorded of five swarms being thrown off
and hived before the end of July from planting one single stock; the
season was favourable, and the situation, (High Armaside in Lorton),
particularly so. They were not all thrown off from the first or parent
stock, but from that and the earliest swarm. Bosc, the French consul
in Carolina, has stated that he had eleven swarms in one season from a
single stock; and that each of those swarms, during the same season,
threw off the same number of secondary ones!!!! The space which usually
intervenes between the first and second swarm is from seven to nine days;
between the second and third, the period is shorter; and if there should
be a fourth, it may depart the day after that which precedes it.

This succession of swarms must be owing to the great number of young
queens that obtain their liberty. As they greatly weaken the parent
stock, and are naturally weak themselves, the only resource under such
circumstances is the union of two or more of the swarms into one family.

_March is the month in which the grand laying of the queen usually
commences_; yet when January proves mild, the breeding will sometimes
begin at the latter end of _that_ month, and it is by no means an
uncommon thing for the commencement to happen in February. The queen-bee
may naturally be expected to breed earlier in the season than insects in
general, from the circumstance of the working-bees storing up food for
the young, which other insects, that breed later, do not; as also from
her living in the midst of a society which preserves a summer heat during
the coldest months of winter. A thermometer in a bee-hive has ranged as
high as 74° Fahrenheit at Christmas; and Bonner says that he has often
seen his hives with young brood in them in the midst of a severe frost.
In the Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c.
+Mr. Hubbard+ has stated that vigorous well-stored hives breed even in
the depth of winter. In this perhaps he was mistaken; the finding of eggs
and maggots in the cells does not satisfy my mind, as they might have
been laid late in the autumn, and have remained stationary till spring.
Riem states, that in a bad season the eggs will remain in the cells many
months without hatching. Mr. Hubbard was led to make the experiment of
suffocating a strong stock in February, to ascertain the state of the
brood-combs; in which he says that he found an abundance of brood, in
every state, from that of egg to the almost perfect fly; although the
preceding January had been very cold, accompanied by frost and snow,--a
circumstance which in some measure confirms my supposition, as to the
suspended development of the brood. Mr. Hubbard further adds, that on
examining two weak hives, in March and April, he found not a single egg.
From these very opposite states +Dr. Evans+ infers the great importance
of leaving stocks strong in October, and feeding them in an ungenial
autumn, conceiving that the bees apportion the numbers of their young to
the means they possess of supporting them. That

    "The prescient Female rears her tender brood
     In strict proportion to the hoarded food."

This, however, does not correspond with what will be stated below; from
which it will appear, that the queen sometimes lays eggs, in reliance
upon an approaching season, and does not let the number altogether depend
upon the stock of provision in the hive. The commencement of the queen's
breeding may generally be known, by the bees carrying in pellets of
farina on their thighs. For want of a sufficient supply of this, as must
happen in cold unkindly seasons, many of the nymphs are cast out, having
died probably from actual starvation. Hence the necessity, as before
stated, of having in the immediate neighbourhood of the hives such early
blossoming trees and flowers as afford plenty of farina; and also late
blossoming ones, that the bees may be enabled to lay in a store of it,
ready for spring.

Swarming may take place at any time between the beginning of April and
the latter end of August. It seldom happens before ten in the morning,
nor later than three in the afternoon, and never but in fine weather. If
it be sultry, bees are apt to rise after a storm, being anxious to escape
from the heat of the hive, rendered more intolerable by the confinement
which the storm has occasioned. In the sixth volume of the Philosophical
Transactions, an instance is recorded by +Richard Reed+, Esq. of
Lugwardine, of a swarm issuing on the 9th of March; as he supposed, in
consequence of there being an insufficient supply of food for the whole
family, a part were sent forth to seek their fortunes, lest the whole
should perish. The day, he says, was fine, but does not mention the
temperature. Probably this was a stock which had bred in the month of
February, the swarm issuing from the usual cause, a disproportion between
the size of the family and the size of the habitation.

If early swarming be desired, early breeding must be promoted, by feeding
with sugared or honeyed ale in February and March, and by keeping the
stock warm. And if the apiarian at any time wish to obtain a swarm, he
has only to withhold from his bees that accommodation which storifying
affords them.

The most advantageous time for a swarm to be thrown off is from the
middle of May to the middle of June. This period comprehends the grand
harvest season of the honeyed race. After the scythe has cut down the
flowers which adorn our meadows and yield the bees such a plentiful
supply of honey and farina, there is a very manifest relaxation in their
activity; their excursions are not only much less extensive, but less
frequent, although the weather be in all respects propitious. Swarms
that issue much earlier than the time I have specified, are apt to be
small; and should bad weather succeed, feeding will be necessary, to
prevent famine. Those that issue later, afford no better promise, either
to themselves or to the parent hives; for though late swarms are usually
large ones, they will scarcely have time to rear their brood, and to lay
in a store of honey, &c. adequate to the support of the family during
the ensuing winter and spring. Late swarming is not only hazardous
to the bees thrown off, but is injurious to the parent stock, which
suffers in proportion to the loss of labourers, that should contribute
to the general store of food, and assist in rearing the brood, which is
generally abundant, though the season be far advanced.

Hence it is the usual practice, early in the autumn, to suffocate both
the swarm and the stock, in order to secure whatever wax and honey
may have been collected up to that time. There is however another
alternative, as will be seen under the head of _Uniting Swarms or
Stocks_.

If several days of rainy weather should succeed a swarm's going off, the
stores they carry with them from the parent hive may be exhausted and
endanger a famine; in such a case recourse must be had to feeding.




CHAPTER XIV.

COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF STORIFYING AND SINGLE-HIVING.


From what has been said in the two last chapters, a comparative
estimate may be made of the advantages which storifying possesses over
single-hiving; and they appear to be the following.

First, an œconomical division of labour, an advantage common to all
bodies of artificers, whose works are conducted upon a large scale, and
which causes a larger quantity of wax and honey to be collected in the
season, than if the bees were to swarm, and to carry on their operations
in separate families.

Secondly, the facility with which the bees may be deprived of a
considerable portion of their honey, without destroying their lives, or
communicating to the honey any unpleasant flavour, from the sulphurous
gas.

Thirdly, the power which is afforded to the bees, of employing themselves
usefully during wet weather, in the manner before stated.

Fourthly, the saving of that time which is unnecessarily spent in the
construction of fresh combs, in the new habitation.

Fifthly, the saving of room; for as every family has more warehouse-room
than its respective necessities require, the division into small families
must multiply the proportion of this superfluous room.

Sixthly, the saving of the time usually lost in preparation for swarming,
when the bees hang inactively in clusters, on the outsides of the hives,
for many days, sometimes for weeks, particularly if the weather be
unfavourable.

It seems right to remark in this place, that though this _clustering_ or
_hanging out_ of the bees is generally regarded as one of the strongest
symptoms of an approaching swarm, it is nevertheless a deceptive one.
It does certainly indicate that there are bees sufficient to throw off
a swarm, and is sometimes evidence of an anxiety to do so; but unless
there be a queen ready to go off with them, however distrest for room,
the clustering will sometimes continue for a considerable time; in hot
dry seasons it may last till the middle of August. This clustering,
as before observed, is very prejudicial, as it causes the bees to be
inactive in their principal harvest season, when every bee ought to be
fully employed, and may induce a habit of inactivity for the future.
Clustering likewise obstructs the operations of the bees that are active,
by interrupting the thoroughfare to the hive. These disadvantages are
admirably remedied by storifying, without which, independently of the
loss of time to the bees, a constant system of watchfulness must be kept
up by the proprietor, during the whole period of the bees clustering out,
otherwise a swarm may be lost.

Storifying, though generally, is not invariably successful in causing the
clustered bees to reenter the boxes: where it fails to do so, if a young
queen were ready to assume the sovereignty of the colony, the clustered
bees would swarm and seek a new habitation with the old one. M. Reaumur
drowned several hives thus circumstanced, and examined all their inmates
most minutely, but could never find more than a single queen, and this
the old one; in none of these hives did he find royal larvæ.

+Keys+ says that he has _failed to make the clustered bees rejoin the
family, if he has put the empty him or box over the colony;_ but that
by _placing the box under it, the bees soon re-entered and worked
vigorously_. I have myself, in several instances, noticed the reluctance
of bees to ascend; this reluctance will however generally give way in
a day or two, if no room be allowed them in any other direction. This
is proved by the successful use of small glasses upon flat-topped hives
or boxes, for obtaining fresh honey occasionally. +Thorley+ _constantly
practised super-hiving_, and was very successful with it. So likewise is
my friend +Mr. Walond+, who finds it afford him a supply of purer honey
than nadir-hiving; for as the queen is generally found more disposed to
descend than to ascend, by placing the box over the stock it will seldom
be stored with any other combs than those which contain honey. +Mr.
George Hubbard+, however, of Bury St. Edmunds, in a paper contained in
the Transactions of the Society of Arts, vol. ix. (for which they awarded
him ten guineas), says that he has known instances in which the _bees
have swarmed rather than submit to super-hiving_.

_Bees have been known to construct combs under the floors of the hives,
when restricted for room within._ Here their natural activity surmounted
the impediments thrown in their way, by the want of inclosed space. The
storifying or colonizing plan has been much applauded for its saving the
lives of the bees: though this preservation be well worthy of attention,
yet it is an advantage very inferior to that which is derived from the
œconomical division of labour, the consequent increase of wax and honey,
and the facility afforded for extracting them. I trust that this remark
will not expose me to the imputation of inhumanity, for I am fully
sensible of the value of life to all creatures that exist, and have
often felt strongly the force of Thomson's pathetic description of the
sulphurous death of bees.

    "Ah! see where robb'd and murder'd in that pit
     Lies the still heaving hive! at evening snatch'd.
     Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night,
     And fix'd o'er sulphur...
    "Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends.
     And, us'd to milder scents, the tender race
     By thousands tumble from their honey'd dome,
     Convuls'd and agonizing in the dust."

The bee is generally allowed to be a short-lived insect. (_Vide_
Longevity of Bees.) Whatever advantage can be derived however, from
preserving the lives of the bees, at the period of taking their honey,
those, who keep them upon the storifying plan, will have the full benefit
of it, and be spared that torture of feeling, which the sensitive always
experience, when destroying life in any way.

"True benevolence extends itself through the whole compass of existence,
and sympathizes with the distress of every creature capable of sensation.
Little minds may be apt to consider a compassion of this inferior kind,
as an instance of weakness, but I consider it as affording undoubted
evidence of a noble nature."--_Melmoth._




CHAPTER XV.

SYMPTOMS WHICH PRECEDE SWARMING.


    "See where with hurry'd step, th' impassion'd throng
     Pace o'er the hive, and seem with plaintive song
     T' invite their loitering queen; now range the floor,
     And hang in cluster'd columns from the door;
     Or now in restless rings around they fly,
     Nor spoil they sip, nor load the hollow'd thigh:
     E'en the dull drone his wonted ease gives o'er.
     Flaps the unwieldy wing, and longs to soar."

                                                           +Evans.+

Notwithstanding what I have said in the last chapter on the subject of
clustering, it is too important a circumstance to be omitted in the
following enumeration of the signs of swarming.

1. Clustering or hanging out, if taken singly, may be regarded as a
fallacious symptom, but when conjoined with other indications, it may
be considered as a sign of swarming, particularly if accompanied by the
signs enumerated at the commencement of my motto.

2. The drones being visible in greater numbers than usual, and in great
commotion, especially in the afternoon.

3. The inactivity of the working bees, who neither gather honey nor
farina, though the morning be sunny and the weather altogether inviting.
Reaumur regarded this as the most indubitable sign of preparation for
swarming.

4. A singular humming noise, for two or three nights previous, which
has been variously described and accounted for. It cannot always be
distinguished, unless the ear be placed near the mouth of the hive; the
sounds, which are sharp and clear, seem to proceed from a single bee.
Some suppose the noise to be made by the young queen, and to resemble
_chip chip peep peep_ or the _toot toot_ of a child's penny trumpet,
but not so loud; Mr. Hunter compares it to the lower a in the treble of
the piano-forte. It is readily distinguishable by those who have been
accustomed to hear it. +Dr. Evans+ inquires, is it the sound emitted by
perfect queens, on emerging from their cells, as described by M. Huber?
The noise is sometimes in a shrill, at other times in a deeper key; this
difference in the intensity of the tones may arise from the distance
whence the sound proceeds, or may be intended to intimate to the bees the
respective ripeness of their queens. +Butler+ and +Woolridge+ ascribe it
to a parley between the old and young queens, the latter at the bottom
of the hive requesting leave to emigrate, and the former answering in
her bass note from the top. +Wildman+ supposes it to arise from a contest
betwixt the queens, about sallying forth; and endeavours to account for
its less frequency before first swarms, from the young chiefs being then
in their embryo state. This however is mere hypothesis, and not at all
consonant with later discoveries, particularly those of Huber and Dunbar.
_Vide_ pages 18 and 22.

5. Unusual silence in the hive, during which the separatists are supposed
to be taking in a cargo of honey before their flight, as a provision
against bad weather. Mr. Hunter opened the crops of some bees that
remained in the parent hive and the crops of some emigrating bees, when
he found the latter quite full, whilst the former contained but a small
quantity.

_The above symptoms oftener precede second or third than first swarms,
which latter sometimes issue forth without any previous notice._
+Keys+ speaks so emphatically upon this subject that I shall quote his
words. "Although there are no signs that precede first swarms, those,
before-mentioned, convey to the apiator one certain meaning, and when
heard he may be assured that the first or prime swarm has escaped, if
that will comfort him."

The moment before their departure exhibits a very lively agitation,
which first affects the queen, and is then communicated to the workers,
exciting such a tumult among them, that they abandon their labours, and
rush in disorder to the outlets.

If a swarm quit the first place on which it clusters, it hovers in the
air for some time, as if undetermined, and then flies off with great
velocity.

We hear now and then of a swarm of bees being lost, of its having eluded
the vigilance of the proprietor; I think that its loss is generally
attributable to negligence. As a different opinion is prevalent, I shall
state a few of the facts upon which that difference is founded.

+Homer+ and +Virgil+ speak of bees in their wild state as fixing their
habitations in the rocks and in hollow trees.

    "As from some rocky cleft the shepherd sees,
     Clustering in heaps on heaps, the driving bees."

                                                    +Pope's Homer.+

    "And oft, ('tis said,) they delve beneath the earth,
     And nurse in gloomy caves their hidden birth,
     Amid the crumbling stone's dark concave dwell,
     Or hang in hollow trees their airy cell."

                                              +Sotheby's Georgics.+

Many instances are also recorded of domesticated bees seeking an asylum
in some hollow part of an old building or tree. +Dr. Warder+, +Mr.
Butler+, +Mr. Knight+, +Dr. Evans+, +M. Duchet+, and other writers
think that the bees about to swarm regularly send out scouts, to
explore an eligible situation for their future residence; though Dr.
Evans admits that this disposition to resume wild habits, like many of
the instinctive faculties of the animal creation, has its intensity
weakened by domestication. Dr. Warder asserts that the bees always send
out providers, to select a suitable residence for them, several days
before swarming, and considers that their clustering upon a bough,
&c. soon after they issue forth, proceeds from their desire to be all
congregated together prior to the last flight: this is likewise the
opinion of Mr. Knight. If the place selected be a deserted hive, it is
first cleared by the bees of all heterogeneous matters, the old combs
alone being allowed to remain. An observance of this conduct probably
led +Columella+ to recommend the placing of empty hives, during the
swarming season, in appropriate situations near an apiary. +Keys+ gives
a similar recommendation. +Reaumur+ on the other hand ridicules the
idea of "spies and quartermasters," as ingenious fable. What I have
stated in Chapter XVII. p. 148. confirms Reaumur's opinion: he is also
supported in it by +Buffon+, +Bonnet+, and +Huber+: the former says,
that the swarming bees form a cloud round their queen, and set off
without seeming to know the place of their destination;--"the world
before them, where to choose their place of rest." I will however detail
a few cases that support the theory of "spies and quartermasters." In
the Philosophical Transactions for 1807, +Mr. Knight+, writing to Sir
Joseph Banks, relates several instances of the kind. On one occasion he
observed from twenty to thirty bees paying daily visits to some decayed
trees, about a mile distant from his garden; the bees appeared to be
busily employed in examining the hollow parts, and particularly the dead
knots around them, as if apprehensive of the knots admitting moisture.
In about fourteen days, these seeming surveyors were followed by a large
swarm from his apiary, which was watched the whole way, till it alighted
in one of these cavities. It was observed to journey nearly in a direct
line from the apiary to the tree. On several similar occasions the bees
selected that cavity which Mr. Knight thought best adapted to their use.
He has also noticed that, a stock being nearly ready to swarm, one of
these hollow trees was daily occupied by a small number of bees; but
the swarm from that stock, being lodged in another _hive_, the tree was
wholly deserted. This preference of a _hive_, when offered them, to a
place chosen by themselves, Mr. Knight ascribes to a habit acquired by
domestication, which generating a dependence upon man for providing them
a dwelling, descends hereditarily from the parents to their offspring.
Another instance is related by +Dr. Evans+: he suffered a hive, whose
tenants had died in the winter, to remain upon the stand till spring: he
then observed several bees paying it daily visits, and busily employed
within, but leaving it at the close of evening. These soon appeared, like
Dr. Warder's providers, to be the harbingers of a swarm; for, early in
June, an immense body of these insects were seen rapidly approaching, and
then surrounding the hive: they took possession as quickly as its narrow
entrance and crowded combs would permit. The same result was noticed
after the mild winter of 1806-7, which untenanted one of his hives by
famine: he was present when the swarm issued (from another hive in his
garden) to take possession of the empty one, which, on his endeavouring
to raise it, to give facility to their entrance, he found already
cemented to the floor. The Doctor also relates a case in which a swarm
of bees "made its way either over the tops of some very high houses,
or through several winding streets, to an old house in the centre of
Shrewsbury, and passing through an aperture in the wood-work to a room
on the first floor, were there hived by the family." +Mr. Butler+ in his
_Feminine Monarchie_ mentions the case of a poor woman whose hive being
depopulated by famine was allowed to remain out of doors till the ensuing
summer, when a swarm took possession of it, from which she afterwards
stored her garden. Other instances of a similar kind have been related;
but in most of them it is not easy to ascertain how far the proprietors
of the hives, from which the swarms went forth, had been improvident. The
cases related by Mr. Knight are the most remarkable; but with respect to
these, further information would be desirable. Was there any inducement
beyond a snug housing in the cavities of the trees, to tempt the bees to
wander so far from their native spot? such as favourite pasturage, or
neighbouring trees that were wont to supply honey-dew? or were there in
either of the hollow trees, thus occupied, any old combs which had been
left there by another family? Lastly, were the emigrating bees exposed
to any annoyance in their old habitation, either from neighbours of
their own species or the attacks of other animals? or were they deprived
of any sheltering protection to which they had been accustomed, by the
removal of buildings, the cutting down of trees or otherwise? +Bonner+,
who agrees in opinion with Mr. Knight, that bees often go in quest of a
suitable habitation, before they swarm, has observed that he knew for
certain that a swarm would not fly a mile to an empty hive, "whereas they
will fly," says he, "four miles to take possession of an old one with
combs in it."




CHAPTER XVI.

HIVING OF SWARMS.


The hiving of bees is a proceeding so well known that it seems
unnecessary to offer any observations on the particular method of
effecting it.

In every apiary there should be a stock of hives, boxes, &c. always
ready before-hand, either for storifying or for single-hiving; a neglect
of this precaution will often be productive of great inconvenience and
confusion.

It is always desirable to _have swarms put into new hives_, as old
ones often contain the larvæ of moths and other embryo insects, which
may prove injurious to the bees. If straw be the material with which
they are made, every rough straw should be removed from the interior,
otherwise the bees will lose that time in rendering it smooth, which they
could employ to greater advantage in gathering honey and constructing
combs. For a similar reason, if boxes be preferred, these should be made
air-tight with putty or other cement, that the bees may not consume
their time in filling the crevices with propolis. If on any occasion the
apiarian be induced to have recourse to _an old hive_, for receiving a
swarm, it _should, before being used, be dipped into boiling water_, to
destroy the eggs of moths and other insects, after which it should be
made perfectly dry.

In the common straw-hive, two new sticks placed across each other, at
the second round of straw from the bottom, will be useful to support the
weight of combs: the bees require no aid at the top, to which they will
themselves securely attach the combs, as may be seen in hollow trees
where bees have taken up their abode.

_Dressing the insides of the hives_ is of doubtful advantage. Some people
rub the interior of the hive with balm, bean-tops, fennel, &c. or smear
it over with cream and honey. Wildman strongly reprobates this practice,
as it gives the bees the trouble of making the hive clean again. If any
thing be used, in compliance with custom, sugared or honeyed ale is the
most alluring. +Keys+ says that a hive, containing old combs and dressed
with sugared ale, will often decoy a swarm to settle in it. +Huish+
recommends sprinkling the interior of the hives with human urine; which
he regards as a specific, on account of "its _abounding_ with _sugar_
and _salt_, two substances of which bees are particularly fond:" if
such were the fact, it would I think, be more cleanly, and therefore a
preferable plan, to mingle those favourite articles with a little ale or
water for this purpose. Huish himself recommends smearing the interior
of the hive with honey, when a swarm of bees settle in a situation,
from which it cannot be dislodged and made to enter the hive, by shaking
or other forcible means. If urine be attractive to bees, its attraction
must proceed from other qualities than those which he has mentioned; it
does certainly contain a _very small portion_ of _salt_, but I know of no
analysis of healthy human urine, which admits sugar to be a constituent
part of it.

A tinkling noise is generally, though I believe erroneously, considered
to be useful in inducing bees to settle. +Keys+ recommends the use of a
watchman's rattle, but not till the queen has come forth, for fear of
alarming her too soon, nor after the bees have begun to cluster.

+Keys+ advises also the throwing of sand or water among the bees, to make
them cluster; likewise the making of some _very_ great noise, such as
firing a gun; some have supposed the bees to mistake a loud noise, for
thunder foreboding a storm; but this, instead of causing them to settle,
would rather cause their return to the parent stock. +Dr. Evans+ suggests
the probability of noises being first used, as signals to the neighbours
that a swarm was up, and being afterwards continued by habit only. The
throwing up of handfuls of dust or sand, is said to make bees descend,
when they soar very high; these missiles being mistaken for rain.

_Bees, when swarming, are generally peaceable_, and if treated gently,
may be hived without danger or difficulty. _A remarkable instance of
their inoffensiveness at this time_ is related by +Mr. Thorley+. Wanting
to dislodge a swarm from the branches of a codlin-tree, he placed the
hive in the hands of his maid-servant, who being a novice, covered her
head and shoulders with a cloth, to guard her face; on shaking the tree,
most of the bees alighted upon the cloth, and quickly crept under it,
covering the girl's breast and neck up to her very chin. Mr. T. impressed
her with the importance of neither flinching from nor buffeting the bees,
and began immediately to search for the queen; which on finding, he
gently seized and removed, but without effecting a dislodgement of the
swarm: thus disappointed, he suspected that there was a second queen;
which actually proved to be the case: on securing, and placing her also
in the hive, with a portion of the bees, the rest followed in multitudes,
till in two or three minutes not one bee remained upon the girl, who was
thus released from her state of apprehension and alarm, without feeling
the point of a single sting. All persons similarly situated may not be
so fortunate, as, notwithstanding the greatest precaution, bees may be
provoked to draw their swords. +Dr. Evans+ relates a case of this kind;
a swarm having settled on the branch of a larch-tree, and its long tufts
of narrow leaves flapping the bees as the bough was shaken, the woman
who hived them, received above thirty stings. If the weather be windy, at
the time of swarming, they are often irritable, and apt to sting; though
clustered, they will frequently return home: this last occurrence is
generally caused by the absence of a queen; but it may also be produced
by a sudden shower, or by the transit of a dark cloud.

A queen has sometimes a defect in her wings, or is disabled by some
accident; either of these misfortunes may cause the return of a swarm, or
produce symptoms of discontent after hiving.

As many persons doubt _the queen's importance_ to the harmonious union
of a swarm, I shall give an instance or two, to show how essentially
necessary her presence is to produce this effect. +Dr. Warder+ being
desirous of ascertaining the extent of the bees' "loyalty to their
sovereign, ran the hazard of destroying a swarm, for this purpose."
Having shaken on the grass, all the bees from a hive which they had only
tenanted the day before, he searched for the queen, by stirring amongst
them with a stick. Having found and placed her, with a few attendants, in
a box, she was taken into his parlour; where the box being opened, she
and her attendants immediately flew to the window, when he clipped off
one of her wings, returned her to the box, and confined her there for
above an hour. In less than a quarter of an hour, the swarm ascertained
the loss of their queen, and instead of clustering together in one social
mass, they diffused themselves over a space of several feet, were much
agitated, and uttered a piteous sound. An hour afterwards they all took
flight, and settled upon the hedge where they had first alighted, after
leaving the parent stock; but instead of hanging together, like a bunch
of grapes, as when the queen was with them, and as swarms usually hang,
they extended themselves thirty feet along the hedge, in small bunches,
of forty, fifty, or more. The queen was now presented to them, when
they all quickly gathered round her, with a joyful hum, and formed one
harmonious cluster. At night the Doctor hived them again, and on the
following morning repeated his experiment, to see whether the bees would
rise; the queen being in a mutilated state, and unable to accompany
them, they surrounded her for several hours, apparently willing to die
with her rather than desert her in distress. The queen was a second time
removed, when they spread themselves out again, as though starching
for her: her repeated restoration to them, at different parts of their
circle, produced one uniform result, "and these poor loyal and loving
creatures, always marched and counter-marched every way as the queen was
laid." The Doctor persevered in these experiments, till after five days
and nights of fasting, they all died of famine, except the queen, who
lived a few hours longer and then died. _The attachment of the queen to
the working bees_, appeared to be equally as strong as their attachment
to her; though offered honey on several occasions, during the periods of
her separation from them, she constantly refused it, "disdaining a life
that was no life to her, without the company of those which she could not
have."

My next instance is contained in the _Transactions of the Society of
Arts, &c._ for 1790, in a paper written by +Mr. Simon Manley+, of Topsham
in Devonshire, for which the Society awarded him five guineas. "I have
before now," says he, "taken the queen-bee, while in the act of swarming,
put her into a clean bottle, and kept her from the swarm a full hour. I
have then shown her to several gentlemen, the swarm continuing to hover,
without settling, the whole time. I brought her home, and laid her on the
floor of a kitchen window. Being moist with her own breath in the bottle,
when I took her out she licked herself clean, and being quite recovered,
was carried out and placed upon the hive she swarmed from. About a
handful of her subjects soon found her out, and seemed much rejoiced at
finding her. From thence she rose up, and pitched upon a currant bush,
and the remainder of the swarm came to her, and settled at once."

+Swammerdam+ tried the experiment of fastening the queen by one of her
legs to the end of a pole, by which he induced the bees to follow him
wherever he chose. Reaumur relates a somewhat similar instance of a
bee-man mentioned by +Father Labbat+ in his Travels, who had the address
to conceal the source of his dexterity. +Wildman's+ expertness in this
way was celebrated far and near. _Vide_ chapter on Uniting Swarms.

In confirmation of the evidence I have already given, of the queen's
importance to the well-being of the community, I will advert to some
experiments of +Huber+. He removed a queen from one of his hives; the
bees were not immediately aware of it, but continued their labours,
watched over the young, and performed the whole of their ordinary
occupations. In a few hours afterwards, agitation commenced, and all
appeared to be a scene of tumult; a singular humming noise was heard,
the bees deserted their young and rushed over the surface of the combs,
with delirious impetuosity. On replacing the queen, tranquillity was
instantly restored; and from what will be said presently, it appeared
that they knew her individual person. Huber varied this experiment with
other hives, in different ways; instead of restoring their own queen,
he tried to substitute _a stranger queen_; the manner of her reception
depended upon the period at which she was introduced. If twenty-four
hours had elapsed after the removal of the queen, the stranger was
well received, and at once admitted to the sovereignty of the hive.
If not more than eighteen hours had elapsed, she was at first treated
as a prisoner, but after a time permitted to reign. If the stranger
was introduced within twelve hours, she was immediately surrounded by
an impenetrable cluster of bees, and commonly died either from hunger
or privation of air. It appeared therefore, in the course of these
experiments, that from twenty-four to thirty hours were required, for a
colony to forget its sovereign, and that if, before the lapse of that
period, no substitute was presented, they set about constructing royal
cells, as stated in page 22; and moreover, that if, during the time they
were so occupied, a princess was brought to them, the fabrication of
royal cells was instantly abandoned, and the larvæ selected to occupy
them were destroyed. On the admission of a welcome stranger queen, more
regard is perhaps shown to her at first, than to a restored natural
queen,--at least there are more conspicuous demonstrations of it:
the nearest workers touch her with their antennæ, and, passing their
proboscis over every part of her body, give her honey. In the cases above
related, the bees all vibrated their wings at once, as if experiencing
some agreeable sensations, and ranged themselves in a circle round her.
Others, in succession, broke through this circle, and having repeated the
same process, of touching her with their antennæ, giving her honey, &c.
formed themselves in a circle behind the others, vibrating their wings
and keeping up a pleasurable hum. These demonstrations were continued for
a quarter of an hour, when the queen beginning to move towards one part
of the circle, an opening was made through which she passed, followed
and surrounded by her customary guard. Such is the substance of Huber's
account: it does not entirely correspond with what has been stated by
Dunbar. _Vide_ chapter on Bee-boxes.

The loyal _attachment of bees to their queen_ extends even beyond this:
+Huber+ states that he has seen the workers, "after her death, treat her
body as they treated herself when alive, and long prefer this inanimate
body to the most fertile queens he had offered them." And +Dr. Evans+
relates a case, in which a queen was observed to lie on some honey-comb
in a thinly peopled hive, apparently dying, and surrounded by six bees,
with their faces turned towards her, quivering their wings, and most
of them with their stings pointed, as if to keep off any assailant. On
presenting them honey, though it was eagerly devoured by the other bees,
the guards were so completely absorbed in the care of their queen, as
entirely to disregard it. The following day, though dead, she was still
guarded; and though the bees were still constantly supplied with honey,
their numbers were gradually diminished by death, till, at the end of
three or four days, not a bee remained alive.

+Wildman+ says that if the queen of a swarm be lost, though it happen
several weeks after leaving the mother hive, the bees will return to it,
carrying their honey with them. This, if true, must occur where no grub
can be converted into a queen. Both +Reaumur+ and +Wildman+ tried the
experiment of introducing a royal larva into a queenless stock, when the
bees immediately set to work again, on the inspiration of hope alone.

Should symptoms of discontent be observed after hiving, the queen will
probably be discovered on the ground, or somewhere apart; surrounded by a
small cluster of attendants, whom nothing but violence can separate from
her. If she be taken up either singly or with the cluster, and placed
near the entrance of the hive containing the swarm, all will be harmony.

_Sometimes a swarm divides into two portions_, which settle apart from
each other and have each a distinct leader. The conduct of the apiarian
must be governed by the size of the two divisions, and the season at
which they emerge; unless both be large and the swarming early, they had
better be hived in separate boxes, and joined together, in the manner
recommended in Chap. XIX.

+Columella+ was the first who proposed union by killing the supernumerary
queen.

The branch on which the swarm settled is sometimes rubbed with wormwood,
or smoked with disagreeable fumes, to drive away all remaining loiterers.

In every operation, it is desirable to avoid crushing a single bee, as,
in case of discovery, the rest are excited to anger. See chapter on the
_Senses of Bees_.

Immediately on the bees taking to the hive, it should be placed upon a
table, on a proper floor board, and be covered with boughs or a cloth;
and the hive should be near the parent stock, to catch stragglers,
on their return home. At night it should be removed to its permanent
station.




CHAPTER XVII.

ON REMOVING BEES FROM COMMON STRAW-HIVES TO STORIFYING HIVES OR BOXES.


Many plans have been suggested for transferring bees from hives to boxes;
but excepting in the case of a recent swarm, I would not recommend any,
but an experienced apiarian, to attempt an immediate transfer.

In the case of a recent swarm, the method of effecting the object is
simple and easy; for if, when the bees have retired for the night, the
hive be placed upon a middle board, with a divider underneath it, and
the whole be inverted upon a small tub or a peck measure, and an empty
box be raised upon the divider, this latter being withdrawn, and every
opening besides what is necessary for admitting air being well secured,
the bees will all probably have ascended into the box by morning, when
with the assistance of the dividers they may be placed in the bee-house
or any where else that the proprietor chooses, just as if they had been
originally hived in the box. If the ascent have not taken place in the
morning, it may be effected by drumming smartly with two sticks, upon
the sides of the hive: in this way, the ascent may be known by the loud
humming noise by which it will be accompanied.

I have said that the above plan is only to be recommended in cases of
recent swarming: by this I mean, in swarms of the day on which it is
attempted, and before any works are constructed in the hives, to such
an extent as to make the bees tenacious of their new habitation; for
wherever they form a settlement, though even for the short time that they
occupy a bush or tree before hiving, there are always to be seen the
rudiments of one or more combs, showing, that they always intend, (so
far as one can give bees credit for intention,) to take up their abode,
permanently, upon the very spot on which they first cluster round their
Royal Leader.

If however, from want of forethought or from any other causes, a swarm
have been allowed, for a longer period, to occupy a hive from which it is
desirable to dislodge it, in that case I would recommend the apiarian,
towards night, to place the hive upon a middle board with a divider
underneath it, to lute the junction with clay, so as to prevent the bees
from escaping, and to invert the whole upon a stool that has had an
opening made in it of sufficient size to allow the hive to sink about
half-way through it. Then, if he raise a couple of empty boxes upon the
divider, in the manner already directed for super-hiving, and having
adjusted the whole, withdraw the divider, the bees will soon desist from
carrying on their works in the hive, and commence new ones in the upper
box; the hive at the period of deprivation may be separated from the
boxes in the usual way.

The middle board that is used on this occasion, provided the colony be
designed to stand out of doors, must have a resting board attached to the
edge of it, for the bees to alight upon. And as it is intended to serve
as a substitute for a floor board, it must be made to correspond with the
floor boards in its construction, so far as respects its giving liberty
for the bees to have ingress and egress, and its affording a power to
shut them in.

If it should be thought more convenient, an entrance could readily be
formed, by cutting a piece out of the lower edge of the box, in which
also a groove might be cut for a slide to run in.




CHAPTER XVIII.

SUPER- AND NADIR-HIVING BY MEANS OF DIVIDERS.


When one hive or box is to be raised upon another in a bee-house, the
operation may be performed at any time; the best time is about ten
or eleven o'clock in the morning, when a great portion of the bees
are ranging the fields. If the bees be kept in an out-door hive, the
operation will be best performed in an evening or early in a morning,
when, all the bees being at home, they may be shut in and thereby
prevented from annoying the operator.

If _super-hiving_ be the object of the apiarian, he must first withdraw
the four screws out of the top board of his stock-hive or box, so as
to enable him to push one of his dividers from front to back, between
that board and the box which it covers; he may then safely take off the
top, and screw it upon an empty box. (He would of course be enabled to
accomplish the business with more promptitude, if he have a supernumerary
top already screwed down.) Having put the fresh box upon a middle board,
the whole is to be carefully placed upon the divider, that covers the
stock: when accurately adjusted to each other, if an assistant hold
firmly in their places the two boxes, or the inferior box and the middle
board, the divider may be withdrawn, and thus a communication between the
two boxes will immediately be effected, without the escape, and perhaps
without the destruction, of a single bee.

When I have had no assistant near me, upon whose steadiness I could rely,
at the time of withdrawing the divider, I have fixed a piece of double
quarter with one of its ends against the inferior box, and the other
against the wall opposite to it, and have thus effectually prevented the
box from moving, whilst with one hand I held firmly the middle board,
and drew out the divider with the other. My readers are to suppose me
operating in a bee-house, for in an out-door apiary an assistant will
always be required, whenever any important operation is to be performed.

_Nadir-hiving_ is accomplished by introducing both dividers between
the floor board and the box or hive which it supports, the first with
its turned edge downwards, and the other upon it with its turned edge
upwards. The box or boxes are then to be removed on one side or upon
a table, together with the upper plate or divider, which will form a
temporary floor to the box, while the lower plate covers the wooden floor
and those few bees that may be lodged upon it.

In removing the box or boxes for nadir-hiving, some caution is
requisite, to prevent the escape of the bees. The safest plan is
gradually to draw forward the boxes with their temporary floor, till
they hang nearly half over the wooden floor, and then, by spreading out
the fingers and applying them under each side of the divider, the whole
may be lifted up and moved wherever it be most convenient till raised
upon the nadir. When the box has been drawn half off, a weight should be
placed upon the covering divider, to prevent it from tilting up.

The removal being accomplished, an empty box should be quickly placed
upon the divider which covers the floor, and upon the box a middle
board; the adjustment being complete, the dividers are to be withdrawn
separately, and with the same precautions as in super-hiving.

If the apiarian wish to practise _centre-hiving_ _i. e._ to introduce an
empty box between a superior and an inferior one, he can easily apply the
preceding directions to that particular case.




CHAPTER XIX.

UNITING SWARMS OR STOCKS.


The union of swarms with their stocks, and of swarms or stocks with
each other, in case of their being or becoming weak, has been attempted
in various ways, and with various success, depending perhaps, in
some degree, upon the skill and adroitness of the operator. Upon the
storifying plan this operation will rarely be necessary, excepting in the
case of weak stocks, as it is not a very common occurrence for storified
bees to swarm, and when they do so, they generally throw off strong
swarms. Still the object may occasionally be desirable, and it is worthy
of attention, for _the tenants of well filled hives are always the most
active_.

The three usual methods by which union has been attempted, and indeed
their advocates say, accomplished, are _fuming them, immersing them
in water_, and _aspersing them with sugared or honeyed ale_. To these
I may add a fourth, namely _operating upon their fears_, by confining
them for a time, and then alarming them by drumming smartly upon the
outside of their domicile. It was operating on their fears that enabled
Wildman to perform such extraordinary feats with bees. When under a
strong impression of fear, says he, they are rendered subservient to our
wills, to such a degree as to remain long attached to any place they
afterwards settle upon, and will become so mild and tractable, as to
bear any handling which does not hurt them, without the least show of
resentment. "Long experience has taught me, that as soon as I turn up a
hive, and give some taps on the sides and bottom, the queen immediately
appears." "Being accustomed to see her, I readily perceive her at the
first glance; and long practice has enabled me to seize her instantly,
with a tenderness that does not in the least endanger her person." "Being
possessed of her, I can, without exciting any resentment, slip her into
my other hand, and returning the hive to its place, hold her, till the
bees missing her, are all on the wing, and in the utmost confusion." When
in this state, he could make them alight wherever he pleased; for on
whatever spot he placed the queen, the moment a few of them discovered
her, the information was rapidly communicated to the rest, who in a few
minutes were all collected round her. In this way he would sometimes
cause them to settle on his head, or to hang clustered from his chin, in
which state they somewhat resembled a beard. Again he would transfer them
to his hand, or to any other part of his body, or if more agreeable to
the spectators before whom he exhibited, he would cause them to settle
upon a table, window, &c. Prior to making his secret generally known, he
deceived his spectators by using words of command; but the only magic
that he employed was the summoning into activity for his purpose the
strong attachment of the bees to their queen.

    "Such was the spell, which round a Wildman's arm
     Twin'd in dark wreaths the fascinated swarm;
     Bright o'er his breast the glittering legions led,
     Or with a living garland bound his head.
     His dextrous hand, with firm yet hurtless hold.
     Could seize the chief, known by her scales of gold.
     Prune, 'mid the wondering train, her filmy wing.
     Or, o'er her folds, the silken fetter fling."

                                                           +Evans.+

Cautioning his readers as to the hazard of attempting, what he himself
accomplished only by long experience and great dexterity, Wildman
concludes his account with a parody of the reply of C. Furius Cresinus, a
liberated Roman slave, who, being accused of witchcraft in consequence of
his raising more abundant crops than his neighbours, and therefore cited
before a Roman tribunal, produced his strong implements of husbandry,
his well-fed oxen, and a hale young woman his daughter; and pointing
to them, said, "_These, Romans! are my instruments of witchcraft; but
I cannot show you my toil, my sweats, and anxious cares._" "So," says
Wildman, "may I say, _These, Britons! are my instruments of witchcraft;
but I cannot show you my hours of attention to this subject, my anxiety
and care for these useful insects; nor can I communicate to you my
experience, acquired during a course of years_."

_The neatest and most scientific mode_ with which I am acquainted _of
uniting weak families together in harmony_ was invented by my friend
The +Rev. Richard Walond+, whom I had occasion to mention in a former
chapter, and whose experience in the management of bees, for nearly half
a century, entitle his opinions concerning them to great respect. His
theory and practice upon this subject are as follow. Bees, says he, emit
a peculiar odour, and it is by no means improbable that every family of
bees emits an odour peculiar to itself: if so, as their vision seems
to be imperfect, and their smell acute, it may be by this distinctive
and peculiar odour that they are enabled to discriminate betwixt the
individuals of their own family and those of a stranger hive. Upon
this supposition, if the odours of two separate stocks or swarms can
be so blended as to make them completely merge into each other, there
will then probably be no difficulty in effecting the union of any two
families that it may be desirable to unite. To accomplish this end
therefore, Mr. Walond had recourse to a very ingenious contrivance: he
procured a plate of tin, the size of a divider, and thickly perforated
with holes, about the size of those in a coarse nutmeg-grater. Having
confined in their respective hives or boxes, the two families to be
united, and placed them over each other, with only a divider between
them; he introduced his perforated tin plate upon the divider, which
was then withdrawn. Immediately the bees began to cluster with hostile
intentions, one family clinging to the upper, the other to the under
side of the perforated plate; when after remaining in this state for
about twenty-four hours, they had so far communicated to each other
their respective effluvia, and so completely commixed were the odours in
both hives, that on withdrawing the perforated plate, the bees mingled
together as one family, no disturbance being excited, but such as arose
from the presence of two queens, the custom being always, in such case,
to dethrone one of them. According to Huber this is effected by single
combat between the queens: which subject will be adverted to in a future
chapter. +Keys+ has observed that _these incorporations seldom turn to
account unless they be effected in summer_; and when it is considered
that the principal gathering months are May and June, (excepting in those
neighbourhoods that abound in lime, sycamore, and other trees that are
apt to be affected with honey-dew,) we cannot, of course, expect them to
be very successful. I have entered fully into this subject, when speaking
of early and late swarms, page 115.

To obviate the consequences there apprehended, some apiarians have had
recourse to the practice of removing their bees to fresh pasture; to
districts where buckwheat is cultivated, or to the neighbourhood of
heaths, or to any other place where such late blossoming flowers abound
as afford honey. Mr. +Isaac+ assures us that he once had a poor swarm of
a month's standing, which only weighed five pounds four ounces, and that
on the 30th of July he had it removed to _Dartmoor Heath_, from whence it
was brought home, two months afterwards, increased in weight twenty-four
pounds and a half. He moreover states that the increase of others, that
were sent there, was nearly proportional, and is of opinion that the
whole addition was made during the month of August.

In +Lower Egypt+, where the flower harvest is not so early as in the
upper districts of that country, this practice of _transportation_ is
carried on to a considerable extent. The hives after being collected
together from the different villages, and conveyed up the Nile marked and
numbered by the individuals to whom they belong, are heaped pyramidally
upon the boats prepared to receive them, which floating gradually down
the river and stopping at certain stages of their passage, remain there
a longer or shorter time, according to the produce which is afforded by
the surrounding country. "After traveling three months in this manner,
the bees, having culled the perfumes of the orange flowers of the Said,
the essence of roses[G] of the Faicum, the treasures of the Arabian
jessamine, and a variety of flowers, are brought back to the places from
which they had been carried. This industry procures, for the Egyptians,
delicious honey, and abundance of bees-wax. The proprietors, in return,
pay the boatmen a recompence proportioned to the number of hives which
have been thus carried about from one extremity of Egypt to the other."
+Latreille+ states that between Cairo and Damietta a convoy of 4000 hives
were seen upon the Nile by +Niebuhr+, on their transit from the upper to
the lower districts of that country. Floating bee-hives were formerly
common also in +France+. One barge was capable of containing from 60 to
100 hives, which, floating gently down their rivers, enabled the bees
to gather the honey which is afforded by the flowers on their banks.
+Reaumur+ likewise states it to have been the practice in some districts
to transport them with similar views, by land, in vehicles contrived
for the purpose. In +Savoy+, +Piedmont+, and other parts of +Italy+, the
practice is also common. It is indeed of very ancient origin. Columella
speaks of it as a very general custom among the Greeks, who used annually
to send their bee-hives from Achaia into Attica.

[Footnote G: Whatever inducement the bees of Egypt may have to ply the
roses of that country, with us they pay very little attention to those
beautiful flowers.]

These, however, are advantages which very few situations can afford;
probably but few of my readers may reside in the neighbourhood of heaths,
and still fewer may be disposed to incur the trouble and expense of
removal. If therefore incorporation be desirable in any particular case,
I can only recommend that attention be paid to feeding the bees with
sugared ale; by the assistance of which, indeed, I should not be afraid
of carrying, even a weak stock, very safely through the winter and early
spring. "Give your bees," says Mr. Isaac, "two harvests in one summer"
(alluding to the practice of transportation), "and you may make almost
any swarm rich enough to live through the following winter." This second
harvest may be very efficiently supplied by an attention to feeding,
during mild weather in winter, and particularly in the early spring,--for
the management of which, see, Chap. XXIII. on Feeding.




CHAPTER XX.

PROPER PERIODS OF DEPRIVATION.


It should be an invariable rule with the apiarian, never to remove an
upper hive or box, till an under one be quite full; and even then, it
should be ascertained that the contents of the inferior one, (if taken at
Michaelmas,) be not less than 18 pounds. If it do not contain so much, a
sufficient quantity should be returned in the box that has been removed,
otherwise recourse must be had to feeding. +Mr. Isaac+ says that he has
carried a colony that had no honey at Michaelmas, safely through the
winter and spring, with only eight pounds of honey. Huber succeeded with
less; but it appears that his observations were made upon weak stocks
that were not altogether destitute.

A variety of experiments were made by +Mr. John Hunter+ and +Mr. Keys+,
to ascertain _the quantity consumed during_ the respective months of
_winter and spring_, and they all led to one conclusion, namely, that it
_amounted upon an average to eight pounds_, taking the season through,
from the beginning of October to the end of May, when the spring proves
ungenial. _During the first six months the consumption was not more than
five pounds upon an average_, and the colder the weather the smaller was
the consumption. _Vide_ 2nd page of Chap. XXIV.

_As a general rule,--no honey should be taken from a colony the first
year of its being planted_, though there may be an extraordinary season
now and then, which may justify a departure from this rule; but neither
in such an uncommon year, nor even in the second year, should the whole
of the combs in any box be taken, (unless it be clearly ascertained that
the centre combs contain no brood,) but only the external ones, which
should be examined carefully one by one, and the brood-combs, if any,
be returned in the box to the stock. The apiarian, as +Huber+ observes,
if he wish to obtain a considerable quantity of honey, should endeavour
to secure his object rather by the number of his colonies, than by
plundering a few of a great proportion of their treasures. _A moderate
participation is the most infallible means of preserving the stock._

          Should "Summer signs auspicious ride.
    And tubes unfailing pour the balmy tide,
    A full rich harvest, Bee-herds, may ye claim
    From the blithe tenants of your crystal'd frame.
    But long ere Virgo weaves the robe of sleet,
    Or binds the hoar-frost sandals round her feet.
    Close seal'd and sacred, leave your toil-worn hosts.
    The last kind dole their waning season boasts,
    Lest coop'd within their walls, the truants prey
    On hoards reserv'd to cheer stern Winter's day."

                                                           +Evans.+

+Mr. Hubbard+ says that he has found _colonized bees frequently fail, in
consequence of their having been robbed of too much honey;_ it prevents
early breeding. +Wildman+ _particularly recommends cautious deprivation
after July_, to avoid the attention which might be required in feeding,
if the autumn should be unfavourable.

So much for the first and second years.--On the third, if the summer
of that year as well as the summer preceding have been favourable for
honey-gathering, the superior box will probably contain no brood, and may
then be taken all at once.

The proceedings of the fourth and fifth years may fall under the practice
of the second, but will probably allow of an earlier deprivation; some
side combs may perhaps be taken away in July, and in October either the
nadir or the centre box be removed entirely, and those above (if more
than one) be brought down, and remain so till April; when the nadir may
be introduced again.

_No hive or box should have its breeding combs left more than five
years;_ and in general, after the first year, the lower boxes will be
found to be principally occupied for this purpose.

By this practice for four years out of every five, whatever combs are
removed will be new ones, which, on account of the purity both of the wax
and the honey, are greatly preferable to old ones.

+Virgil+, probably copying his predecessor +Aristotle+, describes _two
harvests of honey every year_, namely, in the spring and in the autumn.

    "The golden harvest twice each year o'erflows,
     Thou, twice each year, the plenteous cells unclose,
     Soon as fair Pleïas, bright'ning into day.
     Scorns with indignant foot the wat'ry way,
     Or, when descending down th' aërial steep,
     She pours her pale ray on the wintry deep."

                                              +Sotheby's Georgics.+

"+Varro+ mentions _three harvests_; namely, at the rising of the Pleiads,
about the twenty-second of April; the latter end of summer, and when the
same stars set about the end of October: +Columella+ recommends them to
take place about the twenty-fifth of April and the twenty-ninth of June;
+Pliny+ in May and July; and +Palladius+ in June only."--+Evans.+

Should such an accident occur as the destruction of a queen, by the
introduction of a divider (and she might be so unfortunately situated as
to fall a sacrifice to it), the stock will appear very much distressed
and very restless all day, particularly if there be no Royal Embryo or
no very young larva; for in either of these cases they will soon become
reconciled. But if neither of them be present, and the bees be left to
themselves, they will lose their wonted activity, gradually dwindle in
number and pine away: or they will transfer their allegiance to another
sovereign; and in that case, convey all the treasured sweets of their
own hive, to that of the family they join. _The only remedy for such a
misfortune_ is to unite the bees to another stock, in the manner already
directed, or to procure a supernumerary queen from another family. The
latter, however, is an operation which few will have courage to attempt.




CHAPTER XXI.

TAKING HONEY BY MEANS OF DIVIDERS.


After having noted the utility of Dividers, in adding fresh _empty_
boxes, the reader will readily perceive their importance in the removal
of _full_ ones, when the period arrives for depriving a colony of a
portion of its honey. In this case, the two dividers must be introduced
between the middle board of the box to be removed and the box below it,
precisely as in nadir hiving. In the act of deprivation a little more
force will be required to push in, as well as to withdraw the divider,
as it will generally have to pass through a portion of honey-comb. The
above directions apply to the removal of an upper box, which will in
general be the first for which they will be required. When any other is
to be taken away, the plan of proceeding must be varied, but it would be
tedious to give directions for every case; an intelligent operator by
an attention to the instructions already given, and his own reflection,
will be able to adapt his mode of proceeding to the particular exigency.
Only one divider should be introduced till the situation of the queen be
ascertained: if she be in the box intended for removal, the divider must
be withdrawn, and the experiment tried again in a week or two. If in an
hour after the introduction of the divider, the bees in the box intended
to be taken should exhibit symptoms of inquietude, it may be assumed that
the queen is not within that box, the disturbance being caused by the
anxiety of the bees to have access to her; whereas if she be in the box,
the bees in company with her will be tranquil, and the excluded portion
of the family will be in a state of commotion. Having, we will suppose,
ascertained that the queen is in the desired place, the second divider
should be introduced as before directed, when the box, with one of the
dividers underneath it, must be removed. The apiarian, when performing
this operation for the first time, may find it convenient to raise a
stage of empty bee-boxes or other convenient articles, on one side or
at the back of the box to be removed, and upon a level with the bottom
of its middle board; he can then, after having introduced the dividers,
very easily slide the full box, with its middle board and divider, over
his temporary stage. (This mode of proceeding may likewise be found
applicable on other occasions.) The operation having proceeded thus far,
the box is ready for being applied over the hole of delivery, where a
floor board should be placed with its sliding shutter open, and with an
uncovered empty box upon it. (If the full box were itself placed upon
the floor board, stranger bees might smell the honey and become very
troublesome intruders:--this is the reason why an empty box is interposed
betwixt the full one and the floor board.) The full box and middle board,
with the divider underneath them, being raised upon the empty box and the
divider withdrawn, a portion of the bees will immediately sally forth,
to join the family from which they have been separated. I say a portion,
for notwithstanding their attachment to their queen, they will not all
quit, without reluctance, so great a treasure as a box full of honey; if
any of the combs contain brood also, this reluctance will be increased.
When therefore the bees issue slowly, the sliding shutter should be
closed, and re-opened in a quarter of an hour. This short imprisonment
will produce some impatience and restlessness, and consequent eagerness
to be set at liberty; and on re-opening the shutter there will be a fresh
sally: this method must be pursued, at similar successive intervals,
till all or nearly all the bees have quitted the box; should a few still
remain, the box, towards evening, may be taken out of doors and the
stragglers brushed out upon a board or cloth, with a wing, and placed
upon a support near the entrance to the stock; those that are not injured
by the wing will soon find their way in: thus will the whole operation
be completed. But if the upper story be taken, it will be obvious that
either an empty box or a top board must be placed over the stock.

If this method of deprivation should fail of success, some other course
must be pursued. +Mr. Isaac's+ _plan_ promises well. After removing the
box from the stock, he used to confine his bees in it, till their anger
and agitation had rendered their prison so hot and uncomfortable, and
probably so unwholesome, by the deterioration of the air, that they
were glad of an opportunity to quit it, which he soon afforded them.
Unscrewing the top of his box, and introducing a divider underneath it,
he placed an empty box _over_ the full one, and opened a communication
between the two, by withdrawing the divider. At the same time he gave an
additional impulse to the ascent of the bees by drumming smartly upon the
sides of the full box. When the bees were entirely or nearly gone, he
took out either the whole of the combs or such as contained honey without
brood, proceeding according to the directions given in page 163. There is
another resource, in _the method_ uniformly _practised by_ +Mr. Keys+,
viz. that of fuming, which is effected by placing an empty box over the
full one, in the manner described above, and expelling the bees with the
smoke of burning puff balls, probably that of woollen rags would answer
as well, though Mr. Keys relies upon the stupifying quality of the puff
balls, which however, he says, is in a great measure lost if the balls be
kept more than a year. The operation may be afterwards finished in the
usual way.

Where straw-hives are used, or where boxes are surmounted by them, _a
very simple method_ of taking the honey, without destroying the bees,
was _adopted by_ +J. F. M. Dovaston, Esq.+ a Salopian gentleman. I
will suppose that he took off the hive with a middle board and divider
underneath it; he then inverted it upon a kettle of hot water, fitted
to receive the hive without any part sinking into the water; the whole
being surmounted by an empty box, and the divider withdrawn: in ten
minutes the heat so annoyed the bees, that they were heard marching,
_magno cum fremitu_, into the empty hive. In a few minutes, when all was
quiet, the divider being introduced again, the hive was replaced by the
box containing the bees. Mr. D. found that on this plan not a single bee
remained among the combs. I see no good reason why a similar practice
should not be adopted with boxes or Moreton-hives; in this case the water
in the kettle should be heated gradually by a chaffing-dish, and the box
or hive should have a perforated divider under it, like that for uniting
stocks: the empty box had better communicate with the open air, lest the
heat of the steam should be intolerable to the bees. Having the top
unscrewed would probably answer the purpose, as it could then be easily
pushed on one side. +Dr. Evans+, when he could not readily dislodge the
bees from the box, had recourse to +Dr. Warder's+ plan of placing it over
an inverted empty box, that contained a lighted sulphur match, the fumes
of which stupified the bees'; and on the upper hive being rapped, they
fell down in a state of insensibility, but soon revived and joined the
family, by the usual entrance. The fumes of sulphur answered as well as
those of the narcotic fungus recommended by Thorley and Keys, which it is
sometimes difficult to procure and troublesome to prepare. Immersing the
bees in cold water would answer, with a glass or earthenware hive. +Dr.
Evans+ was led to adopt it in consequence of reading Wildman's account
of Madame Vicat's method of clearing her bees from vermin, by plunging
them in water. The chapter on Bee-maladies contains some remarks on this
subject.

At the commencement of my apiarian inquiries, I felt that there was a
want of more minute information than is given by Keys; and others with
whom I have conversed upon the subject, have had the same feeling: this
has induced me to enter into a descriptive detail of the whole business
of super-hiving, nadir-hiving, and deprivation. Those who are in
possession of "_The ancient Bee-master's Farewell_," will perceive that
I have made some alterations in the boxes of Keys and some additions to
them: the principal of these are the sinking of the entrances in the
floor boards, instead of having them cut in the lower edges of the boxes;
having fixed bars upon the tops of the boxes, instead of Keys's loose
ones, and the use of middle boards. The first was my own suggestion,
the two last were improvements made by Mr. Walond. Entrances made in
the floor boards enable the apiarian to place his boxes upon the boards
in whatever direction he chooses, and render sliding shutters in the
upper boxes unnecessary. The loose bars were inconvenient, from the bees
attaching their combs to the sides of the boxes, which they almost always
do, as well as from their attaching every comb to two or three bars. The
middle boards facilitate the introduction of the dividers, secure the
apiator against the effects of any little irregularity in the adaptation
of the boxes to each other, at the time of adding or taking away, and
form a good foundation for a superstructure of cell-work; for sometimes
the bees depart from their usual practice of suspending their combs from
the roofs of the boxes, and build from below upwards.

It is the usual custom in this country, to sacrifice the lives of the
bees, in order to get possession of their stores. This is generally
done in September, by setting the hive, late in an evening, over lighted
brimstone matches, placed in a hole dug in the earth; the soil being
quickly drawn round the hive, as well to prevent the escape of any of the
bees, as to confine the sulphurous gas. In about a quarter of an hour, if
the hive receive a few smart strokes on its sides, the bees will be found
to have dropped insensible into the hole, where they are immediately
buried; otherwise they would revive, such of them at least as were not
singed or otherwise injured by the fire. The heaviest and lightest hives
are usually selected for the purpose, the former as yielding most profit,
the latter as being unlikely to survive the winter.

If, after a hive of bees has been suffocated, the apiarian wish to
_search for the queen_, the best mode of doing so is to lay the whole of
the bees on white paper, or in water on a white shallow dish, and examine
them singly; her colour upon the back is not so remarkably different from
that of the workers as to be very striking; but on looking at the under
part of her, she will be immediately recognised.

I adverted to this latter mode of robbing bees of their treasure in Chap.
XIV. and there quoted the lamentation of Thomson at their fate. For this
humane appeal, he has been thus apostrophized by Dr. Evans.

    "And thou, sweet Thomson, tremblingly alive
     To pity's call, hast mourn'd the slaughter'd hive,
     Cursing, with honest zeal, the coward hand,
     Which hid, in night's dark veil, the murd'rous brand,
     In steam sulphureous wrapt the peaceful dome,
     And bore the yellow spoil triumphant home."




CHAPTER XXII.

THE BEE-DRESS.


The Storifying system, when conducted with proper precaution, in a
bee-house, renders a bee-dress quite superfluous to the apiarian, as all
his operations may be safely performed at all times and in all weathers,
without one.

They may be as securely performed, by the storifier in a simple shed, if
the time of operating be either early or late in the day, when the bees
are all at home and can be confined by shutting the slide of the floor
board.

Still, as timidity may foster a feeling of insecurity, and as the armour
of a bee-dress may give confidence to an operator, I shall describe the
dress that appears to me most suitable.

In the first place the apiator should be armed with _a pair of thick
cloth gloves_, made to tie over the sleeves of his coat. Secondly, his
legs should be fortified by a _double pair of thick woollen or worsted
stockings_, or some kind of _stout leggings_ as they are called. And
thirdly, he should be provided with _a short dress of Scotch gauze or
catgut_. This dress should be so formed as to tie round the crown of
a hat having a shallow brim (about 2½ inches deep), should have short
sleeves to tie round the arms, and descend low enough to tie round the
body. _A woollen apron_ should also be worn, as high as the bottom of the
catgut dress, otherwise, in the language of Mr. Keys, the prying little
insects may find an opening of sufficient size to enable them to tickle
the belly. "Women," says Mr. K. "should not meddle with bees, without
a bee-dress, nor then without the addition of a man's coat, and I had
almost said of breeches also."

This dress is the most complete mode of securing an operator from bees
or wasps; but if he be adventurous enough to brave their attacks, I
recommend him first to drink or rinse his mouth with a little malt
liquor; to wash his face and hands with the same, and to approach them
with a bunch of sweet herbs in his hand, gently fanning his face with
them, whilst he is in the vicinity of their domicile, and breathing as
much as possible through his nose. (_Vide_ Part II. Bee's Sting.) In
case of an actual or threatened attack, (the latter of which may be
known by the peculiar noise which precedes it,) a defence by striking
at them would be highly imprudent. An attempt may be first made to put
them gently away; should that not succeed, the only resource is to retire
quietly, and to conceal the face in shrubs or boughs, if any be near, or
if not with the hands spread over it. The bees will then generally desist
from further attack, and go home.

The smart quick strokes of the wings, when bees are angry and prepared to
sting, give a sound very different from their usual buz. "Instead," says
Mr. Hunter, "of that soft contented noise made by the bee when coming
home loaded on a fine evening,--when a bee meditates an attack with its
sting, it makes a very different one." There is a piercing shrillness in
the sound, as the author and some of his friends have often experienced.

Messrs. Kirby and Spence, after quoting a passage from Mr. White's
Natural History, relative to the feigned attacks of some wild bees near
Lewes in Sussex, which "with a sharp and hostile sound dash and strike
round the heads and faces of intruders," make the following observations.
"The hive-bee will sometimes have recourse to the same expedient, when
her hive is approached too near, and thus give you notice what you may
expect, if you do not take her warning and retire.--Humble-bees when
disturbed, whether out of the nest or in it, assume some very grotesque
and at the same time threatening attitudes. If you put your finger to
them, they will either successively or simultaneously lift up the three
legs of one side; turn themselves upon their back, bend up their anus and
show their sting accompanied by a drop of poison. Sometimes they will
even spirt out that liquor."




CHAPTER XXIII.

FEEDING.


A stock of bees will, generally, consume a pound of honey per month,
betwixt the 1st of October and the 1st of March: from this time to the
end of May, they will consume two pounds per month; _if the spring be
unfavourable for gathering early, and less than ten pounds of honey per
stock have been left for their winter's support, and that winter have
proved mild, the bees should be fed early in the season, and sometimes
through a considerable part of the month of May_.

I believe the best spring food for bees is the following +compound+: A
pound of coarse brown sugar and half a pint of ale or sweet wort, boiled
to the consistence of a syrup, to which may be added a small portion of
salt. According to Huber _the coarsest sugar enables the bees to form
the whitest wax_. The above mixture is regarded, by some, as a useful
food for bees even when there is no deficiency of honey; _it is supposed
to encourage early breeding, and to preserve the health of the bees_; I
administer it invariably from the end of February or the beginning of
March till the bees seem to disregard it, which always happens as soon
as the flowers afford them a supply of honey.

There are two opinions upon _the best mode of administering the syrup_:
one party gives the preference to _daily feeding, in small quantities;_
the other, to _introducing a considerable quantity at once_, and
repeating it as occasion may require. The majority of apiarians favour
the latter practice; among the number are +Reaumur+, +Thorley+, +Isaac+,
+Morris+, &c. the latter gentleman obtained an award often guineas from
the Society of Arts, for his method of feeding. The advocates of the
first method are +Keys+, +Espinasse+, and some others. Copious feeding
in effected by filling the cells on one side of a spare drone comb, laid
flat upon the floor of the hive; or by pouring the syrup into a dish, or
an excavated floor board of twice the usual thickness, covering the food
with short straws or pieces of reed, about half an inch long, to prevent
the bees from soiling themselves. The stock being placed in an evening
over the whole,--in the course of the night, or the following morning,
the bees will carry up the syrup, and store it in unoccupied cells.
Where it has been ascertained that the bees have not stored a sufficient
quantity of honey to carry them through the winter and ensuing spring,
and it is determined to furnish them with a supply in the autumn, I think
this method of copious feeding is the best. But when they are fed in
the spring, I think it preferable to give them about a table-spoonful
a day. This has generally been accomplished, by introducing into the
mouth of the hive a long boat, formed by scooping out the pith from an
elder stem, and filling it with the composition. Upon this plan, no
more is introduced than the case requires, and frequent opportunities
are afforded of learning the condition of the bees, from the manner in
which they receive the boon. If a little irascibility be exhibited, it
is a symptom of health; and though indifference to the proffered bounty
may not actually betoken mischief, yet it deserves attention, and should
induce vigilance in the apiarian. Feeding upon the large scale in spring,
tempts the bees to fill those cells which may be wanted for the queen
to deposit her eggs in, and thus proves a drawback upon the strength
and prosperity of the hive. It may also cause the bees to partake too
freely of the syrup, and suffer from their intemperance. Whichever mode
be adopted, the external entrances must be closed, during the time of
feeding; and I know of no better contrivance for this purpose than
Mr. Huish's tin guards. Without this precaution, unfed stranger bees,
attracted by the smell of the syrup, will banquet upon it; and these
marauders, having once tasted the repast, will not only return to it
again and again themselves, but bring in their train a multitude of
others, to the great injury of the well-fed apiary. The way in which I
feed my own bees is exceedingly simple, and attended with no risk to the
apiarian. At the close of the gathering season, I turn my boxes and their
floors a quarter round, and adapt to them a long narrow box with a glass
top and two openings, one at the end, serving as a street door, the other
in the side serving as a hall door leading into the box, as shown in the
following sketch.

[Illustration]

In an evening, when the bees are all at home, I push in the slide of the
floor board, raise the glazed box, and place the syrup under it: then I
close the external entrance, and withdraw the slide to admit the bees to
the food: by morning I generally find that my donation has been removed.
I place the syrup in a small shallow saucer, covered over with Scotch
gauze, through which the bees suck it without smearing their wings. If
the gauze hang over the sides of the saucer, it will act as a syphon,
and the syrup be wasted: to obviate this inconvenience, a small hoop
of whale-bone, cane, or other pliable material should be just dropped
within the edges of the saucer, and upon this hoop the gauze should be
stretched, turned over and secured with a needle and thread.




CHAPTER XXIV.

DISEASES OF BEES.


I suspect that much which has been written upon this subject is fanciful,
and that most of the ailments of bees originate from want of cleanliness
or want of food; for if bees be not kept clean, and be not supplied
with food in backward springs, particularly in those which succeed mild
winters, a mortality among them is usually experienced; and it is in
spring that their alleged maladies prevail.

    "For late the lynx-ey'd scout, in nice survey,
     Had mark'd the ravage of ungenial May,
     Where the lorn bee-herd wail'd his empty shed,
     Its stores exhausted, and its tenants dead."

    "So mourn'd Arcadia's swain[H] his honey'd host,
     By keen disease or keener famine lost.
     Till his fond mother, on her glassy throne,
     Heard through deep Peneus'[I] wave the filial moan."

                                                           +Evans.+

[Footnote H: Aristæus, the son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene, to whom
mankind were said to be indebted for the art of curdling milk, _managing
bees_, _making hives_, and cultivating olives; on which account he was
worshipped as a God by the Greeks. He was the father of the unfortunate
Actæon.]

[Footnote I: A river of Thessaly.]

During a mild winter the stock of honey is often exhausted, such a season
encouraging the bees to be active, without affording any resources
beyond their own domicile; yet it is not uncommon to hear the keepers
of bees speak of a mild winter as favourable for the bees. It is most
unfavourable to them; and if feeding be not duly attended to, frequently
fatal. Hence _a northern aspect_ has been _recommended_ for hives _during
winter_; and if guarded by proper coverings, and contrivances against
snow and other bad weather, such an aspect is highly proper. The +Rev.
Stephen White+ observes, that if hives be placed on the northern side of
a building, the bees will seldom be induced to come out, and will eat
much less than if exposed to the winter's sun. +Mr. Gedde+ _recommends_
keeping them during winter, _not only_ in _a cold, but_ in _a dark
situation_, in order to lessen the consumption of honey. He even suggests
the use of an ice-house, having found that bees survive the cold in
Siberia, and render Russia somewhat remarkable for its productiveness of
honey. "A very observing gentleman," says +Dr. Darwin+, "at my request,
put two hives for many weeks into a dry cellar, and observed, during
all that time, that they did not consume any of their provision, for
their weight did not decrease, as it had done when they were kept in
the open air." The same observation is made in the Annual Register for
1768, p. 113. The sudden transitions from heat to cold, and from cold to
heat, experienced in this country, are detrimental to bees; but these
vicissitudes would not alarm me, if the bees were well sheltered, and had
a convenient supply of water, salt and sugar, in the early part of the
spring.

Keys thought they were not fond of salt: from my own experience as well
as from that of my apiarian friends, I am satisfied that he was mistaken,
and my opinion is confirmed by the following observation in Crevecœur's
Travels. "One day, having remarked that my bees frequently settled on
spots, where brine had been spilt, I placed some grains of salt before
their hives. What was my astonishment, when I saw them repeatedly
tasting it with eagerness, and carrying it away with them! Before this
experiment, I could not have believed that the manufacturers of honey
could taste with pleasure, a substance so different from the nectar of
flowers."

_In the winter of 1782-3, a general mortality_ took place _among the
bees_ in this country, which was attributed to various causes: want of
honey was not one of them; for in some hives considerable store was
found, after the bees were gone. Some were of opinion that it arose from
the preceding being a bad breeding year, and thought the bees died of
old age. Others attributed it to the moistness of the spring of 1783,
which rendered the providing of pollen difficult, for without pollen no
brood can be raised. The difficulty of collecting pollen was ascribed to
the continual closing of the flowers over the anthers, the want of sun
to burst the anthers, and the washing away of the pollen by the frequent
showers after they did burst. The fatal influence ascribed to the wetness
of the spring of 1782 seems to be improbable; though the wet might have
affected the quantity of bees bred, it was not likely to put a stop to
their breeding altogether, and the young bees ought at any rate to have
escaped the desolating evil, if it were old age alone; yet wherever the
mortality once made its appearance, every bee became its victim.

_A similar incident occurred among the wasps in the year_ 1824. The
queen wasps were unusually numerous in the spring of that year, and
yet scarcely a wasp could be seen of any sort in the ensuing summer
and autumn, though there was a great deal of fine weather and plenty
of sunshine, the fruits having ripened remarkably well. In both cases,
it seems probable that the mortality arose from some unfavourable
circumstance at the breeding season, with which we are unacquainted. I
am not aware that it has been attributed to any specific distemper of
an epidemical nature. +Mr. Knight+ _noticed a similar occurrence, as to
wasps, in the year_ 1806 (Philosophical Transactions 1807, p. 243); and
_in_ 1815, +Messrs. Kirby+ _and_ +Spence+ _made the same observation_.
Mr. Knight supposed the scarcity to arise from a want of males to
impregnate the queens.

I shall now proceed to notice the maladies of bees; and state their
causes, symptoms and remedies, as I have collected them from ancient and
modern authors.


+Dysentery.+

This malady was attributed by +Columella+ to the bees extracting and
feeding upon honey collected from the blossoms of elms and spurge; he
regarded it as an annual distemper. By others it has been ascribed to
their feeding too freely upon the vernal honey, from whatever source
derived; or from their being obliged to eat wax, through want of other
food, in the early part of the spring. +Madame Vicat+ supposed it to
arise from the feeding upon honey that had been candied, in consequence
of the hive being exposed to a severe winter. +Reaumur+ instituted some
experiments to ascertain the cause of dysentery, but they were not
satisfactory.

The presence of this disorder is indicated by the appearance of the
excrement, which, instead of a reddish yellow, exhibits a muddy black
colour, and has an intolerably offensive smell. Also by its being voided
upon the floors, and at the entrance of the hives, which bees, in a
healthy State, are particularly careful to preserve clean. +Huish+
compares the morbid excrement to linseed.


+Vertigo.+

_Vertige_, as +Du Carne de Blangy+ calls it, is supposed to arise from
the bees extracting the honey of deleterious plants. I have treated fully
upon this subject under the head of Pasturage. In addition to what has
been there stated I will give an extract from +Dr. Barton's+ _Paper_,
who after observing that there is more poetry than philosophy in the
following lines of Pope--

    "In the nice bee what sense so subtly true
     From poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew?"

says: "It is however much to be questioned whether this noxious honey
proves so to the bees themselves." Sir J. E. Smith asserts that "the
nectar of plants is not poisonous to bees." _Syllabus to Botan. Lect._
And Dr. Barton, though disposed to adopt the contrary opinion, gives
instances to the same effect. Thus a party of young men, induced by
the prospect of gain, having removed their hives from _Pennsylvania_
to _the Jerseys_, whose vast savannahs were finely painted with the
flowers of the _Kalmia angustifolia_, could not use or dispose of their
honey, on account of its intoxicating quality; yet, "the bees increased
prodigiously," an increase only to be explained by their being well and
_harmlessly_ fed.

This disorder is marked, we are told, by a dizzy manner of flying, and by
irregular motions, such as starting, falling down, &c. when the bees are
pursuing their usual occupations. To these symptoms succeed lassitude and
death. No remedy has hitherto been discovered for this malady.

+Huber+ _says that vertigo attacks ants_, and causes them to lose the
power of moving in a straight line, and occasions the performance of
rapid gyrations always in the same direction: he observed one insect make
about 1000 turns in an hour, describing a circle of about an inch in
diameter; this continued for seven days: he does not say whether he ever
knew any instance of a recovery.

In Dr. Barton's ingenious paper, to which I have already referred in
the chapter on Pasturage, the plants enumerated as yielding poisonous
honey are _Kalmia angustifolia, latifolia_, and _hirsuta_; _Rhododendron
maximum_, _Azalea nudiflora_, and _Andromeda mariana_. The honey of these
is stated to have proved injurious both to dogs and the human species.
_The symptoms_ it usually produces _are dimness of sight or vertigo,
delirium, ebriety, pain in the stomach and bowels, convulsions, profuse
perspiration, foaming at the mouth, vomiting and purging_; in some
instances, _temporary palsy of the limbs_, but very _seldom death_. The
best mode of treatment is not yet ascertained; though the similarity
of the symptoms, the Doctor says, would induce us to pursue the same
plan as in counteracting other narcotic poisons. In those cases, _early
vomiting_, whether spontaneous or induced by art, removes the disease
at once; and _cold bathing_, so useful in other spasmodic or convulsive
affections, is employed with considerable advantage by both Natives
and Europeans. This should seem to be one of those cases in which the
_stomach-pump_ would be peculiarly beneficial, from the promptness and
certainty of its action.

To the credit of the genus of plants last named, it should be mentioned
that one species (_Andromeda nitida_ or _lucida_ of +Bartram+) affords
abundance of excellent honey; hence the name of _honey-flower_ is given
to it, by the country people in _Georgia_ and _Carolina_, not however
merely from the circumstance just mentioned, but from the regular
position of the flowers on the peduncle, which open like the cells of a
honey-comb, and from the odour of these flowers, which greatly resembles
that of honey."--_Barton_.

"As most of the plants enumerated in the above list are now introduced
into our gardens, and the _Datura_ (_common Thorn Apple_) has long
become perfectly naturalized, they might be supposed to injure the
British honey. Most probably, however, their proportion to the whole of
the flowers in bloom, is too small to produce any such inconvenience;
whereas on their native continent they exclusively cover whole tracts of
country, as instanced above in the Jerseys." _Evans_, B. ii. p. 95.


+Tumefaction of the Antennæ.+

The antennæ, in this disorder, become swelled at their extremities,
which resemble the bud of a flower ready to open, and they assume a
yellow colour, of which the forepart of the head shortly partakes; the
bees becoming gradually languid and dying, if they have not timely
assistance.--This malady occurs about the month of May.


+Pestilence+, or +Faux Couvain+ (_as Schirach calls it_).

Pestilence has been reckoned among bee-maladies, and attributed to the
residence of dead larvæ in the cells, from a careless deposition of ova
by the queen, (the head of the grub not being placed in a proper position
for exclusion, when that period has arrived,) it has also been ascribed
to cold, and to bad nursing, that is, feeding with unwholesome food.


+Treatment.+

The remedies which have been found most successful in all these maladies,
excepting vertigo, are _cordials_, namely _wine_ and _sugar_. This
circumstance, taken in conjunction with their occurring at the spring of
the year, tends to confirm my opinion that the ailments of bees arise
from hunger and filth.

_Cleanliness_ and _timely supplies of sugared ale_, particularly _during
the months of February and March_, are the preventive remedies which have
hitherto preserved my bees in a state of healthful activity. In ungenial
springs, feeding should be continued even _through a considerable part
of May_, if the preceding autumn have been unfavourable, or if a cold
May have succeeded to warm weather in early spring,--the earliest vernal
flowers affording but a scanty supply of honey. The apiarian is sometimes
astonished that he should lose his bees at this advanced season of the
year, when but a short time before he had seen them in full health and
activity. Had he afforded that food which his bees could not obtain from
a comparatively immature and honeyless vegetation, their hives would
still have gladdened him with the spectacle of a thriving population.

    "If e'er dank autumn, with untimely storm,
     The honey'd harvest of the year deform,
     Or the chill blast, from Eurus' mildew wing,
     Blight the fair promise of returning spring,
     Full many a hive but late alert and gay,
     Droops in the lap of all-inspiring May."

                                                           +Evans.+

The reader must now perceive the importance of feeding, and that the
transition from health to languor and death is less frequently to be
ascribed to disease, than to the want of the necessary means to continue
the vital energy. The suddenness of the unhappy change may reasonably
lead the uninformed or improvident to suppose that an incurable malady
has visited their hives:--so long as the store of honey lasted, there
were health and prosperity; but that gone, famine commenced its ravages,
and an extinction of the bees of course followed. A little foresight
and a little trouble would have kept off the calamity. I am perhaps
tediously particular in this notice. I wish to impress my noviciate
bee-friends with the necessity of thus providing for their hives, that
the most frequent agent of mischief,--hunger,--may be kept out of
them. Still further let me also recommend to them, on the approach of
winter to have the floors of their hives or boxes well cleaned from
insects and their eggs, and from all heterogeneous matter. This is a
business which the bees themselves, when the weather admits of it, are
particularly attentive to; indeed they refrain, as much as possible,
from dropping their excrement upon the floors, taking advantage of every
fine day in winter to sally forth and get rid of it. This was proved by
the experiments of Mr. Hunter: indeed they sometimes fall a sacrifice
to their personal neatness in this respect, their bodies becoming so
swelled, from the accumulation of fæces, as completely to disable them
from flying, when the weather is sufficiently favourable to admit of
their going out; in consequence of which, they fall to the ground and
perish.

+Schirach+ and others recommend, in cases of _Faux Couvain_, to cut
out the infected combs, and to clean and fumigate the hive by burning
aromatics under it.

In +Butler's+ _Feminine Monarchie_, we are gravely told of a certain
bee-mistress, who, finding her hives fruitless, and their tenants pining
away with sickness, by the advice of another female, went to receive the
eucharist, and having kept it in her mouth, placed it, on her return
home, in one of the diseased hives. The plague ceased; honey accumulated;
and, on examining the inside, she found a waxen chapel and altar, of
wondrous architecture, and even bells of the same materials.--Gent. Mag.
1809. p. 316.

To prove that there is much of fancy in the traditional accounts
respecting bee-maladies, I will mention _the various hypotheses
concerning dysentery_. +Columella+ speaks of its arising from the bees
feeding upon honey collected from elm and spurge blossoms; my own
neighbourhood abounds with both; but I never met with nor scarcely heard
of dysentery among the bees here. +Evelyn+ in his _Sylva_ expresses
doubts upon the subject; and +Dr. Evans+ says he made particular
inquiries of some friends in Worcestershire, which (like this
county--Herefordshire) abounds with elms, without obtaining satisfactory
information.

Dysentery has also been said to be produced by a surfeit of vernal honey,
simply as such, from whatever flowers derived: were this true it would
occur in all neighbourhoods. With respect to its proceeding from their
eating wax, I am decidedly of opinion that wax never constitutes any part
of their food, under any circumstances; not a tittle of evidence can
be adduced in support of such an assertion. Wax is an excrementitious
matter, secreted among the abdominal folds of the bees for the sole
purpose of constructing the honey and brood-combs: the scraps of wax that
are observed in winter and spring upon the hive floors, and which, to the
minds of common observers, convey the idea that they are crumbs caused by
the bees consuming the wax for food, are produced by their nibbling the
lids of the cells to uncover the honey. If +Madame Vicat's+ _theory_ were
correct, what would become of all the bees in Siberia and other northern
regions? Huish says he never found honey in this country to candy in the
combs, but adds that Bonner assured him that _he_ had experienced it.
_Vide_ chapter on Honey.

+Kirby+ and +Spence+ have given it as their opinion, that dysentery
arises from the bees having an insufficiency of pollen or bee-bread to
eat with their honey. We have no evidence that pollen constitutes any
part of the food of _adult_ bees; and if it did, they have generally
opportunities of storing it very abundantly, in the autumn, as well
as in the spring: and such is the provident industry of bees, that a
considerable surplus is always found in every stock-hive.

+Wildman+ and +Huish+ recommend salt for preserving the health of bees;
and their frequenting stable drains and other receptacles of urine gives
countenance to this recommendation, as it seems probable that the saline
matter contained in those fluids attracts the bees, their desire for it
overcoming that repugnance to offensive odours which would otherwise
occasion them to avoid such places. Even fresh urine has been recommended
by +Ranconi+, an _Italian_ author, in case the bees should be attacked
by dysentery;--in all probability a weak solution of salt would be more
acceptable and equally efficacious. I always introduce a small portion of
it into the syrup with which I feed my bees. +Keys+ says that they are
not fond of salt. _Vide_ Page 186.

I will close this chapter on the Diseases of Bees with an extract from
Nicholson's Journal, vol. xxiii. p. 234: Scientific Intelligence.

"A large swarm of bees having settled on a branch of _the poison ash_,
(_Rhus Vernix_,) in the county of West Chester in America, was taken
into a hive of fir at three o'clock in the afternoon, and removed to the
place where it was to remain, at nine. About five the next morning the
bees were found dead, swelled to double their natural size, and black,
except a few, which appeared torpid and feeble, and soon died on exposure
to the air." This was attributed to their being poisoned by the effluvia
of the _Rhus Vernix_.




CHAPTER XXV.

ENEMIES OF BEES.


Among the enemies of bees are enumerated various kinds of birds, poultry,
mice, wax-moths, slugs, hornets, wasps, woodlice, ants, and spiders.

The most destructive enemies of the bee, in this country, are _wasps_,
whose superior strength, boldness and number, enable them to commit great
ravages in a hive. One wasp is supposed to be a match for three bees,
and, to filch a belly-full of honey, will oppose a host of bees in a very
daring manner.

The _wax-moth_ (_Tinea mellonella_) is also a dangerous enemy. +Mr.
Espinasse+ says that this is the smallest of the genus, and it is of a
whitish brown colour. The butterfly usually appears about weak hives in
April, and may be seen till the end of October. This insect is remarkably
active in its movements; and if the approach to the hives be observed of
a moonlight evening, the moths will be found flying, or running round
the hives, watching an opportunity to enter; whilst the bees that have
to guard the entrances against their intrusion, will be seen acting as
vigilant sentinels, performing continual rounds near this important
post, extending their antennæ to the utmost, and moving them to the
right and to the left alternately. Woe to the unfortunate moth that
comes within their reach! "It is curious," says +Huber+, "to observe how
artfully the moth knows to profit, to the disadvantage of the bees, which
require much light for seeing objects; and the precautions taken by the
latter in reconnoitring, and expelling so dangerous an enemy." Adroitly
gliding between the guards, the moths will often contrive to insinuate
themselves, unperceived, into the hives, and riot upon the honey. When
they have obtained possession, they deposit their eggs upon the sides
of the combs; the caterpillar is formed and inclosed in a case of white
silk; at first, it is like a mere thread, but gradually increases to the
size of a quill, and during its growth feeds upon the wax around it. It
seems very extraordinary, and would be almost incredible if the fact were
not well attested, that such tiny creatures should live in the midst, and
at the expense of myriads of such formidable insects as bees, protected
as they are by coats of mail, armed with weapons of offence, and ever
watchful of their treasure. Such, however, is the havoc sometimes made by
these apparently insignificant, but active enemies, as now and then to
compel a colony of bees to emigrate, and seek another habitation.

In this country, where the apiary is generally situated near the
dwelling, _birds_ do not commit any great ravages. +Mr. Espinasse+ thinks
that in general they come only for _dead bees_ and _larvæ_, which may
have been thrown out of the hives. But in America, according to +Mr.
Hector St. John+, _the king bird_, the protector of corn-fields from
the depredation of crows, is a great destroyer of bees. After shooting
these birds, Mr. St. John has found bees in their craws, from one of
which he took as many as a hundred-and-seventy-one: on laying them all
on a blanket in the sun, fifty-four of them returned to life, licked
themselves clean, and joyfully went back to their hives. Many wonderful
tales of this kind have been told,--such as the recovery of flies that
had been inclosed for a considerable time in bottles of liquor (madeira).
An instance of this is related by Wildman, who says his informant was
a very ingenious and accurate gentleman:--that the madeira had been
brought, in bottle, from Virginia to London, and that the flies when
exposed to a warm sun for an hour or two, were so completely reanimated,
as to take wing; thus putting to the test, as Wildman's friend observed,
the truth of the opinion, that a fly cannot be drowned.--A very
marvellous tale was related last year in the newspapers, of the recovery
of some apparently dead bees after the substance containing them had
been submitted to a considerable heat or to a chemical process. Mr. St.
John's statement is within the bounds of credibility: it seems to have
been a case of suspended animation of short continuance, not produced by
exposure to gas or to any liquid likely to prove deleterious to them;
and it is well known that bees often recover even after suffocation with
sulphurous gas. Bees may be immersed in water for a long time, without
loss of life. Reaumur saw them recover after nine hours immersion. Dr.
Evans accidentally left some eighteen hours in water; when laded out
with a spoon and placed in the sunshine the majority of them recovered.
Other animals, of analogous species, exhibit still more wonderful
resurrections. De Geer has observed one species of mite to live for some
time in spirit of wine; and Mr. Kirby states that being desirous of
preserving a very pretty lady-bird, and not knowing how to accomplish it,
he immersed it in geneva. "After leaving it," says he, "in this situation
a day and a night, and seeing it without motion, I concluded it was dead,
and laid it in the sun to dry. It no sooner, however, felt the warmth
than it began to move, and afterwards flew away." This circumstance laid
the foundation of Mr. K.'s study of entomology.

Of this adherence to life, advantage has been taken at the time of
deprivation,--recourse having been had to immersion for removing a
portion of the combs, the bees were afterwards spread on a cloth in the
sun, and became reanimated. Dr. Derham says that he has known bees revive
after remaining twenty-four hours under an exhausted air-pump. After long
submersion the proboscis of the bee is generally unfolded, and stretched
to its full length. The first symptom of returning animation, is a motion
at its extremity, succeeded by a similar motion at the extremities of
the legs. Having so far progressed towards recovery, the tongue is soon
folded up again, and the bee prepared to resume its customary occupations.

_Moths_ and _spiders_ should be watched and destroyed in an evening, as
at that time the former are hovering about, and the latter laying their
snares; at that time too there would be less danger of annoying the bees,
or of being annoyed by them. Wherever moths have gained possession of a
hive, it is always necessary to destroy the bees, or to drive them into
another hive.

Attention to the following particulars may guard the bees from many of
their enemies. A frequent cleaning of the hive floors; the use of new or
well cleaned hives; the timely renewal of the coverings, and keeping the
ground bare around the apiary, particularly in front of it. This last
precaution may also prevent the entanglement of the bees in rubbish or
long straggling vegetables, should they on their return home fall down
through fatigue or the weight of their loads.

From _rats_ and _mice_ the surest safeguard is an appropriate position
of the hives; traps may also be laid, and in winter the entrances into
the hives contracted. It will be prudent likewise to case the legs
of the bee-benches with tin. Bees in a healthy vigorous state will
attack and kill an intruding mouse; but in winter it might commit great
depredations, and cause the emigration of the bees on the return of warm
weather. (Mr. Espinasse says that he has known a mouse take up his winter
quarters in a hive, without destroying the bees.)

For protection against _ants_, which sometimes enter the hives and eat
the honey, +Mr. Cobbett+, in his _Cottage Economy_, recommends that
the pedestals or legs of the benches supporting the hives should be
surrounded by a green stick, twisted into a circular form and covered
with _tar_; and if the ant nest can be traced, that _boiling water_
should be poured into the centre of it, at night, when all the family are
at home. The tarring of the stick should be repeated every two or three
days: the legs of the stool, or the posts on which the shed stands, may
also be tarred. Some bees may be lost by sticking in the tar, but this
disadvantage will be more than counter-balanced by the destruction of
the ants. _Slaked lime_ may be beneficially spread about a foot wide
round the apiary. The usual custom has been to renew this sprinkling of
lime every two or three days: but the _experiments of_ +Mr. Coleridge+
(Southey's Brazil, i. 645) show that this step is unnecessary: by
exposure to the air, lime is converted into chalk; and according to Mr.
C, (who states that the formic acid transpires from the bodies of ants so
as to leave its traces upon the substances which they traverse,) if ants
attempt to pass over chalk, the effervescence produced between the chalk
and the acid will be so considerable as to burn their legs. It has been
said that a bee cannot kill an ant, when bitten; but that the bee instead
of making resistance, flies away and carries the ant with it.

+M. Reaumur+ was of opinion that ants were not to be reckoned among the
enemies of bees; and he relates an instance of their living as very close
neighbours, yet in perfect harmony. The ants established themselves
between the glass panes of his bee-box and the wooden shutters which
covered them; and as a similar circumstance occurred to +Bonnet+, and in
other of Reaumur's hives also, it seems probable that the ants took up
their quarters in this situation for the sake of the equable warmth that
the bees would impart to their eggs. "Ants were without the hive," says
Reaumur, "and bees within; a single glass only separating two nations, so
different in manners, in customs, and genius. The bees were abundantly
provided with a dainty of which ants are exceedingly fond, I mean honey.
The ants had just reason to be apprehensive that the bees would be
uneasy, and jealous to preserve so precious a treasure. Nevertheless
the utmost harmony and concord prevailed between the two nations. Not a
single ant was tempted to enter the hive, how strongly soever she might
be invited by the fragrance of the honey; nor did any bee disturb the
ants, though superior to them in power; the several individuals, on each
side, went in and out peaceably; they would meet in the way without
teazing or molesting one another: respect on one side, and complacency on
the other, were the foundation of this peace."--Nat. History of Bees, p.
352.

The destruction of _queen wasps_ and _queen hornets_ in the spring, and
of wasps' and hornets' nests in the summer, will prove the best security
against those formidable enemies. None but queen wasps and queen hornets
appear in the spring. Everyone which is then annihilated would probably
have been the founder of a kindred colony, and every colony of wasps
at a moderate computation may be calculated to produce at least 30,000
in a season. These destroyers may often be watched to their homes and
exterminated in the night, by brimstone, gunpowder, or boiling water.

The wooden guards invented by Espinasse, or the tin guards of Huish, will
be very useful in case of a formidable attack, and had better be made use
of if an assault be apprehended from these predatory insects.

Powder and shot are the only protectors from the visits of _birds_.

The exclusion of _poultry_ must be left to the ingenuity of the apiarian.

In an ungenial autumn, it is not uncommon for _bees that are ill-managed
and not properly fed, to plunder the hoards of their own species_, and
bees that have thus acquired predatory habits, become great annoyers of
industrious and well-fed colonies; they are known by the name of corsair
bees. On these occasions spies are said to be sent our to ascertain the
respective strengths of neighbouring colonies, and to select the weakest
for attack. _They make similar attacks upon the nests of humble-bees,
as well as upon the bees themselves_; in the former case they will
carry off almost the whole of the stores that have been collected,
unrepulsed by its proprietors; and in the latter case, says +Huber+,
"the humble-bee, accustomed to such exactions, yields up its honey, and
resumes its flight." In both cases it renews its labour in the fields,
and repairs with its surplus treasure to its usual asylum, and that even
after repeated robberies. +Mr. Hubbard+ says that he has known repeated
instances of weak stocks being expelled from their hives by strong ones.
_The best remedies_ for this evil are _the contraction of the entrances_,
as for guarding against wasps, _or a change in the situation of the
hives._

+Dr. Darwin+ in his _Phytologia_ has related an instance of a besieged
hive being removed to a distant and more easterly part of the same
garden: the assailants in this case did not follow, and the bees resumed
their usual occupations. Removal to a still greater distance would seem
to promise more certain relief. In order to raise their courage above
its natural height when thus attacked, +Schirach+ _recommends mixing a
little wine or brandy with honey, and presenting it to the bees that are
besieged_.

+Huber+ has called the attention of Naturalists to what he designated _as
a new enemy of bees_, the _Sphinx Atropos_ or _Death's-head Hawk-moth_,
to which his attention seems to have been first directed in 1804. This
gigantic moth, which derives its name from having upon its back a mark
somewhat resembling a death's head, has, from this cause together with
its size, (which at first caused it to be mistaken for a bat,) produced
great alarm amongst the people of some countries, being regarded by
them as the harbinger of some calamity. +Kuhn+ speaks of its having
been noticed in the apiaries of some monks at the close of the last
century, as well as in the bee-houses of other persons: and +Campbell+,
in his _Travels_, mentions it as plundering the wild bees in _Africa_
of their honey. This moth makes its appearance towards the close of
summer: it has the faculty of emitting a shrill mournful cry, which,
when threatened by the vengeance of the bees, has the power of disarming
their fury. It operates upon them like the voice of their queen, and
thus enables the moth to commit the greatest ravages in the hives, with
perfect impunity. Huber ascertained that it could not produce the same
effect upon humble-bees; for whenever _their_ nests are entered by one
of these insects, it is immediately attacked and driven out. One that
Huber introduced into a nest of humble-bees was actually stung to death
by them, but not till many wounds had been inflicted upon its most
sensible part, the belly. On dissecting one of these moths, he found a
table-spoonful of pure honey in its abdomen. The proceedings of bees,
when attacked by the _Sphinx Atropos_, as detailed in the Chapter on
Instincts, will suggest to the apiarian the best plan to be adopted,
whenever this formidable insect shall invade their territories.




CHAPTER XXVI.

EXOTIC BEES.


Bees are, in all probability, the most universal of all animals; and
notwithstanding their impatience of cold, they seem adapted to live in
all climates. They are accordingly to be met with in every quarter of the
globe, and in every quarter they seem to flourish, if duly attended to.

_In all tropical climates there are little black bees without stings._
Those of Guadaloupe are only half the size of those in Europe, and are
rounder in their form. They build in hollow trees, or in the cavities
of rocks by the sea-side, where they lay up their honey in cells about
the size and shape of a pigeon's egg; these cells are of a black or deep
violet colour, and joined together, so as to leave no space between them;
they hang in clusters almost like a bunch of grapes; each cell somewhat
resembles a small bottle or bladder; when filled with honey the cell is
closed up.

The honey collected by these bees is said not to be so unpalatable nor
so surfeiting as that of Europe. By unpalatable I conceive the writers
merely to mean, that it has less of that peculiar flavour which European
honey possesses. A writer in the 15th volume of the Philosophical
Transactions, states that their honey is always in a fluid state, and as
clear as rock water, forming an agreeable beverage, which taken on an
empty stomach in the quantity of about half a pint, acts medicinally in
about two hours, but not so when taken with the meals.

There is a species of bees in Guiana which gather very delicious honey,
and have no stings. These also construct their combs in a different
manner from the hive-bee of our hemisphere. According to Huber's
translator, _there are bees in India that construct under the boughs of
a tree a single comb of very large dimensions_. The most interesting
account of exotic bees that I have met with, is in Mr. Basil Hall's
highly instructive and entertaining Journal written on the coasts of
Chili, Peru and Mexico, in 1820, -1, and -2, of which I shall here give a
transcript.

"From the Plaza, we went to a house where a bee-hive of the Country
was opened in our presence. The bees, the honey-comb, and the hive,
differ essentially from those in England. The hive is generally made out
of a log of wood from two to three feet long and eight or ten inches
in diameter, hollowed out, and closed at the ends by circular doors,
cemented closely to the wood, but capable of being removed at pleasure.

"Some persons use cylindrical hives, made of earthenware, instead of
the clumsy apparatus of wood; these are relieved by raised figures and
circular rings, so as to form rather handsome ornaments in the verandah
of a house, where they are suspended by cords from the roof, in the same
manner that the wooden ones in the village are hung to the eaves of the
cottage. On one side of the hive, half-way between the ends, there is a
small hole made, just large enough for a loaded bee to enter, and shaded
by a projection to prevent the rain from trickling in. In this hole,
generally representing the mouth of a man, or some monster, the head of
which is moulded in the clay of the hive, a bee is constantly stationed,
whose office is no sinecure[J], for the hole is so small, he has to draw
back every time a bee wishes to enter or to leave the hive. A gentleman
told me that the experiment had been made, by marking the sentinel; when
it was observed that the same bee continued at his post a whole day.

[Footnote J: If the Mexican bees enter the hives with as much rapidity
and in as great numbers as Reaumur states they do in this part of the
world, it would indeed be no sinecure. He observes that the population
of a hive amounts to 18,000, and that a hundred enter in a minute; if as
many go out in the same time, I think the sentinel must rather stand on
one side of the entrance than within it.]

"When it is ascertained by the weight that the hive is full, the end
pieces are removed, and the honey withdrawn. The hive we saw opened was
only partly filled, which enabled us to see the œconomy of the interior
to more advantage. The honey is not contained in the elegant hexagonal
cells of our hives, but in wax bags, not quite so large as an egg. These
bags or bladders are hung round the sides of the hive, and appear about
half full, the quantity being probably just as great as the strength of
the wax will bear without tearing. Those near the bottom being better
supported, are more filled than the upper ones. In the centre of the
lower part of the hive, we observed an irregular-shaped mass of comb
furnished with cells, like those of our bees, all containing young ones,
in such an advanced state that when we broke the comb and let them out,
they flew merrily away. During this examination of the hive, the comb and
the honey were taken out, and the bees disturbed in every way; but they
never stung us, though our faces and hands were covered with them. It is
said, however, that there is a bee in the country which does sting; but
the kind we saw seem to have neither the power nor the inclination, for
they certainly did not hurt us; and our friends said they were always
'muy manso,' very tame, and never stung any one. The honey gave out a
rich aromatic perfume, and tasted differently from ours, but possessed an
agreeable flavour."

From the periodicals of the last year, I have observed that there has
been an importation of the stingless bees into this country. I doubt the
success of their establishment here, as the fruits of their labours may
very soon become the prey of wasps and corsair bees, and even of the
hive-bees which, in a dearth of honey or when from a paucity of numbers
a hive is weakly defended, will commit depredations upon one another.
The stingless bees having no weapon of defence which enables them to
cope with armed assailants must soon be exterminated. In their native
clime, where there is an abundance of sweets, no temptations to predatory
attack may occur; but in our hemisphere, as Buffon has observed, there
are hundreds of lazy creatures, fond of honey and disliking labour, that
would, but for the weapons of defence possessed by our bees, invade their
hives and carry off the treasures.

Honey-bees do not appear to have been among the native productions of
North America, though they have now become general throughout that
continent. When established there, they extended themselves somewhat
in advance of the white population; in consequence of which they were
called by the native Indians, the white man's flies, and were regarded as
indicating the approach of European settlements.--Jefferson's Virginia.

An elegant modern writer has observed upon this subject, that "a few
years ago the hum of a bee had never been heard on the western side of
Alleghany Mountains: but that a violent hurricane having carried several
swarms over that lofty ridge, they found there a new unexhausted country,
singularly favourable to their propagation, where they have multiplied,
till the whole of those boundless savannahs and plains have been
colonized by these indefatigable emigrants."

From what I have said above, it would seem that the bees of all tropical
climates store their honey in cells or bags of large dimensions; but
from Mr. Basil Hall's account it appears that the bees of South America
build small cells also, resembling those of our hive-bees; and in all
probability this is the case with those of other hot climates, and that
these small cells are merely used as receptacles for the young brood.




CHAPTER XXVII.

SEPARATION OF WAX AND HONEY.


After deprivation, the box or hive containing the combs should be kept in
a warm room, till it is convenient to drain it of its contents, as the
more fluid the honey, the sooner and the more completely will it run off;
this is of course a reason for not deferring the draining longer than can
be avoided.

The combs should be separated from the boxes or hives with the broad
spatula and the double-edged instrument recommended in chapter XI. and
placed afterwards on a clean dish. The waxen covers, on both sides of
the scaled combs, should be sliced off, when by placing them on a hair
sieve the honey will run through tolerably fine, and may be caught in an
earthen pan. For prime purposes the purest combs should be selected, and
their honey passed through a separate sieve. Mr. Isaac recommends letting
this fine honey drop through the sieve into a silk sarse, such as is used
by the apothecary for sifting fine powders, and from the sarse into an
earthen pan; this would enable the apiarian to obtain his honey in a more
depurated state. The sarse must be first wetted, or the honey will not
run through it. If the weather be cool, this business should be done in
a room where there is a fire.

The ordinary combs may be chopped up, or broken down with the hands, and
together with the refuse combs after draining, may be thrown into as much
clear water as will cause the wax to swim: the whole may remain in this
state for some days to dissolve all the honey for making common mead;
or the combs may be spread out upon broad dishes, and set before the
bees in an evening, as also the utensils which have been employed during
the process, first strewing them over with short straws, to prevent the
bees from smearing their wings. The former is the best mode of disposing
of the refuse combs and utensils, as the latter is apt to produce
quarrelling and robberies.

The combs having been cleared as completely as possible, the finest
should be boiled in water enough to float them, till they are thoroughly
melted: the melted mass should be poured into a canvass bag, made in the
form of a jelly bag, with a draw tape or string at the top, and then be
suspended over a tub or pan of cold water. The strings of the bag being
tightly drawn, the expression may be effected in various ways. Some press
the bag between two strong round sticks, tied or strapped together at
their ends, so as to resemble a pair of nut-crackers, with which two
persons may by repeatedly stripping down the sides of the bag, express
the whole of the wax. Others express it by making an inclined plane of a
board about four feet long, placing one end of it in the tub or pan of
water, and the other against the breast of the assistant, who puts the
bag on the board and passes a round stick firmly down it, as long as the
wax will run. A screw press, made hot, would of course answer the purpose
better than either of the above modes.

The crumbled combs might be put over the fire, in a steam kettle, with
water under it, and the wax which runs through might be afterwards
melted again and passed through the bag. The new combs will melt almost
entirely; but the old ones, owing to their cells having received so many
linings, will preserve their form, the wax running from them but in small
quantities.

The vessel used for melting the wax should be capable of containing a
good deal more than is put into it, as the contents may boil up suddenly,
and occasion loss and inconvenience as well as danger. The wax having
been separated from the water in which it was melted, should be remelted
with just water enough to prevent burning; and having been well skimmed,
may be poured into proper moulds for forming cakes, the vessels being
first rinsed with cold water to prevent the wax from adhering to them.
The melted wax should be placed near the fire and covered over, to cool
gradually, or the cakes will be liable to crack. If it be desirable to
have the wax in a very pure state, it may be boiled over and over again
with fresh water.




CHAPTER XXVIII.

WAX.


+Wax+ is a solid compact unctuous substance, generally of a yellow
colour. It is secreted by animals and vegetables, but the vegetable
secretion of it is often combined with resin.

+Bees-wax+ may be said to be a concrete animal oil, holding the same
relation to the fixed oils that resin does to the essential oils. It is
secreted by certain small sacklets on the body of the bee, as occasion
requires, for constructing the combs in which the family provision and
the young brood are deposited; the wax of commerce is procured by melting
down these combs, in the manner already described.

_Prime wax_ is of a bright yellow colour and an agreeable odour,
somewhat like that of honey. The best is procured from combs which
have been either wholly unoccupied, or occupied by nothing but honey.
When first secreted, it is white, semitransparent, and very fragile:
it afterwards becomes stronger, and assumes more or less of a yellow
hue. This deepening of colour is owing, partly, to its being covered
with a yellowish varnish by the bees, (for an account of which see
"Architecture" and "Propolis,") and is partly the effect of age.

Independently of its colour, the goodness of wax may also be estimated
by the passing of the thumb nail forcibly over its surface: if good,
the nail will pass with a kind of jerk; but if no obstruction be felt,
the wax may be looked upon as adulterated with suet, or some similar
substance.

The average _quantity yielded by a common hive_, is about half a pound of
wax to fifteen pounds of honey; the quantity of both may be considerably
increased by storifying.

+White wax+ is nothing more than the yellow wax that has been exposed
in thin flakes or shreds to the action of the sun and air. There is an
apparatus for melting and reducing the wax into shreds or ribbands,
but the process of conversion, under any circumstances, is tedious
and dependent on the weather. "The following," says Mr. Parkes in his
Chemical Essays, "is the usual process, as it is conducted in England.
Common bees-wax is melted upon hot water; and when in a fluid state,
it is laded out of the copper, together with a part of the water, into
a wooden vessel; and in this it is allowed to remain a few hours, for
the impurities to subside from it. The purified wax is then put, while
still hot, into a cullender full of holes, through which it runs, and
falls upon a revolving metallic roller, which dips into cold water
contained in a vessel placed underneath. As the melted wax runs through
the cullender upon the revolving roller, the motion of the cylinder forms
it into thin shavings, which cool as they come in contact with the water,
and fall in an accumulated heap into the water below. These shavings of
wax, being now in a suitable form for absorbing oxygen, are taken out of
the tub, and exposed in a field to the action of the atmosphere, till
they become sufficiently white."

Bees-wax forms _a considerable article of commerce_, and large quantities
of it are annually imported into this country from the Baltic, the
Levant, the Barbary Coast, and North America. In some parts of Europe
and America wax is very extensively employed in the religious ceremonies
of the inhabitants. Humboldt informs us that upwards of 80,000 pounds
worth is annually imported from Cuba to New Spain, and that the total
export from that island in 1803 was worth upwards of 130,000_l._ By far
the greater part of this wax is the produce of the hive-bee, though no
inconsiderable quantity is procured also from various species of wild
bees, as well as from certain trees which I shall notice presently.

Upon this subject a modern writer, after lamenting the increasing neglect
of bee-culture in this country, has not hesitated to use the following
contemptuous, though somewhat extravagant, language. "There is hardly
bees-wax enough produced in England to answer the demand for lip-salve
alone; but importation from America supplies all our wants, for the
quantity obtained in that country is annually increasing." "Little thinks
the ball-room beauty, when the tapers are almost burnt out, that the wax
by whose light her charms have been exalted was once hidden in the bells
and cups of innumerable flowers, shedding perfume over the silent valleys
of the Susquehanna, or nodding at their own reflected colours in the
waters of the Potomac and Delaware."

The uses of wax in making candles, ointments, &c. are well known.

According to Buffon, the bees-wax of tropical climates is too soft for
any but medicinal purposes.

There is a species of _wax_, which is generally regarded as _of vegetable
origin_, and which is afforded by various trees, plants and fruits. The
light down which silvers over the surface of prunes and other stone
fruits, has been shown by M. Proust to be wax, the leaves and stem of
the _Ceroxylon_ also, afford it in considerable quantity, if bruised and
boiled in water; but the trees which afford it in greatest abundance,
are the _Myrica cerifera angustifolia_ or wax-tree of Louisiana, and the
_Myrica cerifera latifolia_ of Pennsylvania, Carolina, and Virginia.
The latter is now naturalized in France: it flourishes also in the dry
lands of Prussia, and, from the productiveness of its berries, it seems
surprising that its culture is not more general.

The mode in which this _myrtle wax_ is obtained is as follows. Towards
the end of autumn the natives gather the ripe berries, boil them in
water, skim off the wax which rises, strain it off from its impurities,
and set it to drain, after which, they remelt and form it into masses.
Four pounds of berries yield about one pound of wax.

From the wax thus procured, they make soap and candles. The soap
manufactured from it is said to be excellent, and to wash linen perfectly
white; the candles afford a good light, without smoke or guttering; their
perfume is highly agreeable, not only during the time that they are
burning, but for a considerable time afterwards.

Mr. Sparrman suspects that myrtle wax is deposited upon the berries by
insects, and Du Valde has given an account of a white wax made by small
insects, round the branches of a tree in China, in great quantity, which
is there collected for medical and economical purposes. (Description of
China, vol. i. page 230.) Myrtle wax therefore may not be a vegetable
product.

According to the experiments of M. Cadet and Dr. Bostock, this _myrtle
wax differs in some respects from, bees-wax_. It differs from it in
colour, different specimens of it assuming different shades of yellowish
green: its smell is also different; myrtle wax, when fresh, emitting
a fragrant balsamic odour. It has in part the tenacity without the
unctuosity of bees-wax, and somewhat of the brittleness of resin. Its
specific gravity is greater, insomuch that it sinks in water, whereas
bees-wax floats upon it; and it is not so easily bleached to form white
wax.

_Analysis of Wax._

  Carbon    81,79
  Oxygen     5,54
  Hydrogen  12,67

"The formation of resin and wax has been explained thus:--That when a
volatile or a fixed oil is expelled out of plants, and has its surface
exposed to the air, the first becomes a resin by losing hydrogen, the
second a wax by absorbing oxygen."--Parkes's Chemical Catechism, p. 244,
11th edit.




CHAPTER XXIX.

HONEY.


+Honey+ is a well known, sweet, tenacious, substance, which in fine
weather is continually secreting in the nectaries of flowers, chiefly
from certain vesicles or glands situated near the basis of every petal,
from whence it is collected by bees and other insects. The domestic
honey-bees consume a portion of this honey for food, at or near the
time of gathering; but the principal part is regurgitated and poured
into the cells of the hive, for the use of the community in winter:--so
very abundant are these collections, in favourable seasons, as to
afford to the apiarian an extensive share of them, without distressing
the provident hoarders. Mr. Wildman states that in the year 1789, he
purchased a glass filled with exceedingly fine honey-combs, weighing
63lbs., which had been collected within a month, and that the hive
which it had surmounted still contained a full supply for the winter's
consumption of the bees. This however was an unusual quantity; a hive or
box, of the dimensions recommended in this work, may be considered as
well stocked when it yields from 30 to 40lbs. of honey.

The honey intended for early use, and for the nursing-bees and drones,
is deposited in cells which are allowed to remain open, and is probably
of an inferior sort; whilst the finest honey, which is laid up in store
for winter, is placed in the most inaccessible parts of the hive, and
closed in the cells with waxen lids.

    "There cluster'd now clear wells of nectar glow,
     Like amber drops that sparkle in the Po,
     And now (so quick the change) ere one short moon
     Shrinks with waned crescent mid the blaze of noon.
     All veil'd from view, these amber drops are lost.
     And each clear well with waxen crown embost."

                                                           +Evans.+

In the Philosophical Transactions for 1792, Mr. Hunter has stated, that
whatever time the contents of the honey-bags may be retained, they still
remain pure and unaltered by the digestive process. Mr. Polhill, a
gentleman to whom the public are indebted for several articles in Rees's
Cyclopædia appertaining to bees, is also of this opinion. Messrs. Kirby
and Spence do not admit this statement: as the nectar of flowers is not
of so thick a consistence as honey, they think _it must undergo some
change in the stomach of the bee_. This opinion is strengthened by what
has been stated by Reaumur: he observed that if there was a deficiency of
flowers, at the season of honey-gathering, and the bees were furnished
with sugar, they filled their cells with honey, differing in no other
respect from honey collected in the usual way, but in its possessing a
somewhat higher flavour and in its never candying, nor even losing its
fluidity by long keeping. The same may be observed when they imbibe the
juices of sweet fruits, for bees do not confine themselves solely to
flowers and honey-dewed leaves; they will sometimes very greedily absorb
the juice of raspberries for instance, and thus spoil them for the table;
they also visit in crowds the vats of the cider and wine maker.

Reaumur has likewise remarked, that _in each honey-cell there is a
cream-like layer or covering, of a thicker consistence than the honey
itself_, which apparently serves to retain the more liquid collections
that may from time to time be introduced under it. Messrs. Kirby and
Spence say, that if honey were the unaltered nectar of flowers, it would
be difficult to conceive how this cream could be collected in proper
proportions. This observation is made, in consequence of their presuming
that some of this cream-like covering is conveyed into the cells with
each deposition of fresh honey; and it has been supposed that this
cream was the last portion disgorged. According to an article in Rees's
Cyclopædia, probably written by Mr. Polhill, this cream-like matter
is formed at the very first, and every addition of honey is deposited
beneath it. The bee, entering into the cell as deeply as possible, puts
forward its anterior pair of legs, and with them pierces a hole through
the crust or cream: while this hole is kept open by the feet, the
bee disgorges the honey in large drops from its mouth; these, falling
into the hole, mix with the mass below: the bee, before it flies off,
new-models the crust, and closes up the hole. This mode of proceeding is
regularly adopted by every bee that contributes to the general store.

The power of _regurgitation_ in the bee is very remarkable: its
alimentary organs, like those of the pigeon, besides being subservient to
the purpose of nutriment, afford it a temporary storeroom or reservoir.
Ruminating animals may be considered as regurgitating animals, though in
them the operation is performed for different purposes. In some it is
exercised for the purpose of digesting the food, in others for feeding
the young; but in bees its use is to enable them to disburden themselves
of the honey which they gather for the winter's store of the community.

_The finest flavoured_ and most delicate _honey_ is that which _is
collected from aromatic plants_, and has been stored in clean new cells:
it has been usually called _virgin-honey_, as though it were elaborated
by a fresh swarm of bees; but this is not essential to the perfection
of honey, for, provided the cells in which it is deposited have never
contained either brood or farina, it is not material whether it have been
collected by swarms or by old stocks; the season and the flowers having
been the same, the quality of the honey will in both cases be alike.
F. Lamberti asserts, that the best honey in the world is produced in
Pontus, and that its superiority is attributable to the great quantity
of balm growing there. In this quarter of the world, the _Narbonne
honey_ is regarded as the finest, owing to the rosemary which abounds in
the neighbourhood of Narbonne. "The honey, for which _Narbonne_ is so
deservedly celebrated, is every year diminishing. Bees have ceased to
be an object of attention to the peasantry; they now devote their time
to the vineyards, and neglect the bees. The flowers of the wild plants,
in the neighbourhood of Narbonne, are highly aromatic, and give the
flavour which is peculiar to its honey: this peculiarity is attributed
exclusively to the wild rosemary, _Rosmarinus officinalis_." (Duppa's
Miscellaneous Observations and Opinions on the Continent. 1825.) Attempts
are said to have been made to imitate Narbonne honey, by adding to other
honey an infusion of rosemary flowers.

Of the power which some flowers possess of imparting deleterious
qualities to their honey, I have already spoken in the chapter on
Pasturage. I will here add, however, what has been said of the appearance
of this _pernicious_ kind of _honey_. It is usually distinguished from
what is innocent, by its crimson or reddish brown colour, its bitter
flavour, and thicker consistence; but in Florida and Carolina it is so
similar, in all respects, to innocent honey, that the hunters depend upon
experience only, and, knowing that bad honey soon shows its effects,
they at first eat very sparingly. The converse of this would appear in
the "blood-red honey" found by Mr. Bruce at Dixan in Abyssinia, to which
he ascribes no evil properties. (Travels to the Nile, vol. v.) Linnæus
informs us, that in Sweden, the honey of autumn is principally gathered
from the flowers of the _Erica_ or Heath, and that it has a reddish
cast. The honey of our native heaths is also of the same colour. Dr.
Barton has observed that during his residence at Edinburgh, the Highland
honey was often of a dirty brownish colour, which was supposed to be
given to it by the "blooming hather," as Burns calls it: the people of
Edinburgh, however, though great consumers of it, never complain of any
ill effects from it. It produced upon the Doctor a soporific effect. The
most innocent honey will often disagree with those who take it in large
quantities, or who have irritable bowels; usually, in such cases, it
produces purging, and sometimes griping pain. The mischievous qualities
of honey have been said to be destroyed by boiling and straining, or even
by long keeping only; yet when made into metheglin, it has been found as
deleterious as ever.

_The quality of honey varies with the time of gathering_, and that even
though the whole season may have been favourable. The collection at the
commencement of summer is regarded as the prime honey of the year, the
flowers being then most abundant, and in the full glow of health; and
that which is collected in spring is superior to the gleanings of autumn.

+Huber+ states that _the secretion of honey and the formation of wax
are singularly promoted by electricity_: hence the works may always be
observed to advance rapidly when there is a southerly wind, a moist
warm air, and an impending storm; whereas the secretion is impeded, and
sometimes suspended, by long protracted droughts, cold rains, and a
northerly wind.

_Prime honey_ is of a whitish colour, an agreeable smell, a pleasant
taste, and a thick consistence. When taken from the combs it is in a
fluid state, but gradually thickens by age, and in cold weather, if
genuine, it becomes firm and solid. In England, it has seldom, if ever,
been known to assume this solid state while in the hives; and even out of
them, if it remain in the combs, it will preserve its clearness, purity
and fine flavour, for at least a year. The honey of tropical climates is
always in a fluid state. _Vide_ chapter on Exotic Bees.

_Much of the fine flavour of honey will depend upon the manner of its
separation from the comb._ That will be the most delicate which flows
spontaneously from the purest and whitest combs; the next in excellence
will be that which is expressed without heat; and the coarsest, that
which is obtained by the aid of heat and pressure.

Care should be taken in the selection of _the vessels used for storing
honey;_ the most appropriate are _jars of stone ware_, called Bristol
ware. The principal _constituents of sugar and honey_ are the same; viz.
hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. Besides these their common elements, honey
contains mucilage and extractive matter, and also an excess of oxygen:
in plain English, honey possesses a greater proportion of acid than is
contained in sugar, and in a state more capable of acting upon those
bodies with which it comes in contact. From this the reader will perceive
my reason for recommending stone jars for its preservation: the acid of
the honey acting upon the lead with which every other kind of earthenware
is glazed, causes the honey to receive an impregnation from it, which
may prove injurious to those whose constitutions are delicate: the stone
ware, being glazed with common salt, cannot communicate any injurious
property to the honey which is stored in it. _Honey should be kept in a
cool and dry situation_, as warmth promotes fermentation and generates
a sensible acidity. The circumstance of honey, when separated from the
combs and put into jars, being disposed to ferment in a temperature much
below the usual heat of a hive, is calculated to excite our admiration of
the instinctive intelligence of the bee, which leads it to distribute its
treasure in small cells and to seal them closely over, whereby the honey
can be preserved from fermentation for a long period, even in a high
temperature. +Proust+ _says that granulated honey is capable of being
separated into two parts_, one of which is liquid, the other dry and
not deliquescent, crystallizable in its manner and less saccharine than
sugar. _The Jews of Moldavia and the Ukraine prepare from honey a sort
of sugar_ which is solid and as white as snow, which they send to the
distilleries at Dantzic. They expose the honey to frost for three weeks,
in some place where neither sun nor snow can reach it, and in a vessel
which is a bad conductor of caloric, by which process the honey, without
being congealed, becomes clear and hard like sugar.

Prior to the discovery of sugar, honey must have been an article of great
utility; and notwithstanding that discovery, if we may judge from the
quantity imported into this country, and the price at which it sells
when of fine quality, it may still be regarded as a commodity of great
importance, and worthy of more attention from our rural population than
it in general obtains. _In the Ukraine, some of the peasants have four or
five hundred hives each, and find their bees more profitable than their
corn._ This is a number however which I should think would overstock most
districts, and which could only be supported naturally by having recourse
to transportation. This seems to be evinced by the inhabitants of Egypt,
France, Savoy, Piedmont and other places availing themselves of that
practice, as already stated.

The most productive parts of this kingdom, in all probability, are the
borders of Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, and part of Hampshire, which
abounding in heaths, commons and woods, afford so much pabulum for bees,
as to enable some of the farmers to have from 100 to 150 stocks of them,
the largest number that I have ever heard of in this kingdom.

On the subject of _overstocking_, Mr. Espinasse says that few parts of
England which he has visited afford flowers in sufficient profusion
and of sufficient variety to support numerous colonies. "In the
village," says he, "where my house is situated, many persons, induced
by my example, procured bees; they were too numerous for what was to
feed them; more than one half of them died in the ensuing winter, and
nearly one-third of my own were with difficulty saved by feeding." The
proprietor of bees may know whether or not his situation is overstocked,
if he will attend to the produce of his apiary for several years
together.




CHAPTER XXX.

MEAD.


Prior to the introduction of agriculture into Britain, mead was the
principal cordial beverage of its inhabitants. In other northern nations
also it was formerly in high estimation. This must have proceeded, either
from their unpampered simplicity of taste, or from their having a better
method of making their mead than has been handed down to posterity; for
certainly in the present day it is a liquor seldom heard of, and still
seldomer made; and when made, holding a very humble rank among our
imperfect vinous productions. It however continued in favour long after
the introduction of malt liquor, and the northern inhabitants of Europe
drank it generally until very modern times. To show how highly it was
formerly esteemed in this country, I will give an extract from an ancient
law of the principality of Wales, where "the praises of it, accompanied
by the lyre, resounded through the spacious halls of her princes." "There
are three things in Court which must be communicated to the king, before
they are made known to any other person.

  "1st, Every sentence of the judge;
   2nd, Every new song; and
   3rd, Every cask of Mead."

Mead-making appears to have been regarded by our forefathers as a high
and important avocation; at the courts of the Princes of Wales, the
mead-maker was the eleventh person in dignity, and took place of the
physician. We read in the English History, that Ethelstan a subordinate
king of Kent, in the tenth century, on paying a visit to his relation
Ethelfleda felt very much delighted that there was no deficiency of
mead. According to the custom at royal feasts, it was served up in cut
horns and other vessels of various sizes. About the same period, it was
customary to allow the monks a sextareum (about a pint) of mead between
six of them at dinner, and half the quantity at supper.

It was probably the liquor called by Ossian, the joy and strength of
shells, with which his heroes were so much delighted; the Caledonian
drinking-vessels having consisted of large shells, which are still used
by their posterity in some parts of the Highlands. Mention is sometimes
made also of the Feast of Shells.

Mead was the ideal nectar of the Scandinavian nations, which they
expected to quaff in heaven out of the skulls of their enemies; and, as
may reasonably be supposed, the liquor which they exalted thus highly in
their _imaginary celestial banquets_, was not forgotten at those which
they _really_ indulged in _upon earth_. Hence may be inferred the great
attention which must have been paid to the culture of the bee in those
days, or there could not have been an adequate supply of honey for the
production of mead, to satisfy the demand of such thirsty tribes.

The mythology of Scandinavia (the religion of our Gothic ancestors) was
imparted by Sigge or Odin, a chieftain who migrated from Scythia with the
whole of his tribe, and subdued either by arms or arts the northern parts
of Europe. From him descended Alaric and Attila. In the singular paradise
which Odin sketched for his followers, the principal pleasure was to be
derived from war and carnage; after the daily enjoyment of which, they
were to sit down to a feast of boar's flesh and mead. The mead was to
be handed to them in the skulls of their enemies, by virgins somewhat
resembling the houri of the Mahometan paradise, and plentiful draughts
were to be taken, until intoxication should crown their felicity. Hence
the poet +Penrose+ thus commences his "Carousal of Odin."

    "Fill the honey'd bev'rage high,
     Fill the skulls, 'tis Odin's cry!
     Heard ye not the powerful call,
     Thundering through the vaulted hall?
         Fill the meath and spread the board,
         Vassals of the grisly lord!--
     The feast begins, the skull goes round
     Laughter shouts--the shouts resound!"

Hence likewise, in an ode by +Mr. Stirling+, we find the following
illustration of the northern Elysium.

      "Their banquet is the mighty chine
         Exhaustless, the stupendous boar;
       Virgins of immortal line
         Present the goblet foaming o'er:
       Of heroes' skulls the goblet made,
     With figur'd deaths and snakes of gold inlaid."

Boar's flesh was considered by these tribes as the highest delicacy; the
celestial boar was supposed to be daily renewed, and to afford an ample
repast for the most numerous party: a quantity of mead also, sufficient
for the intoxication of this paradisiacal community, was imagined to be
daily supplied by a goat called Heidruna,

    "Whose spacious horn would fill the bowl
     That rais'd to rapture Odin's soul;
     And ever drinking, ever dry--
     Still the copious stream supply."

                                                           +Cottle+

I could not refrain from adducing these short historical and poetical
evidences of the high estimation in which mead was held by our northern
ancestors. I trust that I shall also stand excused for still further
lengthening my preamble by entering upon _the general principles of
wine-making_.

_The grand desiderata in wine are strength, flavour, and
pleasantness:_--to accomplish the first, sugar must be converted by
fermentation into alcohol; the second depends upon the article to be
vinified, and upon the management of the process of vinification; flavour
may likewise be produced artificially by different adjuncts: pleasantness
will principally result from the same causes, but more especially from
the liquor holding in solution a certain quantity of unconverted sugar.

_The elements necessary to a due fermentation_ and to bring the process
to a satisfactory issue, _are sugar, extractive matter, acid of tartar_,
and _water_. These exist in the highest perfection and in the best
relative proportions in _the grape_: hence the superiority of foreign
wines. Whoever therefore expects to imitate, with much effect, those
generous liquors, must supply in the process those ingredients in which
the article sought to be converted into wine is deficient.

If the native juices of fruits be deficient in sugar, it will be
impossible to convert them into a strong wine without a proper supply of
that ingredient; and without a sufficiency of extractive matter, which
is the natural ferment, a due fermentation could not be established; the
wine would be sweet, but not potent; _sweet wines being the produce of
an incomplete fermentation_. If the extractive matter were in excess, the
liquor would have a tendency to the acetous fermentation, which might
also be induced by a superabundant proportion of water.

_The result of a complete fermentation is a dry wine;_ to produce which,
the elements must all be nicely balanced, and the process conducted under
favourable circumstances, with respect to temperature, tunning, stopping
down, &c.

Two opposite practices prevail, in the manufacture of the same sort
of wine; _some wine-makers boiling the juices before fermentation,
others conducting the whole process without boiling:_ the propriety or
impropriety of these practices depends upon the quality of the juices to
be vinified. Extractive matter is partially coagulable by heat; boiling
therefore, by causing this matter to separate and to be deposited, tends
to the production of a sweet wine. The extractive matter may also be
precipitated by sulphuric acid gas, (burning in the cask a brimstone
match as hereafter directed,) or by sulphuric acid itself, with which the
soluble leaven forms an insoluble compound. Hence where the extractive
matter is in excess, and where there is danger of fermentation going on
too rapidly, boiling or sulphuring will be useful both to the wine and
cider-maker, in checking or preventing fermentation. The superfluous
extract thrown up in the course of fermentation as yeast, or deposited
as lees, will, if remixed with the liquor, have the effect of continuing
the fermentation: hence the utility of racking and fining, where it is
in excess; and of re-union, where it is deficient. _Artificial leaven
or yeast_, which contains the extractive principle in great abundance,
affords a supply to those juices which are deficient in it, and without
which they will not ferment. _Natural leaven_ (i. e. _extractive matter_)
is soluble in cold water, artificial leaven is not: during fermentation,
therefore, the latter is always thrown off; so also is the greater part
of the former, if the process be well conducted.

Most of the fruits of this country abound in _malic acid_; those that
possess only a moderate quantity of it, however, afford excellent wine
with the addition of sugar only; still better wine may be obtained by the
further addition of the acid of tartar. Where the malic acid prevails so
abundantly as to make its neutralization desirable. +Dr. McCulloch+,
(to whom I am indebted for much of the information contained in this
chapter,) recommends the coating of the insides of the fermenting vats
with a white wash of hot _caustic lime_. I have neutralized the malic
acid, by putting into the cask, after the sensible fermentation has been
completed, about a pound of _egg shells_ to every sixty gallons of wine.

The acid of tartar increases the fermenting power of fluids: half-ripe
fruits possess it in greatest abundance; hence the vivacity of champagne
and green gooseberry wine. It is most conveniently used in the state
of supertartrate of potash or common cream of tartar: the common rough
tartar is in some respects preferable, as its admixture of yeast assists
in perfecting the fermentation.

All vegetables contain more or less of extractive matter; those that
possess little may be assisted in their fermentation, by that process
being conducted in wooden vessels, wood supplying the extractive
principle to the liquor; the same juices therefore which would ferment
very well in wood, would scarcely ferment at all in glass or earthenware.

The extractive matter and the sugar are seldom completely destroyed in
any wines; the existence of the former is evinced, by the skinny matter
frequently deposited upon the insides of the wine-bottles; the latter
may be detected, by a nice palate, in the very driest of our wines; its
predominance indicates an inferior wine.

From the preceding observations, my readers have probably anticipated my
opinion of _honey, in wine-making_. I regard it merely as _a substitute
for sugar_; and to those who approve of its flavour I recommend the
following _directions_, which I have successfully followed for several
years, having my home-made wines enriched with a considerable portion of
foreign flavour.--Dissolve an ounce of cream of tartar in five gallons
of boiling water; pour the solution off clear upon twenty pounds of
fine honey, boil them together and remove the scum as it rises. Towards
the end of the boiling, add an ounce of fine hops; about ten minutes
afterwards, put the liquor into a tub to cool; when reduced to the
temperature of about 60° Fahrenheit, add a slice of bread toasted and
smeared over with a very little yeast; the smaller the quantity the
better, for _yeast invariably spoils the flavour of wines_, and where
there is a sufficiency of extractive matter in the ingredients employed,
it should never be introduced. The liquor should now stand, and be
stirred occasionally, till it carries a head, when it should be tunned
and the cask filled up from time to time from the reserve, till the
fermentation has nearly subsided. It should now be bunged down, leaving
open a small peg-hole; in a few days this may also be closed, and in
about twelve months the wine will be fit to bottle.

Many makers of both wine and cider have been unconsciously benefited
from the acquisition of tartar by their liquor; it being a frequent
practice to tun into an empty foreign wine cask, whose incrusted sides
have supplied their wine or their cider with a portion of that necessary
ingredient for perfect vinification.

It is a practice with some to add _spices_ to their Mead during the
fermentation, such as ginger, cloves, mace, rosemary, lemon-peel, &c.
This is bad œconomy; a much smaller quantity will communicate the
required flavour if the addition be made after the fermentation has
ceased.

A _common beverage_ is sometimes made, by simply boiling the refuse
honey-combs in water after extracting from them as much of the honey as
will run; this liquor will not require tartar or yeast: it should be
tunned as soon as cool, bunged down in three or four days, and drank in a
few weeks. In some parts of Wales the refuse combs are brewed with malt,
spices, &c. and the produce is called _Braggot_, a name derived from the
old British words _brag_ and _gots_, the former signifying _malt_, the
latter _honey-comb_.

A knowledge of the principles of fermentation will enable the wine-maker
to regulate its process. Thus if a dry wine be desired, and fermentation
be suspended, it may be renewed by a restoration of the separated leaven
or the addition of fresh; or by agitation and a remixture of the lees.
It is upon the latter principle, called "_feeding on the lees_," that
some foreign wines are improved by long voyages; but this treatment, so
_serviceable to Madeira and other Spanish wines_, and also to some of
the French wines, _would destroy Burgundy_. If there be an excess of
fermentation the scientific operator will regulate, check or suspend it,
by skimming, racking, fining. If skimming and racking do not succeed,
recourse must be had to _fining_, which may be effected _by isinglass_,
in the proportion of about an ounce to 100 gallons. The isinglass must
be beaten, for a few days, with a whisk in a small quantity of the wine,
till completely attenuated. This solution must then be well stirred
into the cask of wine, which in about a week will become fine and fit
for being racked off. This fining is accomplished by the union of the
isinglass with what is called the tannin of the wine. Fining may also be
effected by _stumming_, i. e. _by burning in a close vessel containing
a small part of the wine a brimstone rag_, at the rate of a dram of
sulphur to thirty gallons; and when consumed, rolling the cask about for
a quarter of an hour, that the wine may absorb as much as possible of the
sulphuric acid gas. This being done, the cask is to be filled up with the
remainder of the wine, and bunged down. In this process the sulphuric
acid or its oxygen unites with the extractive matter or soluble leaven,
which being thereby rendered insoluble is precipitated to the bottom, as
I before observed. If wines be perfectly fermented, they do not require
the addition of any brandy, as a sufficiency of spirit is generated
during the process.

_The best temperature for carrying on fermentation_ is about 54°
Fahrenheit. Its perfection depends in some degree upon the volume of
the liquor; the larger the quantity, the longer the fermentation will
continue, and the stronger and pleasanter will be the wine. There are
however exceptions to this rule. The peculiar excellence of champagne
would be destroyed, if its fermentation were conducted upon a large
scale: it may be made successfully in a gallon measure. This wine is so
managed by the makers as to ferment after bottling.

_Dry wines and fine wines_ are much more durable than any others;
and those that would perish in cask, _may be preserved many years by
bottling_.

These hints will, I hope, enable the makers of home-made wines to conduct
the process scientifically, and to secure generally a successful issue.
Cookery books and good housewives abound in receipts for wine-making,
which are very often fanciful and absurd, recommending the introduction
of articles which, in their very natures, counteract the production of
good wine. Hence we are sometimes presented with such miserable mawkish
stuff, as disgraces the name of wine, being only rendered tolerable by
the brandy which has been added to it, and which in some degree covers
the crudeness and insipidity of the compound, and moderates its hostility
to the peace of our stomachs.




THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BEE.




PART II.




CHAPTER XXXI.

ANATOMY.


Having given in detail the instructions necessary for the domestic
management of the Bee, and treated of such parts of its physiology as
that detail naturally suggested; I shall now proceed to give an account
of the most important parts of its anatomical structure, and so much more
of its physiology as may arise from a consideration of that structure, or
be otherwise likely to interest my readers.

Some persons may possibly consider a description of the anatomy of
so small a creature as unimportant and uninteresting; but without
understanding the anatomy of the bee, its physiology would be vague,
uncertain, and conjectural; and it is physiological knowledge that
has hitherto led, and must still lead, to a scientific and profitable
management of this insect. The enlightened +Boyle+, when contemplating
the various wonders of Nature, has declared his astonishment to have been
more excited by the mite than by the elephant; and that his admiration
dwelt, not so much on the _clocks_ as on the _watches of creation_. It
is not my intention, however, to enter deeply into the anatomy of the
bee, but merely to give a general account of those parts which are most
prominent and important; anything beyond this would, to the general
reader, be tedious and uninteresting. Those who desire minute information
may obtain it in various works, but in none more satisfactorily than in
that of +Messrs. Kirby+ and +Spence+.

  The natural  }     { The Head.
  divisions of } are { The Trunk.
  the Bee      }     { The Abdomen.

These are connected together by ligaments.

The +Head+, in common with that of other creatures, is the inlet for
nutrition and the principal seat of the organs of sensation.--Of
nutrition and sensation I shall speak in their appropriate places.

The +Trunk+ is the intermediate section of the body between the head and
the abdomen: it approaches in figure to a sphere, and is the seat of the
organs of motion; it contains the muscles of the wings and legs which
proceed from it, and is the main prop, or as it were the key-stone, of
the other two sections. The upper side is called _thorax_ or the _chest_,
the under side _pectus_ or the _breast_.

The +Abdomen+ is the third section of the body, posterior to the
trunk; it is divided into six rings or segments, which, by sliding one
over another, serve to shorten or lengthen the body. It is the seat
of the organs of generation, and principally of those connected with
respiration; and contains also the anus and the sting. The upper part is
called _tergum_ or the _back_, the under side _venter_ or the _belly_.


+The Head.+

The most remarkable part of the head is the +Proboscis+, of which so good
an account has been given by +Dr. Evans+ that I shall describe it nearly
in his words.

It is not so much the mere simplicity of nature, which excites our
wonder and admiration, as that apparently complex structure, which
operates with all the ease of the simplest machinery. Of this we have
not a more striking instance than in the proboscis of the labouring bee:
though the component parts of the proboscis are scarcely discernible by
the naked eye, yet are they far more complicated than the elephant's
stupendous trunk. It consists of no less than five distinct branches;
namely, a central trunk, or tongue, and four horny scales, tapering to
a point, convex outwards and concave towards the trunk; the two outer
ones so sheath the inner as to appear but one single tube: by a joint
in the middle they bend, or extend all at once, carrying with them the
unarticulated tongue, which is cylindrical, and about the size of a man's
hair, and appears through a magnifier to be composed of successive rings.
It has probably as many short muscles as the tongue of a fish, which
are capable of moving it in all directions; and towards its termination
is furnished with hairs or villi, some of which at the point are very
long, and seem to act like capillary tubes. +Mr. Wildman+ assures us,
that he has seen the trunk growing bigger and less by turns, swelling
the instant the bee sucked; and this alternate lessening and enlargement
propagated from the extremity to the root. What a delicate apparatus of
invisible muscles must perform this office! The tongue is capable of
being contracted and folded up at pleasure; for if it were constantly
extended, it would be exposed to injury: when at rest, therefore, it is
doubled up by means of its joint, and lies in a very small compass; the
first portion being brought within the lip, and the second part folded
under the head and neck, protection is given to it by a double sheath,
consisting of four strong scales, the two inner scales sheathing the
tongue, and the two outer and larger ones encompassing the whole. When at
work, the trunk is lengthened beyond its sheaths, probes the very bottom
of the flowers, through all impediments of foliage or fructification, and
drains them of those treasured sweets which, without such an apparatus,
would be completely inaccessible.

The proboscis of the bee is not used like that of other flies, not being
tubular like theirs, but serves as a brush or besom to sweep, or as a
tongue to lap[K]; having collected the nectar of flowers in small drops,
it deposits its collection upon the tongue, which is protruded for the
purpose of receiving it, and having received it, withdrawn again.

[Footnote K: The bee and all other insects that lap their food are called
lambent insects.]

The +Lips+. The bee has two lips, an upper one called _labrum_, and an
under one called _labium_; (the _Mentum_ of Latreille.)

The +Tongue+ of the bee, which is very long, is at its upper part
cartilaginous; below the middle, membranous and capable of considerable
inflation, thus forming a bag to receive the honey from the proboscis,
preparatory to its conveyance into the pharynx. It terminates in a
knob, but has no passage through it, to exercise the power of suction,
as has been supposed. When in a state of inaction, it is folded up
longitudinally, and lies between the lips. The tongue of the working bee
is probably the largest of any known animal, for its size; it is much
longer than that of either the male or queen, and thus fitted for taking
up honey at a considerable depth. The bee has the power of unfolding it
with great rapidity, and darting it betwixt the petals and stamina of
those flowers that afford honey, it moves it about in every direction,
sweeping the convex as well as the concave surface of the petals.

The +Pharynx+ lies at the root of the tongue; it is an opening by which
the honey passes from the tongue to the gullet or honey-bag, and closes
by a valve.

The +Œsophagus+ or +Gullet+ receives the food from the pharynx, and
conveys it, in part at least, to the stomach, there to be digested,
animalized, and forwarded to the small intestines, from whence it is
distributed, through appropriate vessels or tubes, to all parts of the
body for its nutriment. The gullet is long and slender, commences at the
termination of the pharynx, and traversing the neck and breast, dilates
into a fine bag, transparent as crystal, and when filled with honey
about the size of a small pea. In bees caught on going out early in the
morning, Mr. Hunter found this reservoir perfectly empty; but in those
returning from the fields, it was quite full of honey, _some_ of which
had passed into the stomach.

The +Mandibles+ or upper jaws move horizontally, and are armed with teeth.

The +Maxillæ+ or under jaws are situated below the mandibles, have a
similar motion, and form, according to Linnæus, the sheath of the tongue.
De Geer regarded them as part of the apparatus of the under lip, on each
side of which they are placed.

The mandibles are powerful organs, hard and horny, and constitute the
tools with which the bee performs its various labours; the maxillæ on the
contrary are soft and leathery: the latter probably serve to hold such
materials as the former have occasion to operate upon.

The +Antennæ+. Of all the organs of insects, none appear to be of more
importance than their antennæ: in all the tribe they are planted either
between or below the eyes; and no insect has more than two: in their
general structure, they consist of a number of tubular joints, each
having a separate motion, which gives them every variety of flexure.
The antennæ of the male have one more joint than those of the female,
the former having thirteen, the latter only twelve. They seem to enable
the insects, by certain signs and gestures, to communicate to each
other their mutual wants or discoveries. But I shall enter more fully
into this subject when I come to speak of the various uses to which the
antennæ are applied.

The +Palpi+ or +Feelers+ are also important organs; their ends are
furnished with nervous papillæ, indicating some peculiar sense, of which
they are the instrument: they are four in number, two emerging from the
maxillæ called maxillary feelers, and one from each side of the labium,
called labial feelers. The maxillary are short and without a joint,
the labial long and with four joints, including the two flat joints or
elevators.

The +Eyes+, two in number, are placed in the sides of the head; they are
compounds of an infinite number of hexagonal lenses, as clear as crystal,
and are guarded by a horny tunicle or covering. This subject is however
treated of in Chap. XXXII.


+The Trunk.+

The trunk affords attachment to the organs of motion.

First, To the +Wings+, which transport the insect through the air; these
consist of two _superior_ and two _inferior_: they are membranous and
transparent, and while in a state of repose are incumbent on each other,
covering the abdomen.

Bees and various other hymenopterous insects, and also those of the
dipterous family, possess the power of flying in a more perfect degree
than any class of animals besides, surpassing in this respect even
the bird tribe. In the anterior margin of the under wings small hooks
(_hamuli_) are placed, which are capable of laying hold of the posterior
margin of the upper wings, by means of which they are kept steady when
flying. These hooks are discoverable under a good magnifier.

Secondly, To the +Legs+, by which the insect moves itself from place to
place upon the earth. Of these there are _six in number_, each composed
of several joints, and articulated like our arms, thus affording the
power of various movements: in the legs are three distinct divisions;
namely, the thigh, the shank, and the foot. In the _four_ hinder legs one
joint forms a kind of _brush_, externally smooth and bare, but covered on
the inside with stiff bristling hairs. By these the insect is enabled to
brush off farina both from the tips of the stamina of flowers and from
the hairs of its own body. With the jaws and two fore-feet, the meal is
rolled into small compact masses, which are conveyed, by the middle pair
of legs, to the _spoon-shaped cavities_ in the centre joint of the two
hindmost feet; these are surrounded by strong close set hairs, to secure
more firmly the precious burdens. (No such groove is to be found in the
legs of either the queen-bee or drone.) _Each foot_ terminates in _two
hooks_, with their points opposite to each other, by means of which the
bees suspend themselves from the roofs or sides of the hives or boxes,
and hang from each other, in the form of festoons, ropes, or cones. From
the middle of each pair of hooks proceeds a little thin _appendix_, which
is usually folded up; when unfolded it enables the insects to fasten
themselves to polished surfaces, such as glass, &c.: they probably also
use it for taking up small bodies, the pollen for instance, which they
thereby transmit to the hollows of their hinder legs.

The trunk also gives origin to a number of muscles, serving various
purposes, which it would lead me too much into detail to enter upon here.


+The Abdomen.+

The _abdomen_, besides various other parts, contains the _honey-bag_,
the _venom-bag_, and the _anus_, which latter in the female comprehends
the _ovipositor_ and _sting_: in the male it contains the _organs of
reproduction_ but no sting, and of course no ovipositor. For a particular
account of these, _vide_ Organs of Reproduction further on.


+Organs of Sensation.+

We have an abundance of presumptive evidence that bees are endowed
with _sensation_ and _perception_, and that the excitement of these
faculties is communicated, through the medium of _nerves_, to a common
_sensorium_, though the latter was denied to insects by Linnæus and
other eminent naturalists. Common sensation, however, does not reside
in the brain alone of insects, as in that of warm-blooded animals, but
in the spinal marrow also; hence it is that bees and many other insects
exhibit signs of sensation after their heads have been severed from their
bodies. Some insects exhibit these for a long time afterwards, the wasp
for instance; +Lyonnet+ informs us that he has seen motion in the body
of a wasp, three days after its division from the head; and I have known
several instances of its inflicting wounds with its sting, at least
four-and-twenty hours after the separation. The severed body will not
only move but walk, and sometimes even fly, at first almost as actively
without the head as with it. The penetrating genius of +Lord Bacon+
afforded him such illumination upon this subject, as to enable him to
approach very near to what is at this day regarded as a correct statement
of the cause of this _protracted vitality_ in mutilated insects. "They
stirre," says he, "a good while after their heads are off, or that they
be cut in pieces; which is caused also for that their vital spirits are
more diffused throughout all their parts, and lesse confined to organs
than in perfect creatures."

That insects have a real sensorium or brain, would seem to be proved
by their having _memory_, and a _capacity to receive instruction_, and
_acquire new habits_. Such functions in higher animals are regarded
as functions of a cerebral system. That they are endowed with memory
cannot well be doubted. +Huber+ relates a remarkable instance of it in
bees, which illustrates what will hereafter be said on their having a
method of communicating information to each other. "Honey," says he,
"had been placed in a window in autumn, where the bees resorted to it in
multitudes. It was removed, and the shutters closed during winter; but
when opened again, on the return of spring, the bees came back, though no
honey was there. Undoubtedly they remembered it, therefore an interval of
several weeks did not obliterate the impression they had received." "But
the most striking fact evincing the memory of bees has been communicated
to me," says +Mr. Kirby+, "by my intelligent friend +Mr. W. Stickney+,
of _Ridgemont, Holderness_. About twenty years ago, a swarm from one of
this gentleman's hives took possession of an opening beneath the tiles
of his house, whence, after remaining a few hours, they were dislodged
and hived. For many subsequent years, when the hives descended from this
stock were about to swarm, a considerable party of scouts were observed,
for a few days before, to be reconnoitring about the old hole under the
tiles; and _Mr. Stickney_ is persuaded, that if suffered, they would
have established themselves there. He is certain that for eight years
successively the descendants of the very stock that first took possession
of the hole, frequented it as above stated, and _not_ those of any other
swarms; having constantly noticed them, and ascertained that they were
bees from the original hive by powdering them, while about the tiles,
with yellow ochre, and watching their return. And even at the present
time, there are still seen every swarming season about the tiles, bees,
which _Mr. Stickney_ has no doubt are descendants from the original
stock."

Some anecdotes of the spider prove that insects are capable of
instruction. +M. Pelisson+, when he was confined in the Bastille, tamed
a spider, and taught it to come for food at the sound of an instrument.
_A manufacturer_ also, in an apartment _at Paris_, fed 800 spiders, which
became so tame, that whenever he entered it, which he usually did with
a dish of flies, they immediately came down to receive their food. That
insects are susceptible of a change of habits, or rather that they may
acquire civilized habits, if I may say so, is shown by the domestication
of bees, and occasionally by that of ants and wasps. +Huber's+
experiments, with leaf-hives, show the existence of this faculty in an
eminent degree, for he assures us that it renders the bees quite tame
and tractable.

Most physiologists, resting upon the evidence of analogy, agree
in attributing _five senses_ to insects: (+Dr. Virey+, as will be
seen further on, ascribes to them _seven senses:_) though there is
a difference of opinion as to the organs by which those senses are
conveyed. The _antennæ_ for instance, have been regarded by some as the
organs of smell, by others as the organs of touch, and by a third class
as the organs of hearing. With the substitution of taste forbearing, the
same opinions have been maintained respecting the _palpi;_ nor can the
question even now be considered as settled. The prevailing opinion seems
to be, that the antennæ are explorers or tactors, but that they are also
applied to other uses; the effects produced by their excision indicate
that they are organs of the highest importance. _Vide_ Senses of Bees.

+Messrs. Kirby+ and +Spence+ notice the analogy borne by antennæ to the
ears of vertebrate animals, such as their corresponding in number and
standing out from the head. No ether organ has been found which can be
supposed to represent the ear[L]. And what I have said in another place,
of their constituting a sixth sense, has received some countenance from
the observations of those naturalists. "I conceive," says Mr. K., "that
the antennæ, by a peculiar structure, may collect notices from the
atmosphere, receive pulses or vibrations, and communicate them to the
sensorium, which, [communications] though not precisely to be called
hearing, may answer the same purpose." Lehmann calls the function of the
antennæ aëroscepsy. A very remarkable instance of the effect produced
upon them by sound, is adduced by the authors just quoted, which one of
them has thus related. "A little moth was reposing upon my window; I made
a quiet, not loud, but distinct noise: the nearest antenna immediately
moved towards me. I repeated the noise at least a dozen times, and it was
followed every time by the same motion of that organ; till at length the
insect, being alarmed, became agitated and violent in its motions. In
this instance, it could not be _touch_; since the antenna was not applied
to a surface, but directed towards the quarter from which the sound came,
as if to listen."

[Footnote L: +Marcel de Serres+ thinks he has discovered an organ of
hearing in most insects, but does not state its situation.]

That the antennæ should have been regarded as organs of smell is not
surprising when the proceedings of the bees on visiting flowers are
considered; their first act is to introduce one of the antennæ, but no
further than the tip: this conduct would naturally enough convey the
idea of looking or smelling for nectar; yet it does not at all militate
against the opinion that the antennæ are transmitters of sound; the
sense which they supply may, in these little creatures, be so very fine,
as to enable them to hear the bursting of an anther, or the exudation
of nectar. The continual motion of the antennæ of insects from side to
side, when they walk, conveys the idea that it is by their means that
they inform themselves of what is going on in their immediate vicinity.
The importance of the antennæ may be inferred from their very complicated
structure. +Mr. Kirby+ has observed, that in one species of _Apis_ which
he examined, under a powerful magnifier, the ten last joints of the
antennæ appeared to be composed of innumerable hexagons, and from this
similarity in their structure to the eyes (_Vide_ Senses of Bees) he
thought that they might serve a somewhat analogous purpose.

What I have said with respect to the Senses of Bees, in another place,
will I think make it evident that these insects possess an organ of
smell, but with respect to its situation naturalists differ. +Baster+,
+Lehmann+, and +Cuvier+, consider the spiracles as the organs of smell,
as well as of respiration: this opinion is founded upon the notion
that, without the inspiration of air, there can be no smell; and that
as insects are smaller than the food they live upon, it would be of no
consequence to them where this sense was situated. +Kirby+ and +Spence+,
on the contrary, suppose that it resides in some organ near the mouth:
in other parts of the animal creation certainly, that is its situation;
and as there seems to be a necessary connection between smell and taste,
analogy should lead us to argue in favour of that opinion; but though
smell be usually accompanied by respiratory organs, they may not be
essentially necessary to it; a bee may receive impressions from external
objects, in a manner which we cannot comprehend. In confirmation of this
opinion of +Kirby+ and +Spence+, we have the experiments of +Huber+.
It seems that no odour is so unpleasant to insects as that of oil of
turpentine. +M. Huber+ having presented this oil, on the point of a
camel's hair pencil, successively to every part of the abdomen, trunk and
head, it excited no uneasiness in the bee: he then tried the eyes and
antennæ, but with the same result; yet as soon as he pointed it a little
above the insertion of the proboscis, near the cavity of the mouth, the
bee receded, became agitated, clapped its wings, and would have taken
flight, had not the pencil been withdrawn. This experiment was repeated
with the turpentine and other articles of penetrating odour, and with
the same effect; but when the mouths of several bees were stopped with
paste, no such consequences ensued, on the contrary they traversed the
impregnated pencils without being at all annoyed by them; even honey did
not attract them. All these circumstances tend to prove that the site of
smelling is in or near the mouth.--This subject will be resumed in Chap.
XXXII.


+Organs of Respiration.+

The respiration of bees is performed through several little orifices,
called _stigmata_, _spiracles_, or _breathing pores_, situated in the
sides of their bodies, behind their wings. +Reaumur+ was of opinion that
inspiration was performed through the spiracles, and expiration through
the mouth; but +Bonnet+ proved satisfactorily that neither inspiration
nor expiration takes place through the mouth. The spiracles are connected
with a system of air-vessels called _tracheæ_, ramifying through every
part of the frame, and serving the purpose of lungs. From the absence
of lungs, +Aristotle+ and the ancients in general thought that insects
did not breathe. +Pliny+ may perhaps be excepted, for he has observed
that dipping bees in honey or oil deprives them of life;--this immersion
stops up the mouths of the spiracles. Modern physiologists have however
incontestibly proved that they do breathe. "Life and flame," says
+Cuvier+, "have this in common, that neither the one nor the other can
subsist without air; all living beings, from man to the most minute
vegetable, perish when they are utterly deprived of that fluid." +Huber+
detected the existence of the stigmata or breathing pores, by immersing
different portions of a bee in water, and finally by total immersion,
upon which he observed that bubbles of air attached themselves for
some time to the orifices of the stigmata, which alternately appeared
and receded, till their increased bulk enabled them to overcome the
resistance of inspiration and rise to the surface. These respiratory
organs escaped the observation of +Swammerdam+.

Air is equally necessary to insects in the egg state: +Spallanzani+ found
that their eggs could not be hatched in small close vessels, though all
other circumstances were favourable to a development. The eggs of the
hive-bee, whilst in the ovaries, have a net-work of air-vessels spread
over their surfaces;--these were discovered by Swammerdam: from analogy,
we may reasonably conclude, that such a provision obtains generally.

The closeness of a hive, and its having no direct current of air through
it, may favour a belief that bees can exist in any atmosphere, however
vitiated, and may seem also to confirm the opinion of the ancients, that
they have no particular system of respiratory organs. But +M. Huber+ and
+Son+ have proved that they breathe like other animals, that they are
speedily deprived of life, if the process of respiration be arrested;
so delicate indeed is their organization, that they detect the smallest
deterioration in the atmosphere of their hives, and immediately adopt
measures to restore to this element the degree of purity essential to
respiration: from some eudiometrical experiments, it has been ascertained
that the air of a well stocked hive is as pure as that by which it is
surrounded. Still neither wax nor pollen favours the generation of
oxygen gas, nor have bees the faculty of generating it; for when very
closely shut up, they perish in a few hours. The writers just referred
to, discovered that the bees, by uniting the two wings of each side, by
means of the small marginal hooks with which they are provided, so as to
make them present the largest possible surface to the air, were capable
of striking it with considerable force, and that this force was increased
by the wings forming a slight concavity. The wings arranged in this
manner, are put into a violent vibratory motion by the bees appointed to
the office of ventilators, and produce what we call a draught of air.
_Ventilation_ is thus systematically accomplished. A certain portion of
ventilating bees is stationed in files at the entrance of the hive, with
their heads turned inwards; another and a larger party, in files also,
stands a considerable way in the interior, with their heads towards the
entrance: thus both these parties cooperate, in producing a current
of air in the same direction, and are so arranged as not to interrupt
the passage of their fellow-citizens, moving in and out. As this hard
duty has no intermission during the day, nor in hot weather during the
night, and must necessarily occasion fatigue, one set of ventilators is
considerately relieved in about twenty-five minutes, by another set of
fresh bees. Under particular circumstances the number of ventilating bees
is considerably increased. "When the air," says +Huber+, "was not renewed
in the manner desirable, we have seen all vibrating their wings at once,
though this never occurs in the natural state, when the vibrations of
a few are sufficient for ventilation." Although this fanning motion
of the wings is so rapid as to render them almost indistinguishable,
yet they may be observed to describe an arc of 90°. The sagacious bees
remind me of a method which is sometimes adopted of renewing the air of
a room, called pumping; some person moves the door backward and forward
so rapidly as to cause a thorough agitation of the confined air, and the
introduction of a fresh unvitiated atmosphere. "When they are engaged in
ventilation, the bees by means of their feet and claws, fix themselves
as firmly as possible, to the place they stand upon. The first pair
of legs is stretched out before; the second extended to the right and
left: whilst the third, placed very near each other, are perpendicular
to the abdomen, so as to give that part considerable elevation." That
ventilation is carried on for the purpose of renewing the air of the
hives, and not for lowering its temperature, is evident from its being
continued to a certain extent, even during the depth of winter.

The vibratory motion of the bee's wings has been regarded by some as the
principal cause of the _humming_ noise heard in every prosperous hive
during the busy season. This humming has likewise been attributed to the
rushing of the air through their spiracles: so thought +M. Chabrier+,
and, I believe, +Mr. J. Hunter+. Mr. H. assures us that bees can produce
a sound independently of their wings; for if these be smeared over with
honey so as to stick together, the bee still makes a noise, which is
shrill and peevish. He found the same effect from holding the bee by the
legs, with a pair of pincers, while the wings were perfectly still, and
also by immersing the insect in water, though not till it was very much
teased.

The whole body of a drone is in a state of vibration when it hums.
Though deprived of its wings, it is capable of producing a sound exactly
similar, and probably the same with its former hum: even when the legs
are cut off, the trunk retains its tremulous motion, and utters an
audible noise. If immersed in water, many air-bubbles are disengaged
from it: but though the mutilated insect be taken out alive, it is no
longer sonorous. "This experiment, however incomplete," says a writer
in the _Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles_, "tends at least to prove,
that the humming of bees is not occasioned by a strong vibration of the
internal part of the upper wings, but rather by a tremulous affection of
the entire body; and perhaps even by the escape of a greater quantity of
air through the stigmata or spiracles. This last would amount to a sort
of voice." The humming noise with which a flower is always approached by
the bee, ceases as soon as she has alighted upon it, though during the
time that she is extracting its sweets she is in a constant vibratory
motion.


+Circulation.+

The term circulation is not strictly applicable to the imperfect
sanguineous system of insects, as the fluid which supplies their bodies
with nutriment is not distributed to its several parts through the
medium of a heart and vascular system. Lyonnet and Cuvier are both of
opinion that insects have no heart, whereas all creatures that possess
a circulation, properly so called, have a heart, lungs or gills, and a
liver; but insects have only air-vessels and hepatic ducts. The chyle
which is produced in their intestines, transpiring through the pores of
the intestinal canal, passes into the general cavity of the body, where
it is probably animalized, and made to answer the same purposes that
blood does to creatures of a higher class, though when animalized it
still retains its white colour. Although its distribution is obscure,
from its analogy to blood, we may conclude that it is a fluid which
visits and nourishes every part of the insect's body; that from it
secretions are made, and that, as in other creatures, it is fitted for
these purposes by receiving oxygen from the air-vessels. +Cuvier+ has
observed that the blood of insects, "for want of a circulating system,
not being able to seek the air, the air goes to seek the blood;" the
air-vessels, as I have stated under the head of Respiration, are
distributed to every part of the body.


+Nutrition.+

From what I have said under the head of Circulation, it will appear
evident that the bodies of bees and other insects are supplied with
nutriment in a very simple manner. +Cuvier+ is of opinion that it is
obtained by direct absorption or transudation, by imbibition as he calls
it, through the pores of the intestinal canal, along which the blood or
animalized chyle passes: and +Lyonnet+ thinks that this imbibition is
analogous to that which takes place from the earth by the roots of plants.


+Secretion.+

Every thing connected with the subject of secretion seems to be obscure:
it is evident, however, that secretions do take place; for silk, wax, and
poison are all the results of that process. The first of these substances
is only secreted by the bee when in its larva state. I must refer those
who wish for information respecting silk, to those naturalists who
have written on the silk-worm. The secretion of wax I shall treat of
hereafter in a distinct chapter; and it will be better perhaps to speak
of Poison, after describing the sting and its appurtenances. There is one
secretion however, on which I will say a few words in this place,--viz.
Perspiration.


+Perspiration.+

The _temperature of insects_ not gregarious, is generally that of the
medium they inhabit; but bees possess the power not only of preserving a
high temperature during the coldest mouths of winter, but of raising that
temperature under particular circumstances. +Dr. Darwin+ has observed
that they generate heat by a general motion of their legs, as they hang
clustered together in the hives: +Huber+ thinks that it may be increased
by the agitation of their wings;--whatever disturbs them so as to cause
a tumult invariably produces a considerable accession of heat. +Inch+, a
_German_, plunged a thermometer into a bee-hive in the winter, and saw
the mercury stand 27 degrees higher than it did in the open air. +Mr.
Hunter+ found the _heat of a hive_ vary from 73° to 84° of Fahrenheit;
and +Huber+, who says that in a prosperous hive the thermometer in winter
commonly stands at from 86° to 88°, and in summer between 95° and 97°,
states that he has observed it, on some occasions, to rise suddenly from
about 92° to above 104°. The former naturalist, about ten o'clock in the
morning, in the middle of July, when the quicksilver in the thermometer
in the open air ranged at 54°, found that on plunging it into a bee-hive,
it rose in less than five minutes to 82°. At five the next morning it
stood at 79°,--at nine it had risen to 83°,--at one to 84°; and at nine
in the evening it had fallen to 78°. On the 30th of December, when the
temperature of the air was 35°, that in the hive was 73°. Bees also
possess the power of counteracting or throwing off superabundant heat,
by perspiration. +Huber+ observed, that when crowded together in hot
weather, they become much heated, and perspire so copiously that those
near the bottom seem perfectly drenched, and are for a time incapable of
flying from the moisture on their wings.


+Motion.+

The _motions of insects_ are performed through the medium of an
appropriate apparatus of muscles, which move the head, trunk, abdomen,
viscera, and limbs, as in other parts of the animal creation. The
muscles of insects generally possess very great power, as may be seen
by the motion of the mandibles, and the propulsion of the bee's sting.
It is very strikingly evinced also in the flea. +Latreille+ gives an
account of one that dragged a silver cannon twenty-four times its own
weight, firing it off afterwards, without exhibiting any symptom of fear.
An English workman also is said to have made an ivory coach, with six
horses, a coachman on the seat with a dog between his legs, a postillion,
four persons in the coach, and four lacqueys behind,--the whole of which
was dragged by a single flea. A further evidence of the muscular power
of the flea is the extent of its leaps, which equal a space of 200 times
the length of its own body. This calculation, or a very similar one, was
made by +Socrates+, who was much ridiculed for it by +Aristophanes+.
The poet, however, did not confine his ridicule to this minuteness of
calculation, but attacked likewise the character and precepts of that
great philosopher; for the whole of which satire he has justly incurred
the censure of posterity.


+Organs of Reproduction.+

These organs, in the drone, correspond in function and denomination with
those of the higher classes of animals: their chief peculiarity consists
in their size, in proportion to that of the insect, and in their being
more under the belly than in other insects of this tribe;--they are
larger than those of the humble-bee, and the two last scales of the back
and belly are larger than those of the queen or workers.

The female organs consist principally of the ovaries, the oviducts,
the sperm-reservoir, and the ovipositor. In the ovaries the eggs are
generated, and remain till rendered fit by impregnation, and the other
circumstances necessary for their maturation, to pass through the
oviducts. According to Mr. Hunter, what are called ovaries are really
ducts; the eggs therefore are not formed as in other animals, in a
cluster on the back, but in those ducts, of which there are six on each
side. When full of eggs, they form a kind of quadrangle; these six
ducts uniting on each side into one duct, this latter enters a duct
common to both sides, which may be called the _vagina_ or _ovipositor_.
The common _oviduct_ is the canal through which the eggs pass from the
ovaries as they are called, to the ovipositor. The _sperm-reservoir_ is
the organ which, according to Herold, receives the _impregnating sperm_
of the drone, the _modus operandi_ of which we are unacquainted with.
In the hive-bee and in some other insects, the influence of this sperm
continues so long a time, and through so many generations, as almost to
exceed belief. (_Vide_ page 31). This led +Dr. Haighton+ to entertain
the opinion that actual contact betwixt the male sperm and the egg
was not necessary, but that impregnation was effected by some unknown
sympathetic influence. +Messrs. Kirby+ and +Spence+ have recourse to
the old doctrine of an _aura seminalis_ being all that is required to
vivify the egg, and which they think may be retained for a long period.
Upon this subject I have entered at some length in page 25 _et seq._ The
_ovipositor_ places the eggs in their appropriate situations, and is an
instrument of most curious structure. It consists of a long tube, or
rather several tubes, retractile within each other, like the pieces of a
telescope, and serves not only to convey the extruded eggs to the place
of their destination, but acts also as a sheath for _the sting_, having
a sharp point which makes the first impression when the creature intends
to use its sting,--indeed it appears to be itself the sting. It has a
slit near its extremity, through which the sting and poison are allowed
to pass at the time of stinging. Some insects have occasion to bore a
hole in wood, or other hard substances, to obtain a proper nidus for
their eggs; the ovipositor is their operating instrument, and will either
saw or bore a passage to the desired place. Thus it appears that this
curiously complex apparatus, which in the bee is used both as a weapon
of defence and offence, is a hollow horny tube or scabbard, inclosing two
bearded darts, which can be thrust a short way beyond the sheath, though
the whole appears to the naked eye like the solid point of the minutest
needle.

This apparatus is moved by muscles which, though invisible to the eye,
are yet strong enough to force the sting to the depth of one twelfth of
an inch through the thick cuticle of a man's hand. It is articulated by
thirteen scales to the lower end of the insect's body; and at its root
are situated two glands or ducts, from which the poison is secreted:
these glands uniting in one duct, eject the venomous liquid along the
groove formed by the junction of the two piercers. There are four beards
on the outside of each piercer: when the insect is prepared to sting, one
of these piercers, having its point a little longer or more in advance
than the other, first darts into the flesh, and being fixed by its
foremost beard, the other strikes in also, and they alternately penetrate
deeper and deeper, till they acquire a firm hold of the flesh with their
hooks, and then follows the sheath entering and conveying the poison into
the wound. The action of the sting, says +Paley+, affords an example
of the union of _chemistry_ and _mechanism:_ of chemistry, in respect
to the _venom_ which can produce such powerful effects: of mechanism,
as the sting is a compound instrument. The machinery would have been
comparatively useless had it not been for the chemical process, by which
in the insect's body _honey_ is converted into _poison_; and on the other
hand, the poison would have been ineffectual, without an instrument to
wound, and a syringe to inject it.

In consequence of the barbed form of its sting the bee can seldom
disengage itself without leaving behind it the whole apparatus, and even
part of its bowels; so that her life is usually sacrificed to her passion.

    "Illis ira modum supra est, læsæque venenum
     Morsibus inspirant, et spicula cæca relinquunt,
     Affixæ venis, animasque in vulnera ponunt."

                                                           +Virgil+

_The sting of the queen-bee_ is longer and stouter than that of the
working-bee, and bends a little under her belly. She is not eager to
employ it; and from what has been said above, of the fatality which
usually attends its use, conjecture has been busy as to the cause of her
extreme caution in this respect. +Dr. Evans+ observes, that it cannot
arise from any selfish consideration, founded on an instinctive knowledge
of the danger she thereby incurs; since the common bees, who run the same
risk when they sting, are ready to attack upon the slightest provocation.
"Is it owing," says he, "to a consciousness of the importance of her
life to the community? or may we rather ascribe it to the dignified and
generous forbearance so frequently exemplified in the lion or English
mastiff?"

The reluctance of queens to eject their stings, led Pliny and others
to imagine that they did not possess any. Their extreme caution in
this respect, and the fatal consequences usually attending a departure
from it, gave birth to the following jeux d'esprit. In consequence of
Pope Urban the Eighth being suspected of a stronger attachment to the
French than to the Spaniards, a Frenchman who had observed _three bees_
quartered upon his arms, wrote this Latin verse.

  "Gallis mella dabunt, Hispanis spicula figent."

To this a Spaniard is said to have subjoined,

  "Spicula si figant, emorientur apes."

To close the series, and to show his universal paternal regard towards
his flock, Pope Urban is made to add the following distich:

  "Cunctis mella dabunt, et nullis spicula figent,
   Spicula rex[M] etenim figere nescit apum."

[Footnote M: The ancients supposed the sovereign of the bees to be a
male.]

This _caution of the queens_ is never more conspicuously evinced than _in
their combats with each other_, for they instantly separate if there
be any danger of _mutual_ destruction from the darting forth of their
stings. +Huber+ gives a striking instance of this. Two queens in one of
his hives having left their cells at nearly the same instant, rushed
together with great apparent fury. The antennæ of each were seized by the
teeth of the other, and the head, breast, and belly of both were mutually
opposed. Finding themselves however thus dangerously situated, and their
curved extremities on the point of meeting, each disengaged itself and
flew away; when the other bees, who had before receded, to make a clear
arena for the combatants, drove them together again. This was done
repeatedly, till at last the stronger queen, seizing the other's wing,
and curling her extremities under her belly, inflicted a mortal sting.

I think this observation of Huber puts a negative upon Dr. Evans's last
question, and to assent to his first would I apprehend raise her majesty
too high in the scale of existence. I believe we must here, as in many
other similar cases, acknowledge our ignorance, and refer the proceeding
to instinct.

We have seen that where there is more than one native queen in a hive,
there is always a combat between them, terminating in the death of all
but one. It was the opinion of +Schirach+ and +Riem+, that if a stranger
queen were introduced where there was a native one, the former would be
assailed by the workers, and by them stung to death. The experiments
of +Huber+ and +Dunbar+ discountenance this opinion: indeed Huber says
that in the whole course of his experience he never knew more than one
instance of a queen's being stung by a worker, and that was wholly
unintentional.

But though the experiments to which I have just alluded, produced
different results from what we were led to expect by Schirach and Riem,
yet those of +Huber+ did not correspond with those of +Dunbar+. The
former introduced two stranger queens into hives containing native
queens; of the latter, one was fertile the other a virgin,--the former
were both fertile. Each of these introductions led to a single combat
between the queens, and each terminated in the death of the stranger.
The latter gentleman also on two occasions introduced stranger queens to
the queens regnant, in his mirror-hive; but in neither case were they
stung to death, either by the queen or workers, but merely surrounded
and confined by the latter, and by that confinement either suffocated or
starved to death. +Schirach+ and +Riem+ had probably witnessed similar
conduct on the part of the workers, and were no doubt led thereby to
conjecture that they dispatched the queens with their stings.

From what has been said of the fatal consequence to the bee itself when
it makes use of its sting for the annoyance of man and other animals, it
might be supposed that the darting of this weapon by one bee into the
body of another, might cause the death of both; but this is not usually
the case, otherwise there would be a great mortality amongst them,
when the persecution of the drones takes place. +Huber+ contrived, by
placing several of his hives upon a glass table, to witness this scene
of massacre; on which occasion the bees thrust their stings so deeply
into the bodies of the drones, (generally between the segments of the
abdomen,) as to be obliged to turn upon themselves, as upon a pivot,
before they could extricate them; but by so doing they succeeded, as do
the queens also in their combats with each other. Instances are related,
of combats between workers proving mutually destructive, from the
victors being unable to extricate their stings from the wounds they have
inflicted. +Mr. Hunter+ saw an instance of this: the bee was stung in the
mouth; and he saw it running about afterwards, with the sting and its
appurtenances adherent in the wound.

Indeed by allowing the bee to draw out her Sting gradually, when we
ourselves are stung,--which if we had sufficient firmness and presence of
mind to remain still, she would instinctively do, by bringing the beards
close down to the sides of the darts,--the life of this valuable insect
might be preserved, and the pain in the wounded part be much lessened:
but the alarm of both parties seldom admits of such forbearance. The wasp
is not so liable to leave its sting behind as the bee, the beards of the
former being rather shorter, and the insect stronger and more active.

The sooner the sting is extracted the less venom is ejected, and
consequently less inflammation induced. To alleviate the irritation,
numberless _remedies_ have been proposed, of the most opposite kind and
uncertain effect; as oil, vinegar, bruised parsley, burnet, mallow, or
the leaves of any succulent vegetable (renewed as soon as warm, and
probably therefore operating by cold alone), honey, indigo dissolved in
water, &c. &c. The _most effectual_ remedy appears to be the _Aq. Ammon._
or _Spirit of Hartshorn_: nor is this surprising, when we consider that
_the venom of the bee, or wasp, is evidently acid_. _If a humble-bee
be irritated to sting paper tinged with litmus, or any other of the
vegetable blues, the colour is changed by the acid of the venom to a
bright red;_ this acid appears not to differ from the acid (_bombic_)
of silk-worms, or (_formic_) of ants. The acrimony of the latter many
have experienced when inadvertently sitting down on an ant-hill. On
this principle, a solution of any alkali, or even lime-water, might
answer the same purpose; and soap would have the double advantage of
neutralizing the acid and allaying the inflammation, by the oil which
would be disengaged. Plunging the part stung into cold or warm water
would afford the same relief as in burns, &c. and also dilute the acid
acrimony. Quietness is the surest protection against being stung. It has
lately been affirmed, that a person is perfectly secure amidst myriads
of bees, if he carefully keep his mouth shut, and breathe gently through
the nostrils only, the human breath being, as it would appear, highly
offensive to their delicate organs. (_Vide_ Senses of Bees.) It is added
that with this precaution, hives may be turned up, and even part of the
combs cut out, while the bees are at work, with perfect impunity.

Those who wish to view the sting of a wasp or bee through a microscope,
may cut off the end of its tail, when by touching it with a needle or pin
it will thrust out the darts and their sheath, which may be then snipt
off with a pair of scissors and reserved for observation. If the insect
be caught in a leather glove and provoked to eject its sting, the same
end will be answered; as the sting being detained by its barbs, will be
left in the leather, from whence, when the creature is dead (which in
the case of a wasp will not be for many hours), the whole apparatus may,
with care, be extracted.

"Upon examining the edge of a very keen razor by the microscope, it
appeared as broad as the back of a pretty thick knife, rough, uneven, and
full of notches and furrows, and so far from any thing like sharpness,
that an instrument as blunt as this seemed to be, would not serve even to
cleave wood[N]." "An exceedingly small needle being also examined, the
point thereof appeared above a quarter of an inch in breadth; not round,
nor flat, but irregular and unequal; and the surface, though extremely
smooth and bright to the naked eye, seemed full of ruggedness, holes, and
scratches. In short it resembled an iron bar out of a smith's forge[O]."
But the sting of a bee, viewed through the same instrument, showed
every where a polish most amazingly beautiful,--without the least flaw,
blemish, or inequality; and ended in a point too fine to be discovered:
yet this is only the case or sheath of instruments much more exquisite,
contained therein, as before described.

[Footnote N: Hook's Microcosm.]

[Footnote O: Philosophical Transactions.]


+The Poison of Bees.+

The _poison of bees_, as also that of wasps, is a transparent fluid:
applied to the tongue it imparts a sweet taste, which is succeeded
by a hot acrid one. It gives a slight red tinge, as has been already
hinted, to litmus paper, and hence the +Abbé Fontana+ has concluded
that an acid enters into its composition, but in very small proportion.
The venom is so extremely active, that he conjectures a grain in weight
would kill a pigeon in a few seconds. It is this fluid which causes the
inflammation consequent upon being stung. A puncture from a needle that
was charged with it, would produce precisely the same effects. These
effects are very different in different persons; for whilst a single
sting will produce alarming symptoms in one individual, another may
receive numerous punctures without sustaining pain or inflammation in any
considerable degree; sometimes without suffering either. The activity of
the venom varies according to the season of the year: a sting received
in winter produces much less inconvenience than one inflicted in summer;
the pain and inflammation are neither so intense nor of such long
continuance. This may arise from there being a more copious secretion of
venom in summer than in winter; for during the former season, if a bee
inflict several wounds with its sting, the pain and inflammation become
progressively less at each consecutive puncture: after three or four
punctures, it is rendered incapable of producing more inconvenience than
the point of a sharp needle.

If a bee be provoked to dart its sting against glass, so as to eject
its venom upon it, and the glass thus charged be placed upon a double
microscope, oblong pointed crystals will become visible; these may be
seen at first floating in the venom, and gradually shooting into crystals
as the fluid part evaporates.


+The Anger of Bees.+

I have already treated of the disposition of bees to use their stings,
when irritated, either by direct interference with them, or by the
approach of persons to whom they have an antipathy. +Virgil+ has, in
strong terms, noticed their irascibility:--when once provoked, says he,
they set no bounds to their anger, but

  "Deem life itself to vengeance well resign'd,
   Die on the wound, and leave their stings behind."

_Fatal consequences_ occurring from their wounds are not often heard of,
though such I believe have occasionally happened. +Messrs. Kirby+ and
+Spence+ relate an instance of a violent fever being produced, by the
injury they inflicted, and in which the person's recovery was for some
time doubtful. +Mungo Park+ also mentions, in his Travels, an instance
of severe annoyance from them, and states that he lost several asses
in Africa owing to their being attacked by bees. +Mr. Talbot+, in his
Five Years Residence in the Canadas, states, that during the summer of
1820, the _Rev. Ralph Leeming_ having sent a fine horse to grass at a
neighbouring farmer's, who kept about twenty stocks of bees, the animal
got upon the lawn where the hives were placed, and by accident overturned
one of them, the bees of which attacked him with great virulence. The
horse, rearing and kicking from agony, overthrew another hive. Having
thus doubled the number of his assailants, his sufferings brought him to
the ground, and in less than five minutes from the commencement of the
attack the poor animal was literally stung to death.

The anger of bees is not confined to man, and other large animals; it is
sometimes vented upon their own kind, not only in single combat, but in
conflicts of organized masses. Cases of the former kind every observer
must have noticed; and of the latter, several instances have been related
by +Reaumur+, +Thorley+, +Knight+, and others. The engagement, witnessed
by +Thorley+, lasted more than two days, and originated in a swarm's
attempting to take possession of an already occupied hive. Remarkable
battles of this kind have also been related by other writers. Whenever
the angry excitation is diffused through a whole community, a great
accession of heat is produced in the hive.

Notwithstanding bees are thus occasionally animated by a most vindictive
spirit, against what they regard as a public enemy, they are not found
to display any peculiar hostility in the revenge of a private injury,
committed upon them at a distance from their homes. This is a fact which
has been noticed both by +Mr. Hunter+ and +Mr. Knight+. The former
observes also, that bees never sting but in the neighbourhood of their
property, unless hurt; that they never contend with each other for honey,
unless it be placed within the boundary of their own right,--but that
what they have collected they defend. The indisposition of bees to attack
or be angry at a distance has been confirmed by +Mr. Knight+, who says,
that, though the most irritable of animals near home, he has seen them
suffer themselves to be patiently robbed of their loads by other bees,
and that he has witnessed this in the same bee three times in succession.
He says likewise, that if the wasps in a nest have their communication
cut off from those that are abroad, the latter, on their return, will not
make any attack; but that if one escape from the interior, it evinces a
very different temper, and is ready to sacrifice its life to avenge the
injury. This +Mr. Knight+ discovered when a boy, and he has no doubt
but that if a similar proceeding were adopted towards bees, they would
observe the same conduct.


+The Language of Bees.+

All creatures that live in society seem to possess the power of
communicating intelligence to one another. "Brutes," says +Mr. Knight+,
"have language to express sentiments of love, of fear, and of anger;
yet they seem unable to transmit any impression they have received from
external objects. But the language of bees is more extensive: if not a
language of ideas, it is something very similar." This faculty has been
very remarkably illustrated by +Huber+ in his Treatise on Ants; and the
bee exhibits many strong evidences of it. +Huber+ clearly shows that the
communications of Ants are made through the medium of their antennæ; he
has also proved very satisfactorily, that these organs serve the same
purpose in bees.

Being desirous of ascertaining whether when a queen was removed from
a hive, (a circumstance which is communicated to the whole family
within an hour,) they discovered their loss by means of smell, touch,
or any unknown sense; he accordingly divided a hive into two portions,
by means of a grating which admitted a free circulation of air, but
denied a passage to the bees, or even to their antennæ: the consequence
was, that the bees contained in the half that had no queen, after
they had recovered from the agitation[P] always produced under such
circumstances, set about building royal cells, just as they would have
done if the queen had been entirely removed from the hive. He repeated
this experiment, with a grating which allowed the transmission of the
antennæ only. Here the effect was quite different: for the bees being
able to assure themselves, by the frequent crossing of their antennæ with
those of the queen, that she was still amongst them, every thing remained
in order; the brood were attended to, no interruption took place in any
of their labours, nor were any royal cells commenced. From all these
experiments (and they were repeatedly tried), it seems evident that the
antennæ of bees, as well as of ants, possess the faculty of receiving and
conveying information. Bees receive some kinds of intelligence through
the medium of certain sounds, as has been stated in another place.

[Footnote P: This agitation usually continues two or three hours,
sometimes (though but seldom) four or five,--never longer.]

_The antennæ_, in addition to the uses already ascribed to them, may
serve to _inform the bees of the state of the atmosphere, and enable
them to discern the approach of a change in the weather_. The suddenness
and rapidity of their flight towards the apiary, often afford a hint to
the observer of their proceedings, that a storm is at hand, of which he
received no intimation from any other quarter.

    "Inque vicem speculantur aquas et nubila cœli."

                                                           +Virgil+

"That the bees," says +Dr. Evans+, "can foresee bad weather, is a fact
beyond denial; though we know not through the medium of what sense that
faculty is exerted. We are often surprised to find, even with a promising
appearance of the sky, their labours suddenly cease, and that not a bee
stirs out; or, on the contrary, that those which a e abroad, hurry home
in such crowds that the door is too small for their admission. But on
strictly examining the heavens, we may discern some small and distant
clouds, which, insensibly collecting, soon after descend in rain." The
Doctor likewise says, that an observant friend of his, foretells with
confidence that rain will fall in the course of a few hours, when he
finds on a clear summer's morning that his garden is wholly deserted by
his neighbour's bees. In this he enjoys an advantage over their real
owner, the flowers near the apiary being crowded as usual by these wary
foragers. "If," says +Mr. Kirby+, "they wander far from home, and do
not return till late in the evening, it is a prognostic to be depended
upon, that the following day will be fine: but if they remain near their
habitations, and be seen frequently going and returning,--although no
indication of wet should be discoverable, clouds will soon arise and rain
come on. Ants also are observed to be excellently gifted in this respect:
though they daily bring out their larvæ to the sun, they are never
overtaken by sudden showers."

I have before stated that in the course of an hour the important
intelligence of the loss or safety of a queen is known to a whole colony.
It seems highly improbable that in this time, 20,000 bees should have
assured themselves of the presence and safety of their queen, by applying
their antennæ to hers; such an attempt would create a state of complete
confusion. Huber proved by a very decisive experiment, similar to those
already related, that the queen is not distinguishable by her subjects,
in consequence of any emanation from her person. There must then be some
mode, to which I have given the name of language, by which those who have
exchanged contact with their antennæ can communicate the tranquillizing
intelligence to their companions. It seems impossible to explain, in any
other way, the concurrence of so many wills to one end; or that sudden
interruption and restitution of harmony which are often exhibited in
every community of bees. It is the opinion of +Mr. Knight+ that bees
are not only capable of communicating intelligence to the members of
their own family, but that a friendly intercourse sometimes takes place
between neighbouring colonies: the cases which he has related in support
of this opinion, however, can hardly be said to bear him out in it; for
in each of them, after the intercourse had continued for a few days, it
terminated in violent hostility. Such instances, though not of frequent
occurrence, have been occasionally noticed by others.


+Sleep of Bees.+

It is reasonable to suppose that every part of animated nature needs
occasional intervals of repose. That this is the case with the bee seems
evident, from the almost motionless quietude of the workers, which often
occurs for fifteen or twenty minutes together, each bee inserting its
head and thorax into a cell, where it might be mistaken for dead, were
it not for the dilatation of the segments of its abdomen. The queen
sometimes does the same in a drone's cell, where she continues without
motion a very long time, when "the workers form a circle round her,
and gently brush the uncovered parts of her abdomen. The drones while
reposing do not enter the cells, but cluster in the combs, and sometimes
remain without stirring a limb for eighteen or twenty hours." +Huber+
says that he has seen the workers, even in the middle of the day, when
apparently wearied with exertion, insert half their bodies into the empty
cells, and remain there, as if taking a nap, for half an hour or longer;
at night they regularly muster, in a sleep-like silence.

    "The sun declining, through the murky air.
    Home to their hives the vagrant bands repair,
    There in soft slumber close their willing eyes,
    And hush'd in silence, the whole nation lies."

                                                +Murphy's Vaniere.+


+Longevity of Bees.+

The several members of a hive have very different periods of existence.
The general law among insects is, that both male and female shall perish
soon after sexual union; in a few days or weeks at furthest, according to
the time, probably, that the female occupies in maturing and depositing
her eggs. By retarding sexual union, the lives of some insects may be
very much prolonged,--even ephemeræ have been kept alive by this means
for seven or eight days. Annual plants, if prevented from seeding, may
be rendered biennial. The bee and some other insects are exempted from
this forfeiture of life after sexual union, with the exception already
alluded to in page 33. The ancients were very deficient in knowledge
upon this subject. +Virgil+ fixes the term of a bee's existence at seven
years[Q], having probably copied from +Aristotle+; though Aristotle
says that bees who live to an extreme old age may reach to nine or ten
years. +Columella+[R] and +Pliny+[S] have been supposed to regard their
existence as extending to ten years; though the language of the former
applies to the existence of the community, and not to individual bees:
and provided the hive be never changed, nor the combs renewed, it is not
likely that any one family should have its existence prolonged beyond
that period; as the accumulation of silken pellicles with which the
breeding-cells are successively lined, would render them unfit for use
in a very few years. In addition to the diminution of the cells by this
succession of silken linings, they are also diminished further by the
excrement of the larvæ, which is never cleaned out, but confined behind
each lining: both together, therefore, soon render the cells unfit for
use as brood-cells. +Mr. Hunter+ found three of these layers deposited
in a single season, and counted upwards of twenty in the cells of an old
comb; which, upon an average of three a year, would correspond with the
period fixed by the ancients; though this observation by no means proves
that the hive upon which it was made, or any other, might not have had
a much more protracted existence. +Mr. Espinasse+ tells us that he once
took a hive which had stood fourteen years, having found that it had
become weak: it had nevertheless sent off a swarm the year previous.
There is an instance or two on record, of one family having continued in
the same hive for thirty years. One of these is mentioned by +Reaumur+,
another by +Mouffet+. +Thorley+ speaks of a colony having occupied the
same domicile for 110 _years_. The spot chosen was under the leads of
the study of +Ludovicus Vives+ in Oxford: the original swarm settled
there in 1520 and kept possession till 1630. Query,--may not the bees
when the combs become very old and the cells much diminished in size,
remove them and construct fresh ones? To those who may wish for their own
satisfaction to examine the linings of a brood cell, I would observe,
that +Mr. Hunter's+ mode of proceeding was, to soak the cell in water,
till the linings were swelled, when he had no difficulty in separating
and counting them: he found them separate most readily at the bottom, on
account of the inclosed excrement.

[Footnote Q:

    "Ergo ipsas quamvis angusti terminus ævi
    Excipiat, neque enim plus septima ducitur æstas."
]

[Footnote R:

    "Durantque, si diligenter excultæ sint, in annos decem."

                                                           +Columella+]

[Footnote S:

               "Alveos nunquam
    Ultra decem annos durasse proditur."

                                                           +Pliny+]

To common observers it might appear, that the lives of the bees were
coeval with the foundation of the colony, presuming upon all the young
bees leaving the parent stock in swarms. But I have already stated that
all swarms consist of a mixture of young and old bees; the difference
between them is very distinguishable, those of the present year being
brown, plump, and clothed with light hairs, whilst the old ones have red
hairs, notched and ragged wings, and are paler and more shrunk in their
bodies.

The cases which I have related, and others of a similar kind, have led to
the erroneous opinion that bees are a long-lived race. But this, as +Dr.
Evans+ has observed, is just as wise as if a stranger, contemplating a
populous city, and personally unacquainted with its inhabitants, should
on paying it a second visit, many years afterwards, and finding it
equally populous, imagine that it was peopled by the same individuals,
not one of whom might be then alive. "Such strangers are we to the honied
hive, where, however quickly its generations may have passed away, the
same face is presented to the beholder."

    "The race and realm from age to age remain,
    And time but lengthens with new links the chain."

                                              +Sotheby's Georgics.+

The usual term of the male's existence is two or three months only;--I
say the usual term, for his life is always cut off by violence, when no
peculiar circumstances arise to render his existence any longer useful.
Such circumstances having arisen, as has been before observed, (page 44,)
he may be kept alive a much longer period, for a year at least, but how
much longer has not as yet been ascertained.

With respect to the queen, by comparing what has been said above, as to
insects not dying till their eggs are all matured, with what has been
stated in page 31 of a single sexual union serving to impregnate all the
eggs laid for the two succeeding years, it would appear that the period
of her existence could not, in general, be less than two years; and
+Huber+ has proved very satisfactorily, that this is the fact: indeed he
states that he has known a queen live for five years. +Feburier+ suspects
that, like the males, the queens are destroyed by the labourers, when
they have fulfilled their destination. The only ground of this opinion,
however, appears to be his having witnessed an attack made upon a queen
by six labourers, from whom he with difficulty rescued her. +Messrs.
Kirby+ and +Spence+, in like manner, seem to think it not improbable that
when the workers become too old to be useful to the community, they are
either killed or expelled the society. _Vide_ page 7. Reaumur also throws
out a hint to the same purpose.

The length of a working bee's life has not yet been ascertained; but the
general opinion is that it is short-lived. +Butler+ says that "the bee
is but little more than a year's bird;" and some think the period of its
existence shorter still. "The bees of the present year," says +Butler+,
"will retain their vigour and youthful appearance till (Gemini), about
the 21st of May in the following year, when they begin to decline, and
from (Cancer to Leo) June 21st to August 21st, the ground in front of
the apiary may be seen strewed with them, some dead, some dying, and a
few alive but incapable of rising again, and by (Libra) 32d September,
scarcely an old bee will be left."




CHAPTER XXXII.

SENSES OF BEES.


In considering the phænomena of insect sensation, little advantage can
be derived from analogy; the physiology of the senses of bees, and other
insects, is therefore but imperfectly understood. Still they must have
credit for the _possession_ of senses, however differently modified
from those of man. Some of their senses may open avenues to knowledge,
with which he must ever remain unacquainted. Arts which he is obliged
to attain by long labour and great diligence, they seem to derive from
nature, through the medium no doubt of organs so exquisitely fine, as to
elude not only his search, but even his conception.

Of all the senses of bees, none appears to be so acute, as that
of +Smell+. It is this which, in all probability, enables them to
distinguish, not only individuals of their own species, but one human
being from another; and also to discover honey-dews and honey-bearing
flowers, at a very considerable distance; (honey of all odorous
substances, being the most attractive to them:) it may tend likewise
to cause that neatness which they observe in themselves and in their
habitations. An experiment, made by +Huber+, demonstrates that they
possess the faculty of smell. He placed vessels of honey in boxes
perforated with very small holes, to allow the odorous effluvia to
escape, but not of sufficient size to permit a sight of the honey, when
the bees came directly to the boxes. He also tried this experiment with
the addition of small card valves, which the bees, after examining the
boxes all round, contrived to raise up, that they might get at the
honey. +Mr. Hunter+ states, that he has seen great commotion produced in
a recent swarm in wet weather, when he supposes the bees to have been
hungry, by placing honey on the floor of the hive. It was a glass-hive,
which afforded him a good opportunity of observing their proceedings,
and he says that all of them appeared to be upon the scent: even those
that were weak and hardly able to crawl, threw out the proboscis as far
as possible, to get at the honey, which he thinks must have arisen from
their smelling and not from their seeing it.

This presumed nicety of their smell should induce a carefulness that
no offensive odours be near an apiary. The notorious frequenting, by
bees, of the depositories of urine and the dung of animals, might seem
to render such carefulness futile: but upon this subject I have written
in a former chapter, and have since had the pleasure of seeing my
opinion confirmed by that of +Messrs. Kirby+ and +Spence+.--Bees appear
to have an antipathy to particular individuals. Their aversion, in
all probability, arises from the persons disliked having some peculiar
odour about them, which though not unpleasant to man, may be so to bees.
Whatever the odour, it seems to be transmitted by the breath: +Huber+
was of this opinion. Speaking of the impunity with which his assistant
_Francis Burnens_ performed his various operations upon bees, he observes
that "the gentleness of his motions, and the habit of repressing his
respiration, could alone preserve him from the wrath of such formidable
insects."

The different reception which persons experience on approaching the
domicile of bees is attributed by some apiarians to the different
degrees of confidence manifested in the approach: they are of opinion,
that if visitors could avoid the exhibition of all apprehension, they
would not be attacked. My own experience has long convinced me of the
erroneousness of this opinion: and a circumstance which occurred to
+Monsieur de Hofer+, _Conseilleur d'etat du_ +Grand Duc de Baden+,
strengthens my dissent from it. He had for years been a proprietor and an
admirer of bees, and almost rivalled Wildman in the power he possessed
of approaching them with impunity: he would at any time search for the
queen, and taking hold of her gently, place her upon his hand. But having
been unfortunately attacked with a violent fever, and long confined
by it; on his recovery he attempted to resume his favourite amusement
among the bees, returning to them with all that confidence and pleasure
which he had felt on former occasions; when to his great surprise and
disappointment he discovered that he was no longer in possession of their
favour; and that instead of being received by them as an old friend, he
was treated as a trespasser: nor was he ever able, after this period, to
perform any operation upon them, or to approach within their precincts,
without exciting their anger. Here then it is pretty evident that some
change had taken place in the Counsellor's secretions, in consequence of
the fever, which though not noticeable by his friends, was offensive to
the olfactory nerves of the bees. I had this anecdote from Monsieur de
Hofer's son, with whom I passed a very agreeable evening in London at the
house of my friend Joseph Hodgetts, Esq.

The extreme sensitiveness of smell in bees is evinced by their
promptitude in resenting an injury inflicted on any of their community.
In hiving, or performing any other operation upon them, great caution
should therefore be observed, lest any of them be trodden upon or crushed
to death. It may be thought that this promptitude to resent the injury I
have here mentioned, may not proceed from the acuteness of their smell,
but from an effect produced upon some other organ of sense. I infer that
it proceeds from the former, on account of their being so quickly roused
to anger from a state of tranquillity, by having a fresh envenomed sting
and its appendages presented before the entrance of their dwelling. This
experiment, of presenting fresh poison to the bees, was tried by +Huber+
in such a variety of ways, as to prove beyond all doubt that it was the
penetrating odour of the poison only, and not the manner of presenting
it, that affected them; for when the poison had coagulated, the same mode
of presentation produced no sensible effect, it might be offered them
with perfect impunity.

Butterflies and Moths are supposed to be directed by this sense to the
discovery of their mates. If the female of the eggar moth (_Phalæna
quercus_) be inclosed in a box, and placed in the neighbourhood of the
males, they are attracted to the spot in such numbers as to show clearly
that they are sensible of her presence. We have analogous instances of
the existence of this faculty in other insects. The flesh-fly (_Musca
vomitoria_) occasionally deposits its eggs on plants of the Stapelia
genus, no doubt from their odour resembling that of putrefying flesh.
This may be regarded by some as an evidence of mistaken instinct; but
from what I have said in the chapter on Instinct, I think that my
readers will consider this to be erroneous, and that it should rather
be regarded as affording presumptive evidence of mistaken judgement.
Instinct would direct the creature to deposit its eggs where the larvæ
when hatched would be furnished with the means of subsistence, instead
of thus exposing them to perish. At all events it affords tolerably good
evidence of the existence of an organ of smell in the insect.

The sense of +Touch+ in bees, that is their _active_ or _exploring
touch_, seems to be very acute. To the nicety of this sense has been
attributed their power of commencing and carrying on their works amid
the darkness of the hives. The recognition of their queen evinces the
existence of some such sense; for the experiments related at page 292,
indicate that her presence is not ascertained either by the organs of
sight, hearing, or smell.

The +Antennæ+ have generally been considered as their organs of touch;
and indeed, in popular language, they are usually called Feelers or
horns; they have likewise assigned to them the office of wiping and
cleaning the eyes. The antennæ, however, are not regarded as feelers by
our leading entomologists: at present their uses are not clearly defined.
Some have regarded them as organs of smell; others as organs of hearing;
a third party have conceived that they perform some function of which
man has no definite idea,--supplying the insect with a sixth sense, an
intermediate faculty, according to +Messrs. Kirby+ and +Spence+, between
hearing and touch, rendering it sensible of the slightest movement of
the circumambient air. +Dr. Evans+ designates the antennæ as their
sight-supplying sense;

    "The same keen horns, within the dark abode.
    Trace, for the sightless throng, a ready road,
    While all the mazy threads of touch convey,
    Shot inward to the mind, a semblant day."

                                                           +Evans.+

The antennæ, of which there are only a single pair, proceed from the
anterior part of the head before the eyes.

The +Palpi+ are generally considered as the true feelers; which, as
well from their texture as from the manner in which insects apply them
to their food before they begin to eat it, seems probable: Cuvier and
Lehmann were of this opinion. The palpi are attached to the under jaws
and lips, and are four in number. In some respects they bear analogy to
the antennæ; but the latter, being more articulated, have an extended
power of motion. Some insects with small antennæ are observed to have
very large palpi, which gives reason to suppose, that although their
offices may be different, they are intended to assist each other.

The antennæ appear to be the more important organs of the two; as the
palpi, when removed, have not been found to occasion much apparent
inconvenience; whilst from the experiments of +Huber+ and others, it
appears that the excision of the antenna deprives the insect of the
perfect exercise of its functions. It seems immediately to lose its
instincts. The amputation of one antenna produces no effect; but if
both be cut off near the root, the bee no longer possesses the power of
guiding itself; it cannot direct its tongue to receive food from its
companions, nor take any share in the operations of the family; but
exhibits perfect indifference, and keeps near the entrance, apparently
for the sake of light; when that is withdrawn, it soon leaves the hive to
return no more. "Their departure," says +Huber+, "must be ascribed to the
loss of that sense, which is employed to guide them in the dark."

That bees possess a fine sense of +Taste+, may be readily conceived from
the delicious food which they collect, and from their having a preference
for those flowers that afford the best honey, whenever such flowers grow
abundantly in the neighbourhood of the hives. Hence the superiority of
the honey of Narbonne, Hymettus, and Pontus. +Huber+ regards Taste as the
least perfect of the senses of bees, but the reasons he gives for this
opinion are unsatisfactory. Indeed the tongue of the bee is an organ so
considerably developed, as to afford very strong evidence of its power of
discrimination in the selection of food. +Cuvier+ considers it to be one
of the primary functions of its organization.

There is tolerably good presumptive evidence that bees have a quick sense
of +Hearing+, from their being so sensibly affected by different sounds.
The voice of the queen, for instance, has according to +Bonner+ and
+Huber+ an almost magical effect upon them; and the practice of making
some sort of noise at the time of hiving is founded upon this opinion.
+Huber+ is of opinion that if bees do possess the sense of hearing it is
differently modified from the same sense among beings of a higher order.
The consequences which ensue upon the production of certain sounds either
by themselves or others, show that the vibrations of the air make an
impression upon some sense: +Huber+, for reasons which he does not well
define, designates it as a sense analogous to hearing, a something acting
in concert with and in aid of the antennæ.

+Linnæus+ and +Bonnet+ thought that insects do not possess the sense of
hearing; but I think they were mistaken. I have just stated the effect
produced by the voice of a queen-bee, under particular circumstances; and
there are other evidences, equally strong, to show that insects possess
this faculty. One grasshopper will chirp in response to another, and the
female be attracted by the voice of the male. +Brunelli+ shut up a male
in a box, and allowed the female her liberty: as soon as the male chirped
she flew to him immediately. For further evidence of the existence of
this faculty in insects, see page 262. (Organs of Sensation.)

The +Eye-Sight+ of bees, notwithstanding the wonderful mechanism of their
eyes, seems less perfect than their other senses: on some occasions it
scarcely serves them to distinguish the entrance of their hives, when
they come home loaded with provision. +Wildman+ says that he has observed
them go up and down, seeking the door of the hive, and be obliged after
alighting to rise again in order to find it: he conceived that they see
better when flying than when on foot. I believe, however, that this
opinion of +Wildman+ will not, upon examination, be found quite correct.
The mere act of flying does not enable them to see objects better; but
when on the wing, they are at a greater distance from those objects, the
eyes of these insects being so constructed as to enable them to see best
at a moderate distance. As +Dr. Evans+ has justly remarked, therefore,
"the poet's disdainful allusion to a

    Fly whose feeble ray scarce spreads
    An inch around----

should here be exactly reversed." +Dr. Derham+ in his Physico-theology
has observed, when speaking of the eye of the bee and other insects,
that "the cornea and optic nerves, being always at one and the same
distance, are fitted only to see distantial objects, but not such as
are very nigh." This visual orb, this seemingly simple speck, though
really complicated piece of mechanism, says +Derham+, "will be found upon
examination to form a curious lattice-work of several thousand hexagonal
lenses, each having a separate optic nerve ministering to it, and
therefore to be considered as a distinct eye[T]. +M. Leewenhoeck+, having
properly prepared and placed an eye of this kind betwixt his microscope
and a church steeple (299 feet high and 750 distant), saw plainly the
steeple inverted, through every different lens, though each lens was
not larger than a needle's point. Yet, doubtless the insect perceives
but a single object, and that in an upright position. The hemispheric
arrangement of these lenses enables the bee to see accurately in every
direction, and without any interval of time or trouble."

[Footnote T: The multitude of hexagonal lenses which compose the eye of
a bee, make it appear, when viewed through a microscope, exactly like
honey-comb.]

    "Not huge Behemoth, not the Whale's vast form.
    That spouts a torrent, and that breathes a storm.
    Transcends in organs apt this puny fly,
    Her fine-strung feelers, and her glanceful eye,
    Set with ten thousand lenses."

                                                           +Evans.+

The eyes of all insects are immoveable, and have neither iris nor pupil
nor eyelids to cover them: but this apparent defect is amply made up
to them in a variety of ways: in the case before us, by the complex
structure of the organs. +Reaumur+ performed an experiment similar to
that which I have just related of +Leewenhoeck+, and with a like result,
+Hooke+ computed the lenses in the eye of a horse-fly to amount to nearly
7000. +Leewenhoeck+ found more than 12,000 in that of a dragon-fly; and
17,325 have been counted in the eye of a butterfly. The lenses are most
numerous in the beetle, and so small as not to be easily discoverable
under a pocket microscope, except the eye be turned white by long keeping.

The peculiar construction of the bee's eye, for seeing objects best
at a moderate distance, will account for the circumstance noticed by
+Wildman+, and also for the following observation of +Dr. Evans+. "We
frequently observe bees flying straight homewards through the trackless
air, as if in full view of the hive, then running their heads against it,
and seeming to _feel_ their way to the door with their antennæ, as if
totally blind." +Sir C. S. Mackenzie+ remarked the imperfect vision of
bees, and how very much puzzled they are to find the entrances to their
hives, if the relative position of the entrances be altered, or the hives
be removed two or three yards from the place where they have usually
stood. In cases of removal, the bees do not during the first day fly to a
distance, nor till they have visited and recognized neighbouring objects.
+Mr. Rogers+, in his "Pleasures of Memory," has noticed this defective
vision in the bee. Having spoken of her excursive flights to a distance,
and referred to her bending her course homewards again, he observes,

                 "That eye so finely wrought.
    Beyond the search of sense, the soar of thought.
    Now vainly asks the scenes she left behind;
    Its orb so full, its vision so confined!"

And he concludes that it is by the aid of memory that she retraces her
passage back to the hive, by recognizing the scents of the various
flowers which she has passed or visited on her outward journey,--

    "The varied scents that charm'd her as she flew."

But this idea, as Messrs. Kirby and Spence have observed, is more
poetical than accurate, the bees being always accustomed to fly to their
hives in right lines.

In consequence of this peculiarity of insect vision, many of those bees
that return homewards after dusk in the evening, are obliged to lie
abroad all night. The same peculiarity, added to the acuteness of their
smell, has given birth to various contrivances for inducing bees of
different hives to mingle peaceably together, as mentioned at page 154.

From the experiments of Swammerdam, Reaumur, Hooke and others, it seems
that bees and other insects, particularly those of the hymenopterous
order, possess organs of vision, besides those which are properly called
their eyes. These organs, known by the name of +Stemmata+, are three
smooth, glossy, hemispherical dots, placed in a triangular position upon
the vertex or top of the head. The two reticular eyes of one of these
insects having been covered with fluid pitch, (the stemmata being left
open,) when placed under a glass, the insect ran up and down, but without
striking against the sides of the glass. In a similar experiment upon a
dragon-fly (_Libellula_), the insect flew away, but in its flight struck
against walls and other objects. The stemmata in another insect being
covered, and the reticular eyes left open, seemed to cause no impediment
to its usual proceedings, it appeared to see as well as before. But when
both the stemmata and the eyes were covered, the insect seemed to be
totally deprived of sight, it walked slowly under the glass, and when
allowed its liberty, would not venture to fly. These experiments being
tried upon bees by Reaumur, they remained immoveable, appearing uncertain
where to direct their flight: when their eyes only were covered, they
flew perpendicularly upwards till they were out of sight, seeming to
follow that direction which the aid of the stemmata afforded them. These
stemmata may, from their situation, assist the insect in performing its
various operations in the interior of the hive; may, as Reaumur has
observed, answer to them the purpose of microscopes.

I cannot conclude this chapter on the Senses of Bees without noticing
the theory of that eminent physiologist +Dr. Virey+. He has given it as
his opinion, that there are seven senses, which he thus divides. Four
physical, namely, Touch, Taste, Smell, and Love; three intellectual,
namely. Hearing, Sight, and Thought. (_N. Dict. d'Hist. Nat._) Whether
Love and Thought should be added to my enumeration of the senses of bees
I shall not now inquire: if they may be, this work will supply abundant
evidence of both, if we comprehend the whole community of bees; for
though physical love appears not to constitute any part of the pleasure
of the working bee, (except from some accidental cause which has been
already explained,) there is presumptive proof of its possessing thought
or intellect: and although it may not be easy to adduce testimony in
favour of the queen's or the drone's possessing thought, they both
satisfactorily evince a susceptibility of physical love.




CHAPTER XXXIII.

INSTINCTS OF BEES.


All creatures, of whatever size, that live together in large communities,
have long been observed to display more knowledge and ingenuity than
those that do not congregate: this superiority is also supposed to
distinguish those which possess the most exquisite sense of touch, and
whose occupations require a continued exertion of their powers. The
insect tribe strongly confirm the truth of these remarks.

Solitary insects may exhibit a single trait of superiority, either in the
catching of their prey, as the spider does; or in the securing of a well
protected habitation, as is instanced by the carpenter bee, the mason
bee, and some other lone and non-associating insects: but the history of
those which unite in societies unfolds more of insect energy and talent.
In large communities a combination of exertions is requisite, to procure
supplies for the general weal; an intercourse of mutual intelligence is
kept up; labour is regularly divided; the sphere of action is extended;
and in cases of emergency, there is an unusual manifestation of insect
power and intelligence. Instances of all these faculties are eminently
conspicuous in the honey-bee;--some of them I have before noticed, and
shall now advert to a few more.

The mental powers of bees, if I may be allowed to use the term, have
been included, by some writers under the general name of Instinct[U];
others, considering the whole of their proceedings to be fraught with
intelligence, have regarded them as evidences of a reasoning power. _All_
the phænomena of insect life cannot I presume be explained without giving
them credit for both.

[Footnote U: Huber has observed that the instinct of the humble-bee is
still more _refined_ than that of the honey-bee. As an instance of this,
he states that the former when unable to penetrate a flower through its
natural cavity, makes an aperture at the base of the corolla, or even
of the calyx, and insinuates its proboscis into the reservoir of honey,
through the opening it has made.]

    "Deem not, vain mortal, that reserv'd for thee
    Hangs all the ripening fruit on reason's tree;
    Even these, the tiniest tenants of thy care,
    Claim of that reason, their apportion'd share:
    Witness yon slaughter'd snail, within their door,
    Tomb'd like the first bold Greek on Ilion's shore."

                                                           +Evans.+

A snail having crept into one of _M. Reaumur's_ hives early in the
morning, after crawling about for some time, adhered by means of its
own slime to one of the glass panes, where, but for the bees, it would
probably have remained, till either a moist air or its own spume had
loosened the adhesion. The bees having discovered the snail, immediately
surrounded it, and formed a border of propolis round the verge of its
shell, which was, at last, so securely fixed to the glass, as to become
immoveable, either by the moisture of the air from without, or by the
snail's secretion from within.

    "Nor aught avails that in his torpid veins,
    Year after year, life's loitering spark remains[V]:
    For ever clos'd the impenetrable door,
    He sinks on death's cold arm to rise no more."

                                                           +Evans.+

[Footnote V: In the Annual Register for 1775 some very extraordinary
instances are related of the protraction of life in snails. After they
had lain in a cabinet above fifteen years, immersing them in water caused
them to revive and crawl out of their shells.]

_Maraldi_ has related a somewhat similar instance. A houseless snail or
slug, as it is called, had entered one of his hives: the bees, as soon as
they observed it, pierced it with their stings, till it expired beneath
their repeated strokes; after which, being unable to dislodge it, they
covered it all over with propolis.

    "For, soon in fearless ire, their wonder lost.
    Spring fiercely from the comb th' indignant host.
    Lay the pierc'd monster breathless on the ground,
    And clap, in joy, their victor pinions round.
    While all in vain concurrent numbers strive,
    To heave the slime-girt giant from the hive,--
    Sure not alone by force instinctive sway'd,
    But blest with reason's soul-directing aid,
    Alike in man or bee, they haste to pour,
    Thick hardening as it falls, the flaky shower;
    Embalm'd in shroud of glue the mummy lies,
    No worms invade, no foul miasmas rise."

                                                           +Evans.+

In these two cases, who can withhold his admiration of the ingenuity and
judgement of the bees? _In the first case_, a troublesome creature gained
admission into the hive, which, from its unwieldiness, they could not
remove, and which, from the impenetrability of its shell, they could not
destroy: here then their only resource was to deprive it of loco-motion,
and to obviate putrefaction; both which objects they accomplished most
skilfully and securely,--and, as is usual with these sagacious creatures,
at the least possible expense of labour and materials. They applied
their cement, where alone it was required, namely, round the verge of
the shell. _In the latter case_, to obviate the evil of putrescence,
by the total exclusion of air, they were obliged to be more lavish in
the use of their embalming material, and to form with it so complete
an incrustation or case over the "slime-girt giant," as to guard them
from the consequences which the atmosphere invariably produces upon
all animal substances, that are exposed to its action after life has
become extinct. May it not be asked, What means more effectual could
human wisdom have devised, under similar circumstances? Indeed, many of
the proceedings of bees and other associated insects seem traceable to
a reasoning power; for they exhibit an adaptation of means to ends, and
vary them to suit particular emergencies,--the judicious performance of
actions with a view to some proposed end, is the criterion by which we
judge of rationality.

On the other hand, the difficulty of ascribing some of their actions to
any other principle than that which is known by the name of _Instinct_,
has led to a classification of the whole of their proceedings under
_that_ head.

+Instinct+ is a faculty the exercise of which implies an exquisitely fine
mechanism of some of the senses. It appears to operate independently of
all anticipation of consequences; the avenues to knowledge are, to be
sure, less circuitous in these and other animals than in man, neither
experience nor inductive reasoning seem to be at all essential to the
perfection of their operations; they may be said to have, what many an
indolent human being has wished to find,--a royal road to knowledge.

    "If in the Insect, Reason's twilight ray
    Sheds on the darkling mind a doubtful day.
    Plain is the steady light her _Instincts_ yield.
    To point the road o'er life's unvaried field;
    If few those Instincts, to the destin'd goal,
    With surer course, their straiten'd currents roll."

                                                           +Evans.+

One writer, and that a very ingenious one, has endeavoured to resolve
_all_ instincts into reason, and has boldly hazarded the following
conjecture. "If we were better acquainted with the histories of those
insects that are formed into societies,--as the bees, wasps and ants,--we
should find that their arts and improvements are not so similar and
uniform as they now appear to us, but that they arose in the same manner
(from experience and tradition) as the arts of our own species; though
their reasoning is from few ideas, is busied about fewer objects, and is
exerted with less energy[W]."

[Footnote W: Darwin.]

Since the Doctor wrote this passage, much light has been thrown upon
those very subjects on which he laments our defective knowledge: but
whilst it strengthens what I have said as to the possession of reason by
insects, it confirms my observations respecting their instinctive powers.

There are facts recorded, in +Huber's+ _researches respecting ants_,
which exhibit in some at least of those insects, (_the Amazons_,) a
power of acquiring habits and characters which cannot well be regarded
as merely instinctive. The Amazons take advantage of an improvement in
their condition, and avail themselves of that strength, which sometimes
accrues to them, in consequence of a large accession to their numbers.
To relieve themselves from labour, they enslave, by a _coup de main_, a
feeble colony of ants of another species, and transporting it to their
own domicile, impose upon the captives the task of collecting provision,
rearing the young, repairing the formicary, &c. &c. The Amazons become
a complete aristocracy, and like ladies and gentlemen, have servants to
wait upon them.

I shall not attempt to determine the point where intellect begins
to dawn, nor to assign the boundary where instinct assumes the
characteristics of reason. For it is no where more difficult to
discriminate between the regular operation of implanted motives, and the
result of acquired knowledge and habits, than in studying the phænomena
presented by the bee. For the present therefore I must be allowed to
regard the provinces of reason and instinct as undefinable; indeed it
seems highly probable that our limited faculties may never enable us to
acquire a knowledge of them. Still the facts which I have related, and
those which I shall proceed to detail, afford such apparently strong
evidences of a reasoning faculty, that without introducing that faculty
as their source, I shall be at a loss to explain the phænomena. +Dr.
Darwin+ in his _Zoonomia_, relates an anecdote of apparent ratiocination
in a _wasp_, which had caught a fly nearly as large as itself. Kneeling
down, the Doctor saw the wasp dissever the head and tail from the trunk
of the fly, and attempt to soar with the latter: but finding when about
two feet from the ground that the wings of the fly carried too much
sail, and caused its prize and itself to be whirled about, by a little
breeze that had arisen, it dropped upon the ground with its prey, and
deliberately sawed off with its mandibles, first one wing and then the
other: having thus removed these impediments to its progress, the wasp
flew away with its booty, and experienced no further molestation from the
wind.

Some of the proceedings of bees in glass hives cannot be referred to
their instinctive faculties,--glass being a substance which would
never be presented to them in their natural state. "Having frequently
observed," says +Dr. Evans+, "on the inside of my glass hives, prior
to the formation of cells, a number of gluey spots ranged at regular
distances, I supposed them at first to be intended as a kind of
land-marks, pointing out the divisions of the future streets, &c.
On re-examination, however, I found them evidently used as so many
footstools on the slippery glass, each bee resting on one of these with
its middle pair of legs, while the fore-claws were hooked with the hind
ones of the next above; thus forming a _living_ ladder, by which the
workers were enabled to reach the top, and pursue their favourite plan of
commencing their combs there."

A very striking illustration of the reasoning power of bees occurred
to my friend +Mr. Walond+. Inspecting his bee-boxes at the end of
October 1817, he perceived that a centre comb, burthened with honey, had
separated from its attachments, and was leaning against another comb, so
as to prevent the passage of the bees between them. This accident excited
great activity in the colony, but its nature could not be ascertained
at the time. At the end of a week, the weather being cold and the bees
clustered together, Mr. W. observed, through the window of the box, that
they had constructed two horizontal pillars betwixt the combs alluded
to, and had removed so much of the honey and wax from the top of each,
as to allow the passage of a bee: in about ten days more there was an
uninterrupted thoroughfare; the detached comb at its upper part had been
secured by a strong barrier and fastened to the window with the spare
wax. This being accomplished, the bees removed the horizontal pillars
first constructed, as being of no further use. "During this laborious
process," says Mr. W. "the glass window in the box was as warm as I had
felt it during any part of the summer, and the bees were as active within
the box."

+M. P. Huber+ of Lausanne, in his _Observations on Humble-bees_,
published in the sixth volume of the Linnæan Transactions, has given a
curious detail of some experiments in which the bees conducted themselves
somewhat similarly to those of Mr. Walond. Having inclosed twelve
humble-bees in a bell-glass, upon a table, he gave them a part of their
cones or chrysalids, containing about ten silken cocoons, and freeing
the latter as much as possible from wax, he fed the bees for some days
with pollen only. The cells containing the cones being very unequal, the
mass was so unsteady as extremely to disquiet the bees. Their affection
for their young led them to mount upon the cocoons, to impart warmth to
the inclosed larvæ: they could not do this without causing the comb to
totter or lean on one side, and having no wax for fastening the work to
the table, they had recourse to the following ingenious expedient. Two
or three bees got upon the comb, and descending to the lower edge of it,
with their heads downwards, hung from it by the hooks of their hind feet,
and clung to the table by those of the second pair, which are very long;
thus did they keep this piece of cell-work steady by their own muscular
strength. When fatigued by this constrained and irksome position, they
were relieved by their comrades; even the queen assisted. Having kept the
bees in this state till nearly the end of the third day, and shown them
to several persons, Huber introduced some honey, to enable them to form
wax: they soon constructed pillars, extending from the most projecting
parts of the cell-work to the table, and kept the cell-work in a firm
position. The wax, however, getting gradually dry, the pillars gave
way; when the poor insects adopted their former straining expedient for
steadying the comb, and continued, perseveringly, to sustain it in this
manner, till Huber took pity on them and glued the cake of comb firmly
to the table. Could the most intelligent architect have more judiciously
propped a tottering edifice, till adequate supports could be applied?

The resources of bees, when attacked by the _Sphinx Atropos_ or
_Death's-head Hawk-moth_ are much in point. In this case, according
to +Huber+, they construct small archways and various other ingenious
barricadoes, with a mixture of wax and propolis, so as just to allow the
egress and ingress of one or two workers, and effectually to exclude
their marauding enemy. The bees do not, as if guided by mere instinct,
commence their fortifications on the first attack of the Sphinx, nor
until they have been robbed of nearly their whole stock of honey. This
therefore seems to be a case in which reason is taught by experience,
and which admits in all its particulars of a direct comparison with
human reason and human contrivance. Moreover, on the cessation of
danger, and when honey-flowers were abundant, the colony prosperous
and swarms prepared to issue, these sagacious engineers demolished the
fortifications, in order to give room for the exit and entrance of the
bees. A colony that had been thus attacked in 1804, and was tardy in
its defensive preparations, having derived instruction from the past,
constructed fresh ramparts speedily, on the reappearance of the Sphinx in
1807, and thus guarded itself from impending danger.

From what has been said in page 296, it seems probable that the lives
of the working bees do not extend beyond a year, at the utmost: if
therefore my inference be legitimate, the information of the colony of
1807 must have been traditional, or else derived from a queen which had
reigned over them from 1804. On the subject of traditional information,
see Memory of Bees. It is further remarkable, as a confirmation of this
process of ratiocination and reflection, that if the apiarian apply
proper guards before the entrances to the hives, when the Sphinx makes
its appearance, the bees, finding that they are anticipated, devise no
measures of security.

I shall adduce another instance in support of my position that insects
are endowed with reason, and that they mutually communicate and receive
information. "_A German artist_ of strict veracity, states, that in his
journey through Italy, he was an eye-witness to the following occurrence.
He observed a species of _Scarabæus_ busily engaged, in making for the
reception of its egg a pellet of dung, which when finished, the insect
rolled to the summit of a hillock, and repeatedly suffered it to tumble
down the slope, apparently for the purpose of consolidating the pellet by
the adhesion of earth to it in its rotating motion. During this process,
the pellet unluckily fell into a hole, out of which the beetle was unable
to extricate it. After several ineffectual attempts, the insect went to
an adjoining heap of dung, and soon returned with three companions. All
four applied their united strength to the pellet, and at length succeeded
in pushing it out, when the three assistant beetles left the spot, and
returned to their own quarters[X]."

[Footnote X: Kirby and Spence, vol. ii. p. 522.]

+Mr. Hunter+ speaks rather sarcastically, upon the subject of reason
being one of the attributes of insects. "Reason," says he, "has been
ascribed to bees; they have been supposed to be legislators, and even
mathematicians; and though there is some show of reason for these
suppositions, there is much more of imagination." To show how far the
excursive fancy of apiarians had sometimes carried them, Mr. H. selected
a very unfortunate instance, namely, the assertion, as he calls it, that
workers' eggs may be converted into queens,--a fact which has since
been established by a series of the most satisfactory experiments. +Dr.
Virey+, in his _Nouvelle Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle_, denies
that insects possess any portion of intellect, and attributes all their
operations to mere instinct, which he considers as the result of pure
mechanism, depending upon the construction of their nervous systems, in
the same manner as the tune played upon a barrel organ, is dependent on
the notes which the cylinder successively presents to its keys. +Des
Cartes+, and others before him, held a similar opinion, considering
insects as being simply susceptible of external impressions, and through
the medium of that susceptibility stimulated to act. If this doctrine be
correct, instinct is possessed alike by animals and vegetables; in short
by every thing that has life, the difference being not in quality, but in
quantity.

+Buffon+ attempted to explain the phænomena of insect life by the simple
laws of mechanism, conceding to the insects at the same time a power
of distinguishing and choosing between pleasure and pain. Some have
even ventured to assert that the invariable exactness of the cell-work
of bees is a proof of their stupidity, and "that the wonders of the
honey'd reign," no more bespeak the agency of mind or intellect, than the
configuration of salts into their respective crystals.

    "Shall then proud sophists arrogant and vain.
    Spurn all the wonders of the honey'd reign.
    And bid alike one mindless influence own
    The social bee, and crystallizing stone?
    Each link they trace in animation's round,
    Dashes their poison'd chalice to the ground."

                                                           +Evans.+

If this theory respecting insects were just, it should elucidate all the
phenomena which it undertakes to explain, otherwise it is injurious to
science. Examination will prove it to be a mere hypothetical opinion,
ingenious, and at first sight plausible, but completely unsatisfactory.
This theory is the natural consequence of denying to insects any portion
of intellect, and its erroneousness is shown by their capability of
instruction. Instinct itself cannot be a purely mechanical process, or it
would be incapable of modification, and would, under like circumstances,
always act in the same manner. +Sir Joseph Banks's+ _spider_ that, on
being crippled, changed from a sedentary web-weaver to a hunter, is
an instance of modified instinct[Y]. The well known fact that birds
build their nests differently, where climate and other circumstances
require a variation, is another instance. A _dog_ may be restrained from
obeying its instincts, by the intimidating recollection of a beating
which it had formerly received; a bee, if alarmed, will quit the nectary
of a flower:--here the intellect of the creatures _counteracts their
instincts_. There are other instances in which the intellect appears
to _direct the instincts_. When the bee makes excursive flights in
quest of pasture, its senses serve to guide it, and enable it, by the
aid of memory, to retrace its passage home again. At the conclusion of
its outward and homeward journeys, its instincts immediately begin to
operate; in the one case, teaching it to imbibe nectar, collect pollen,
&c.; in the other, to store and apply those materials to their respective
uses.

[Footnote Y: The account of this spider was sent to _Dr. Leach_ by _Sir
Joseph Banks_. An interesting history of it is given in the Linnæan
Transactions, vol. ii. page 393. It had lost five of its legs, which were
afterwards reproduced, but the new legs were shorter than those for which
they were substituted.]

+M. Reimar+ has denied that the lower animals possess _memory_, properly
so called; and has given it as his opinion, that they are only influenced
by past events, in consequence of having present objects before
them,--never by reflection or knowledge of the past, as being past.
But that, with them, a former impression may be renewed, without being
recollected; that it is thus rendered present to the imagination, but has
no place in the memory. For arguments and instances in support of their
being endowed with memory, see page 260. (Organs of Sensation.)

The possession of the organs of sense implies the possession of some
portion of intellect, for without intellect those organs would seem
incapable of being employed to the greatest advantage. "There is this
difference," says +Mr. Spence+, "between intellect in man, and the rest
of the animal creation. Their intellect teaches them to follow the lead
of their senses, and to make such use of the external world as their
appetites or instincts incline them to,--and _this is their wisdom:_
while the intellect of man, being associated with an immortal principle,
and connected with a world above that which his senses reveal to him,
can, by aid derived from heaven, control those senses, and render them
obedient to the governing power of his nature; and _this is his wisdom_."
A distinction has been made, and very properly, between wisdom and
knowledge. The former alone can be possessed by the lower animals, man
can possess both. The distinction between them has been very accurately
marked by +Cowper+, though in making it he has confined himself to man
only.

    "Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one,
    Have oft times no connection. Knowledge dwells
    In heads replete with thoughts of other men,
    Wisdom in minds attentive to their own."

It will, I think, be evident to my readers, from the general tenour of
this chapter, that though I make a distinction between the instinct
and the reason of bees, I do not confound their reason with the reason
of man. But to obviate all possibility of misconception, I will at once
define my meaning, when I use the terms insect reason and instinct.

By _reason_, I mean the power of making deductions from previous
experience or observation, and, thereby of adapting means to ends.
_Instinct_ I regard as a disposition and power to perform certain
actions in the same uniform manner, without reference either to
observation or experience. Those who have attended to this subject,
will be aware that _insect reason_ as above defined, is more restricted
in its functions than _the reason of man_; to which is superadded the
power of distinguishing between the true and the false, and, according
to some metaphysicians, between right and wrong. Reason, in man, has
a regular growth, and a slow progression; all the arts he practises
evince skill and dexterity, proportioned to the pains which have been
taken in acquiring them. In the lower links of creation, but little of
this gradual improvement is observable; their powers carry them almost
directly to their object. They are perfect, as +Bacon+ says, in all their
members and organs from the very beginning.

    "Far different Man, to higher fates assign'd.
    Unfolds with tardier step his Proteus mind,
    With numerous Instincts fraught, that lose their force
    Like shallow streams, divided in their course;
    Long weak, and helpless, on the fostering breast,
    In fond dependence leans the infant guest.
    Till Reason ripens what young impulse taught.
    And builds, on sense, the lofty pile of thought;
    From earth, sea, air, the quick perceptions rise,
    And swell the mental fabric to the skies."

                                                           +Evans.+

"Every manufacturing art," says +Dr. Reid+, "was invented by some one
man, successively improved and perfected by others; and when thus
perfected, known only by those to whom it has been taught: while in the
arts of animals no individual can claim the invention. Every animal of
the species has equal skill from the beginning, without teaching, without
experience, or habit."

"Both Instinct and Reason," says +Dr. Evans+, "appear to lose their
intensity, in proportion as their rays diverge from their proper focus;
and as they are less frequently aroused to action. A domesticated fowl
is furnished with the same apparatus as her wild sisters on the waste,
for rendering her feathers impenetrable to water: yet, living principally
under cover, she secretes much less of the oily fluid, destined for that
purpose, and makes, when accidentally wet, a most ridiculous appearance.
The force of instinctive propensities, when directed to one object, and
uninfluenced by reason, is strongly exemplified in _the idiot bee-eater
of Selborne_, mentioned by +Mr. White+, in his _History of Selborne_.
The collected powers of reason, when concentred in a single focus, is no
less finely instanced in the immortal +Newton+."

To those readers who have not seen Mr. White's account of the bee-eater,
the following abstract of it may prove acceptable.

The boy was a resident in Selborne, about the year 1750. He took great
notice of bees from his childhood, and at length used to eat them. In
summer, his few faculties were devoted to the pursuit of them, through
fields and gardens. During winter, his father's chimney corner was his
favourite haunt, where he dozed away his time, in an almost torpid state.
Practice made him so expert, that he could seize honey-bees, humble-bees
or wasps, with his naked hands, disarm them of their stings, and suck
their honey-bags, with perfect impunity. Sometimes he would store the
bees in bottles, and even in his shirt bosom. He was the terror of the
surrounding bee-keepers, whose gardens he would enter by stealth, and
rapping on the outsides of their hives, catch the bees as they came
out to see what was the matter. If in this way he could not obtain a
sufficient number to supply his wants, so passionately fond was he of
honey, that he would sometimes overturn the hives to get at it. He was
accustomed to hover about the tubs of the mead-makers, to beg a draught
of bee-wine, as he called it. As he ran about the fields he made a
humming noise with his lips, resembling that of bees. The lad was lean
in his person, and of a cadaverous unhealthy aspect: he died before he
reached the age of maturity.




CHAPTER XXXIV.

ON THE ARCHITECTURE OF BEES.


  "Quel abime aux yeux du sage qu'une ruche d'abeilles? Quel sagesse
  profonde se cache dans cet abime! Quel philosophe osera le
  fonder!"--+Bonnet.+

The combs of a bee-hive comprise a congeries of hexagonal cells, formed
by the bees, as receptacles for honey or for embryo bees. A honey-comb is
allowed to be one of the most striking achievements of insect industry,
and an admirable specimen of insect architecture. It has attracted the
admiration of the contemplative philosopher in all ages, and awakened
speculation not only in the naturalist, but also in the mathematician:
so regular, so perfect, is the structure of the cells, that it satisfies
every condition of a refined problem in geometry. Still a review of their
proceedings will lead to the conclusion, as +Huber+ has observed, that
"the geometrical relations, which apparently embellish the productions
of bees, are rather the necessary result of their mode of proceeding,
than the principle by which their labour is guided." "We must therefore
conclude, that the bees, although they act geometrically, understand
neither the rules nor the principles of the arts which they practise so
skilfully, and that the geometry is not in the bee, but in the great
Geometrician who made the bee, and made all things in number, weight and
measure[Z]."

[Footnote Z: Reid.]

Before the time of +Huber+, no naturalist had seen the commencement
of the comb, nor traced the several steps of its progress. After many
attempts, he at length succeeded in attaining the desired object, by
preventing the bees from forming their usual impenetrable curtain, by
suspending themselves from the top of the hive; in short, he obliged them
to build upwards, and was thereby enabled, by means of a glass window, to
watch every variation and progressive step in the construction of comb.

_Each comb in a hive is composed of two ranges of cells backed against
each other: these cells_, looking at them as a whole, may be said to
_have one common base_, though no one cell is opposed directly to
another. This base or partition between the double row of cells is
so disposed as to form a pyramidal cavity at the bottom of each, as
will be explained presently. _The mouths of the cells_, thus ranged on
each side of a comb, _open into two parallel streets_ (there being a
continued series of combs in every well filled hive). These streets are
sufficiently contracted to avoid waste of room and to preserve a proper
warmth, yet _wide enough to allow the passage of two bees abreast_.
Apertures through different parts of the combs are reserved to form near
roads, for crossing from street to street, whereby much time is saved to
the bees.

    "These in firm phalanx ply their twinkling feet,
    Stretch out the ductile mass, and form the street,
    with many a cross-way path and postern gate.
    That shorten to their range the spreading state."

                                                           +Evans.+

_The bees_, as has been already observed, _build their cells of an
hexangular form, having six equal sides_, with the exception of the first
or uppermost row, the shape of which is an irregular pentagon, the roof
of the hive forming one of the members of the pentagon, thus:

[Illustration]

"There are only three possible figures of the cells," says +Dr. Reid+,
"which can make them all equal and similar, without any useless
interstices. These are the equilateral triangle, the square and the
regular hexagon. It is well known to mathematicians that there is not a
fourth way possible, in which a plane maybe cut into little spaces that
shall be equal, similar, and regular, without leaving any interstices."
Of these three geometrical figures, the hexagon most completely unites
the prime requisites for insect architecture. The truth of this
proposition was perceived by +Pappus+, an eminent Greek philosopher and
mathematician, who lived at Alexandria in the reign of Theodosius the
Great, and its adoption by bees in the construction of honey-comb was
noticed by that ancient geometrician. These requisites are;

First, Œconomy of materials. There are no useless partitions in a
honey-comb, each of the six lateral pannels of one cell forms also one
of the pannels of an adjoining cell; and of the three rhombs which form
the pyramidal base of a cell, each contributes one-third towards the
formation of the bases of three opposing cells, the bottom or centre of
every cell resting against the point of union of three pannels that are
at the back of it.

Secondly, Œconomy of room; no interstices being left between adjoining
cells.

Thirdly, The greatest possible capacity or internal space, consistent
with the two former desiderata.

Fourthly, Œconomy of materials and œconomy of room produce œconomy of
labour. And in addition to these advantages, the cells are constructed
in the strongest manner possible, considering the quantity of materials
employed. Both the sides and bases are so exquisitely thin, that three
or four placed on each other are not thicker than a leaf of common
writing-paper; each cell, separately weak, is strengthened by its
coincidence with other cells, and _the entrance is fortified with an
additional ledge or border of wax_, to prevent its bursting from the
struggles of the bee-nymph, or from the ingress and egress of the
labourers. This entrance border is _at least three times as thick as
the sides of the cell_, and thicker at the angles than elsewhere, which
prevents the mouth of the cell from being regularly hexagonal, though the
interior is perfectly so.

    "On books deep poring, ye pale sons of toil.
    Who waste in studious trance the midnight oil,
    Say, can ye emulate with all your rules.
    Drawn or from Grecian or from Gothic schools.
    This artless frame? Instinct her simple guide,
    A heaven-taught Insect baffles all your pride.
    Not all yon marshal'd orbs, that ride so high.
    Proclaim more loud a present Deity,
    Than the nice symmetry of these small cells,
    Where on each angle genuine science dwells.
    And joys to mark, through wide creation's reign,
    How close the lessening links of her continued chain."

                                                           +Evans.+

I have just adverted to the ingenuity of the bees in thickening, and
thereby strengthening the mouths of the cells. _Additional strength is
also derived from the bees covering the whole surface of the combs,
but more particularly the edges of the cells, with a peculiar kind of
varnish_, which they collect for the purpose. At first the combs are
delicately white, semitransparent, and exceedingly fragile, smooth but
unpolished: in a short time their surfaces become stronger, and assume
more or less of a yellow tint. The deepening of the colour of honey-combs
has been supposed, by some, to be the effect of age; and in part it may
be: but it is principally owing to the coat of varnish with which the
bees cover them. This varnish strongly resembles propolis, appearing to
differ from it only in containing the colouring material which imparts
to wax its yellow hue. The source of this colouring matter has not
been discovered: it is insoluble in alcohol; but the manufacture of
white wax shows that it is destructible by light.--But to return to the
construction of the cell-work.

_The pyramidal basis of a cell is formed by the junction of three
rhomboidal or lozenge-shaped portions of wax;_ thus,

[Illustration]

the apex of the pyramid being situated where the three obtuse angles of
the lozenges meet. To the exterior edges and angles are attached the
six pannels or sides of each cell. The apex of each pyramidal bottom,
on one side of a comb, forms the angles of the bases of three cells on
the opposite side, the three lozenges respectively concurring in the
formation of the bases of the same cells. This will I hope explain what
is meant by "each cell separately weak, being strengthened by coincidence
with others." The bottom of each cell rests upon three partitions of
opposite cells, from which it receives a great accession of strength.

As it is desirable that the reader should thoroughly comprehend this
subject, I will restate it in other words.--The partition which separates
the two opposing rows of cells, and which occupies, of course, the middle
distance between their two surfaces, is not a plane but a collection of
rhombs, there being three at the bottom of each cell: the three together
form in shape a flattened pyramid, the basis of which is turned towards
the mouth of the cell; each cell is in form therefore an hexagonal prism,
terminated by a flattened trihedral pyramid, the three sides of which
pyramid are rhombs, that meet at the apex by their obtuse angles. The
plates underneath, represent the opposite surfaces of the pyramidal bases
of adjoining cells, and will, I trust, enable the reader to understand
the foregoing description.

[Illustration]

The union of the lozenges in one point, in addition to the support which
it is the means of affording to the three partitions between opposing
cells, is also admirably adapted to receive the little egg and to
concentrate the heat necessary for its incubation.

Each obtuse angle of the lozenges or rhombs forms an angle of about
110°, and each acute one, an angle of about 70°. +M. Maraldi+ found by
mensuration that the angles of these rhombs which compose the base of
a cell, amounted to 109° 28′ and 70° 32′; and the famous mathematician
+Kœnig+, pupil of the celebrated Bernouilli, having been employed for
that purpose by +M. Reaumur+, has clearly shown, by the method of
infinitesimals, that the quantity of these angles, using the least
possible wax, in a cell of the same capacity, should contain 109° 26′
and 70° 34′. This was confirmed by the celebrated +Mr. McLaurin+, who
very justly observes, that the bees do truly construct their cells of the
best figure, and with the utmost mathematical exactness.

The construction of several combs is generally going on at the same
time. No sooner is the foundation of one laid, with a few rows of cells
attached to it, than a second and a third are founded on each side,
parallel to the first, and so on, (if the season give encouragement to
the operations of the bees,) till the hive is filled with their works;
the first constructed comb or combs being always in the most advanced
state, and therefore the first to be completed.

_The design of every comb is sketched out, and the first rudiments are
laid, by one single bee._ This founder-bee forms a block, out of a rough
mass of wax, drawn partly from its own resources, but principally from
those of other bees, which furnish materials, in quick succession, from
the receptacles under their bellies, taking out the plates of wax with
their hind feet, and carrying them to their mouths with their fore-feet,
where the wax is moistened and masticated, till it becomes soft and
ductile.

    Thus, "filter'd through yon flutterer's folded mail,
    Clings the cool'd wax, and hardens to a scale.
    Swift, at the well-known call, the ready train
    (For not a buz boon Nature breathes in vain,)
    Spring to each falling flake, and bear along
    Their glossy burdens to the builder throng."

                                                           +Evans.+

The architect-in-chief, who lays, as it were, the first stone of this and
each successive edifice, determines the relative position of the combs,
and their distances from each other: these foundations serve as guides
for the ulterior labours of the wax-working bees, and of those which
sculpture the cells, giving them the advantage of the margin and angles
already formed.

The expedients resorted to by that ingenious naturalist, +Huber+,
unfolded the whole process. He saw each bee extract with its hind feet
one of the plates of wax from under the scales where they were lodged,
and carrying it to the mouth, in a vertical position, turn it round; so
that every part of its border was made to pass, in succession, under
the cutting edge of the jaws: it was thus soon divided into very small
fragments; and a frothy liquor was poured upon it from the tongue, so as
to form a perfectly plastic mass. This liquor gave the wax a whiteness
and opacity which it did not possess originally, and at the same time
rendered it tenacious and ductile. The issuing of this masticated mass
from the mouth was, no doubt, what misled Reaumur, and caused him to
regard wax as nothing more than digested pollen.

The mass of wax, prepared by the assistants, is applied by the
architect-bee to the roof or bottom of the hive, as the case may be;
and thus a block is raised of a semi-lenticular shape, thick at top
and tapering towards the edges. When of sufficient size, a cell is
sculptured on one side of it, by the wax-working bees, who relieve one
another in succession, sometimes to the number of twenty, before the
cell is completely fashioned. At the back and on each side of this first
cell, two others are sketched out and excavated. By this proceeding the
foundations of two cells are laid, the line betwixt them corresponding
with the centre of the opposite cell. As the comb extends, the first
excavations are rendered deeper and broader; and when a pyramidal base
is finished, the bees build up walls from its edges, so as to complete,
what may be called, the prismatic part of the cell. Every succeeding row
of cells is formed by precisely similar steps, until there is sufficient
scope for the simultaneous employment of many workers.

    "These, with sharp sickle, or with sharper tooth,
    Pare each excrescence, and each angle smooth,
    Till now, in finish'd pride, two radiant rows,
    Of snow-white cells, one mutual base disclose.
    Six shining pannels gird each polish'd round.
    The door's fine rim, with waxen fillet bound,
    While walls so thin, with sister walls combin'd.
    Weak in themselves, a sure dependence find."

                                                           +Evans.+

The pyramidal bases and lateral plates are successively formed, with
surprising rapidity: the latter are lengthened as the comb proceeds, for
the original semi-lenticular form is preserved till towards the last,
when if the hive or box be filled, the sides of all the cells receive
such additions as give them equal depth.

_The cells intended for the drones_ are considerably larger, and more
substantial, than those for the working bees, and, being later formed,
usually appear near the bottom of the combs. Last of all are built the
_royal cells_, the cradles of the infant queens: of these there are
usually three or four, and sometimes ten or twelve, in a hive, attached
commonly to the central part, but not unfrequently to the edge or side of
the comb. +Mr. Hunter+ says that he has seen as many as thirteen royal
cells in a hive, and that they have very little wax in their composition,
not one-third, the rest he conceives to be farina. Such is the genuine
loyalty of bees, that the wax which they employ with so much geometric
œconomy, in the construction of hexagonal cells, is profusely expended on
the mansions of the royal bee-nymph, one of these exceeding in weight a
hundred of the former. They are not interwoven with them, but suspended
perpendicularly, their sides being nearly parallel to the mouths of the
common cells, several of which are sacrificed to support them.

    "No more with wary thriftiness imprest,
    They grace with lavish pomp their royal guest,
    Nor heed the wasted wax, nor rifted cell.
    To bid, with fretted round, th' imperial palace swell."

                                                           +Evans.+

The form of these royal cells is an oblong spheroid, tapering gradually
downwards, and having the exterior full of holes, somewhat resembling the
_rustic_ work of stone buildings. The mouth of the cell, which is always
at its bottom, remains open till the maggot is ready for transformation,
and is then closed as the others are.

Immediately on the emergence of a ripened queen, the lodge which she
inhabited is destroyed, and its place is supplied by a range of common
cells. The site of this range may always be traced, by that part of the
comb being thicker than the rest, and forming a kind of knot; sometimes
the upper portion of the cell itself remains, like an inverted acorn-cup,
suspended by its short peduncle.

    "Yet no fond dupes to slavish zeal resign'd,
    They link with industry the loyal mind.
    Flown is each vagrant chief? They raze the dome,
    That bent oppressive o'er the fetter'd comb,
    And on its knotted base fresh gamers raise.
    Where toil secure her well-earn'd treasure lays."

                                                           +Evans.+

In this mutilated state only, and not in the breeding season, could Mr.
Hunter have seen this cradle of royalty; for he describes it as the half
of an oval, too wide and shallow to receive its supposed tenant. The
following sketch affords; a representation of the hexagonal cells of a
comb, and also the attachment of the royal cradles.

[Illustration]

I have spoken of the perfect regularity in the cell-work of a
honey-comb;--particular circumstances, however, induce a departure from
this exactness: for instance, where bees have commenced a comb with
small cell-work, and afterwards wish to attach to it a set of large
cells, as in the case of drone-cells being required to be appended to
workers-cells. These deviations from the usual regularity renew our
admiration of bee-ingenuity, though Reaumur and Bonnet have regarded them
as examples of imperfection. They effect their object by interposing
three or four series of, what may be called, _cells of transition_, the
bottoms or bases of which are composed of two rhombs and two hexagons,
instead of three rhombs; the rhombs and hexagons gradually varying in
form and relative proportion, till the requisite size, namely that of
the cells which they are approaching, has been attained. The following
outlines will serve to convey to the reader the regular steps in this
progressive increase.

[Illustration]

The same gradation is observed when returning to smaller cells. Every
apparent irregularity is therefore determined by a sufficient motive, and
forms no impeachment of the sagacity of the bee.

The common breeding-cells of drones or workers are, occasionally, (after
being cleaned,) made the depositories of honey; but the cells are never
made so clean, as to preserve the honey undeteriorated. The finest honey
is stored in new cells, constructed for the purpose of receiving it,
their configuration resembling precisely the common breeding-cells: these
_honey-cells vary in size_, being made more or less capacious, _according
to the productiveness of the sources from which the bees are collecting_,
and _according to the season of the year_: the cells formed in July and
August vary in their dimensions from those that are formed earlier; being
intended for honey only, they are larger and deeper, the texture of
their walls is thinner, and they have more dip or inclination: this dip
diminishes the risk of the honey's running out, which from the heat of
the weather, and the consequent thinness of the honey, at this season of
the year, it might otherwise be liable to do. _When the cells_, intended
for holding the winter's provision, are filled, _they are always closed
with waxen lids_, and never re-opened till the whole of the honey in the
unfilled cells has been expended. The waxen lids are thus formed;--The
bees first construct a ring of wax within the verge of the cell, to which
other rings are successively added, till the aperture of the cell is
finally closed with a lid composed of concentric circles.

The brood-cells, when their tenants have attained a certain age, are also
covered with waxen lids, like the honey-cells; the lids differ a little,
the latter being somewhat concave, the former convex. _The depth of the
brood-cells_ of drones and working bees is about half an inch; _their
diameter_ is more exact, that of the drone-cells being 3⅓ lines[AA],
that of the workers 2⅗ lines. These, says Reaumur, are the invariable
dimensions of all the cells, that ever were, or ever will be made.

[Footnote AA: A line is the twelfth part of an inch.]

From this uniform, unvarying diameter of the brood-cells, when completed,
their use has been suggested, as an universal standard of measure, which
would be understood, in all countries, to the end of time.

    "While heav'n-born Instinct bounds their measur'd view,
    From age to age, from Zembla to Peru,
    Their snow-white cells, the order'd artists frame,
    In size, in form, in symmetry the same."

                                                           +Evans.+




CHAPTER XXXV.

AN INQUIRY INTO THE SOURCE AND NATURE OF BEES-WAX.


It has long been very generally and implicitly believed, that the yellow
matter (in other words, the pollen or farina of flowers,) which bees
visibly collect upon their thighs, is the prime constituent of wax, the
material of the honey-comb. Even +Bonnet+ and +Reaumur+ were of this
opinion. +Burler+, +Purchas+, +Rusden+ and +Thorley+ have argued against
its identity with wax; and I trust that the observations and experiments
which I am about to detail, will convince the dispassionate inquirer of
the fallacy of this old opinion.

In the first place, It is to be observed, that where no more comb can be
built, as in old hives, the bees carry in the greatest quantity of this
yellow matter.

Secondly, That it differs materially from wax, the latter when examined
between the fingers being adhesive, the former crumbly; the latter also
liquefying on the application of heat, whilst the former burns to ashes.

Thirdly, That the wax of new combs, from whatever source collected,
is uniformly white; whereas the farina, as gathered by the bees, is
always black, yellow, or red, agreeing in colour with the anther-dust
of the flowers in blossom at the time of its collection. Moreover, the
farina, after it has been stored in the cells, retains its original
colour, whilst wax invariably changes, first to a yellow, and lastly to
a blackish tint. Layers of different-coloured farina are generally found
in the cells, if slit down; and every hive, at the season of deprivation,
possesses a store of it.

Fourthly, That fresh colonies carry in very little, if any, of this
matter, for some days after swarming, though combs are formed within that
period. I noticed this fact in my first colony: the swarm issued from the
parent hive on the 18th of May;--five days of rainy weather succeeded:
during this period the bees were prevented from flying abroad; I fed
them nightly with sugared ale, and before the return of fine weather a
considerable quantity of comb was formed. Now excepting such materials
as the bees might have brought with them from the parent hive, in this
case, the sugared ale alone must have been the source of the wax. +Huish+
has remarked that unless bees have access to water, and also to sugar
or honey, no comb can be formed. Again, it may be observed, that upon
the storifying plan, when fresh works are commenced in the duplets or
triplets, if the farina were the basis of the combs, an increased
quantity should be carried in. On the contrary, though I have watched
the bees very minutely on these occasions, I scarcely ever witnessed
the introduction of farina; and in such rare instances as I did observe
it, it might fairly be regarded as food for the young larvæ of the bees
contained in the full box or boxes.

    "No pearly loads they bear; but o'er the field
    Round flower and fruit the lithe proboscis wield.
    From meal-tipp'd anthers steal the lacquer'd crown,
    And brush from rind or leaf the silvery down.
    Nay oft, when threaten'd storms or drizzling rain.
    Close in their walls, th' impatient hosts detain,
    E'en from the yellow hoard's nectareous rill,
    Their tubes secerning can a stream distil,
    Clear and untinctur'd as the fountain wave,
    That glides, slow trickling, thro' the crevic'd cave.
    But, as that welling wave, around the stone,
    In rings concentric, wreathes its sparry zone.
    So filter'd thro' yon flutterer's folded mail.
    Clings the cool'd +wax+, and hardens to a scale."

                                                           +Evans.+

The observations of +Mr. John Hunter+ tended to confirm this view of
the matter; still more so, those of +M. Huber+ and +Son+. In order
to determine the point with greater precision, Huber instituted many
experiments. He lodged a recent swarm in a straw-hive, leaving at its
disposal only a sufficiency of honey and water for its consumption, and
preventing it from going beyond the precincts of a room, so closed as to
admit only a renewal of the air. At the end of five days as many cakes
of beautifully white, though very fragile wax, were suspended from the
roof; the honey had totally disappeared. Still however, as there was a
possibility that the thighs and stomachs of the bees might have conveyed
pollen from the parent hive, he withdrew these five combs, and replaced
the bees in the hive with a fresh supply of honey and water; they renewed
their toil with unabated industry, and soon fabricated new combs: these
last were taken from them; when the patient and indefatigable insects
commenced a third structure of comb. Five times in succession were their
works thus completed and removed, although during the whole of this
period they were fed merely with honey and water, and could not possibly
have had access to farina.

These experiments, so uniform in their results, give indubitable validity
to the fact,--that honey, through the organic intervention of bees, may
be converted into wax. A contrary experiment was made, by abundantly
supplying a hive with fruit and pollen only: but during eight days
confinement the bees produced no wax whatever, nor exhibited any plates
under their abdominal rings; no combs were formed, nor was an atom of
farina touched,--a clear proof that farina supplies neither wax nor
sustenance to adult bees. The improbability of this indeed is evinced by
its abundance in hives whose tenants have died of famine. And as to its
being the constituent of wax, +Reaumur+ calculated that a well stocked
hive might collect at least 100 pounds of pollen in a season, whereas the
weight of wax fabricated in the same time would not exceed two pounds.

Experiments have proved the excellence of sugar as a substitute for
honey, and in some instances its superiority for the formation of wax.
It might otherwise have been supposed that bees might form comb from
some particles of wax accidentally present in the honey, and that these
afforded the pabulum for this secretion. To prove therefore that the
saccharine principle alone enabled the bees to produce wax, being still
confined, they were supplied with a syrup made with Canary-sugar and
water, and at the same time comparative experiments were made in another
hive, where the bees were fed on honey and water. The syrup-fed bees
produced wax sooner and more abundantly than the honey-fed bees. Another
fact was also incontrovertibly elicited; namely, that in the old hives
the honey is warehoused, and that in the new ones it is consumed and
transmuted into wax.

The experiments of +Huber+ have been confirmed by those of +M. Blondelu+,
of Noyau, who addressed a memoir upon this subject to the Society of
Agriculture at Paris, in May 1812. +Huish+ has critically examined these
experiments of Huber, but without being convinced by them: for having
observed pollen on the thighs of bees when swarming, and upon dissection,
in their stomachs also, he considers that pollen, elaborated in the
second stomach of the bee, "contains in itself the principle of wax."
Were this the case, what a store of pollen must the bees have reserved,
in Huber's experiments, wherein they formed five successive sets of comb,
without access to fresh pollen! The pollen or bee-bread, which Huish
discovered on the thighs and in the stomachs of some of his bees, was
most likely intended for larva-food; they were probably bees that had
been abroad, and joined the swarm on their passage home, before they
had deposited their freight in the parent hive. With this pollen (or
ambrosia, as it has been called), after conversion into a sort of whitish
jelly by the action of the bee's stomach, where it is probably mixed with
honey, and then regurgitated, the young brood, immediately upon their
exclusion and until their change into nymphs, are fed by the nursing-bees
several times a day. The opinion that pollen is the prime constituent of
wax was held by +Buffon+, and remains uncontradicted in an edition of
his Works so late as 1821. +Arthur Dobbs+, Esq., in the Philosophical
Transactions for 1752, instead of considering wax as digested pollen
discharged from the stomach of the bee, regards it as being emitted _per
annum_; and as he speaks of its discharge in husks or shells, doubtless
he saw it in that form, which it is now known to assume when moulded upon
the body of the bee. Indeed he says that he has had swarming bees alight
upon his hand, and drop warm wax upon it. Its being secreted only by the
under side of the belly might easily deceive, and lead him to regard it
as alvine excrement.

I will here subjoin some more proofs of the non-identity of wax and
pollen. So long ago as 1768, the +Lusatian Society+ (called _Société des
Abeilles_, founded at little Bautzen, a village in Upper Lusatia, under
the auspices of the Elector of Saxony,) knew that wax was not discharged
from the mouths of bees, but was secreted in thin scales among their
abdominal rings or segments. About 1774, +Mr. Thorley+ caught a bee just
entering its hive, and found, among the plaits of its belly, no less
than six pieces or scales of solid wax, perfectly white and transparent,
and he oftentimes saw wax in the same situation. +M. Duchet+, in his
_Culture des Abeilles_, quoted by +Wildman+ in 1778, declares that wax
is formed of honey; and relates in proof of it, that he has seen a
broken comb of an overset hive, which was repaired during bad weather,
when the bees could not acquire any other material. This statement of
Duchet corresponds with my own observation, as stated in page 357, but
is not so conclusive. In Duchet's instance there might have been other
materials in the hive besides honey; whereas in my case the bees had
access to no materials whatever, excepting the sugared ale and the honey
which they had conveyed from the parent hive, the swarm having been just
hived. +Wildman+, in his Treatise on the Management of Bees, states his
having seen pieces of wax, like fish scales, on the hive floor of a
fresh swarmed colony, part of which he thinks must at least have been
formed upon the body of the bee; some flakes might have fallen from the
combs then constructing, but there were many pieces among them which
were concave on one side and convex on the other, as if moulded on the
insect's belly. Flakes were likewise seen, hanging loose, between the
abdominal scales of the bees. In 1792, +Mr. John Hunter+, apparently
unacquainted with antecedent conjectures, detected the genuine reservoir
of wax under the bee's belly. He considered wax as an external secretion
of oil, formed and moulded between the abdominal scales of the insect.
+Dr. Evans+ confirms the testimony of Wildman and Hunter, having been an
eye-witness to the formation of wax into flakes. "One or more bees,"
he remarks, "may be often seen before the door of the hive, supporting
themselves by their two fore-feet, fluttering their wings, and agitating
the hind parts of their bodies. They are then evidently moulding the
wax between their abdominal scales, the motion of the wings serving to
preserve their balance, and as a signal for their companions within to
come and carry off the falling flakes." In the Philosophical Transactions
for 1807, +Mr. Knight+ states that there is no such secretory process;
that the wax is laid on the scales of the abdomen for the convenience of
carriage, and to receive warmth preparatory to cell-building.

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.]

+Messrs. Huber+ and +Son+ ascertained that the office of collecting
honey, for the elaboration of wax, is filled by a particular description
of bees or labourers, to which they have given the name of _wax-workers_.
These bees are susceptible of an increase in size, as is evident from
the state of their stomachs, when quite full of honey. Dissection has
shown that their stomachs are more capacious than those of the bees that
are differently occupied. Bees not possessed of this expanding stomach,
gather no more honey than is necessary to supply the immediate wants of
themselves and their companions, with whom they readily share it: these
are called _nursing-bees_, their principal duty being to attend the
eggs and larvæ. The task of storing the hive with provisions devolves
upon the wax-workers, who, when not occupied in the construction of
comb, disgorge their honey into those cells which are intended for its
reception. By marking the bees, it was found that they never encroached
upon each other's employment: this strict adjustment of duty is the
more remarkable, since the power of producing wax is common both to the
nursing- and wax-working bees, a small quantity of wax being really found
in the receptacles of the nursing-bees.

In the foregoing experiments for ascertaining the sources of wax, the
bees had borne their confinement without evincing the least impatience;
but on another occasion, when shut up with a brood of eggs and larvæ,
and without pollen, though honey was copiously supplied, they manifested
uneasiness and rage at their imprisonment. Fearing the consequence of
this state of tumult being prolonged, Huber allowed them to escape in the
evening, when too late to collect provisions; the bees soon returned
home. At the end of five days, during which this experiment was tried,
the hive was examined:--the larvæ had perished, and the jelly that
surrounded them on their introduction into the hive had disappeared.
The same bees were then supplied with a fresh brood, together with some
comb containing pollen: very different indeed was their behaviour with
this outfit; they eagerly seized the pollen and conveyed it to the
young; order and prosperity were re-established in the colony; the larvæ
underwent the usual transformations; royal cells were completed and
closed with wax, and the bees showed no desire to quit their habitation.
These experiments afford indisputable evidence of the origin of wax and
the destination of pollen.

Though the wax of honey and brood-comb be an original secretion from the
body of the bee, wax is also considered by some as a vegetable substance
existing abundantly in nature. According to +Proust+, it forms the
silvery down on the leaves, flowers and fruit of many plants, and resides
likewise in the feculæ of others. +Dr. Darwin+, in his _Phytologia_,
supposes that wax is secreted to glaze over the fecundating dust of the
anthers, and prevent its premature explosion from excessive moisture: to
an unseasonable dispersion of anther-dust he ascribes the failure of
orchard and corn crops in summers of extreme humidity. The wax-tree of
Louisiana[AC] (_Myrica cerifera_) contains immense quantities of wax.
In this respect there appears an identity betwixt animal and vegetable
secretion, which may be viewed as indicative of simplicity in the
structure of the bee: a still simpler organization exists in the aphis,
which extracts the saccharine juices from the leaves and bark of trees,
and expels them again nearly unchanged[AD].

[Footnote AC: _Vide_ Part I. Chap. 28.]

[Footnote AD: _Vide_ Part I. Chap. 5.]




CHAPTER XXXVI.

POLLEN.


+_Pollen_+ and _Farina_, in the language of Botanists, are terms applied
to the powdery particles discharged by the anthers of flowers in warm dry
weather, and which hang about the stamina. The colour, as well as the
structure of pollen, varies in different plants. Its use, in fecundating
the germens of flowers, is well known: the services of bees, towards
that end, will be noticed in a separate chapter. The sixth volume of the
Linnæan Transactions contains an interesting paper upon this substance,
from the pen of +Mr. Luke Howard+.

_Pollen has a capsular structure_, varying its shape in different
flowers, insomuch as to be a popular object for the microscope. Each
grain consists commonly of a membranous bag, which, when it has come
to maturity, bursts on the application of moisture: this bursting is
naturally effected by the honey-like exudation of the stigma; but if
extraneous moisture accomplish it prematurely, the pollen is rendered
useless for the purpose of fructification. Whenever moistened, the bag
explodes with great force, and discharges a subtle vapour or essence,
which, when released by the peculiar moisture of the stigma, performs
effectually its final purpose.

This substance was once erroneously supposed to be the prime constituent
of wax; but the experiments of +Hunter+ and +Huber+ have proved that wax
is a secretion from the bodies of wax-working bees[AE], and that the
principal purpose of pollen is to nourish the embryo-bees; (it has been
called the ambrosia of the hive). Huber was the first who suggested this
idea, and it well accords with what we observe among other parts of the
animal kingdom;--birds, for instance, feed their young with different
food from what they take themselves. Mr. Hunter examined the stomachs of
the maggot-bees, and found farina in all, but not a particle of honey
in any of them. Huber considers the pollen as undergoing a peculiar
elaboration in the stomachs of the nursing-bees, to be fitted for the
nutriment of the larvæ.

[Footnote AE: _Vide_ Chap. XXXV.]

"In spring," says +Dr. Evans+, "which may be called the bee's first
_carrying_ season, scarcely one of the labourers is seen returning to the
hive, without a little ball or pellet of farina, on each of its hinder
legs. These balls are invariably of the same colour as the anther-dust
of the flowers then in bloom, the different tints of yellow, as pale,
greenish or deep orange, being most prevalent." The bees may frequently
be observed to roll their bodies on the flower, and then, brushing off
the pollen which adheres to them, with their feet, form it into two
masses, which they dispose of in the usual way. In very dry weather,
when probably the particles of pollen cannot be made to cohere, I have
often seen them return home so completely enveloped by it, as to give
them the appearance of a different species of bee. The anther-dust, thus
collected, is conveyed to the interior of the hive, and there brushed off
by the collector or her companions. +Reaumur+ and others have observed,
that _bees prefer the morning for collecting this substance_, most
probably that the dew may assist them in the moulding of their little
balls. "I have seen them abroad," says Reaumur, "gathering farina before
it was light;" they continue thus occupied till about ten o'clock.

    "Brush'd from each anther's crown, the mealy gold.
    With morning dew, the light fang'd artists mould.
    Fill with the foodful load their hollow'd thigh,
    And to their nurslings bear the rich supply."

                                                           +Evans.+

This is their practice during the warmer months; but in April and May,
and at the settlement of a recent swarm, they carry pollen throughout
the day; but even in these instances, the collection is made in places
most likely to furnish the requisite moisture for moulding the pellets,
namely, in shady and sometimes in very distant places.

When a bee has completed her loading, she returns to the hive, _part_ of
her cargo _is instantly devoured_ by the nursing-bees, to be regurgitated
for the use of the larvæ, and _another part is stored_ in cells for
future exigencies, _in the following manner_. The bee, while seeking a
fit cell for her freight, makes a noise with her wings, as if to summon
her fellow-citizens round her; she then fixes her two middle and her two
hind legs upon the edge of the cell which she has selected, and curving
her body, seizes the farina with her fore legs, and makes it drop into
the cell: thus freed from her burthen, she hurries off to collect again.
Another bee immediately packs the pollen, and kneads and works it down
into the bottom of the cell, probably mixing a little honey with it,
judging from the moist state in which she leaves it; an air-tight coating
of varnish finishes this storing of pollen.

From the uniform colour of each collection, it is reasonable to suppose
that _the bee never visits more than one species of flower on the same
journey;_ this was the opinion of +Aristotle+, and the generality
of modern observers have confirmed it. +Reaumur+, however, supposed
that the bee ranged from flowers of one species to those of another
indiscriminately. +Mr. Arthur Dobbs+, in the Philosophical Transactions
for 1752, states that he has repeatedly followed bees when collecting
pollen; and that whatever flowers they first alighted upon decided
their choice for that excursion, all other species being passed over
unregarded: +Butler+ had previously asserted the same thing. Here we see
the operation of a discriminating instinct, which in the first place
leads the insect to make an aggregation of homogeneous particles, which
of course form the closest cohesion; and in the next place prevents the
multiplication of hybrid plants. This remark was made by +Sprengel+, who
has confirmed the observations of Dobbs, Butler, and others. The bees,
which Reaumur observed to visit flowers of different species, might have
been in quest of honey as well as of pollen.




CHAPTER XXXVII.

PROPOLIS.


Besides the honey and pollen which are gathered by bees, they collect
a resinous substance, that is very tenacious, semitransparent, and
which gives out a balsamic odour, somewhat resembling that of storax.
In the mass, it is of a reddish brown colour; when broken, its colour
approaches that of wax. Dissolved in spirit of wine or oil of turpentine,
it imparts, as varnish, a golden colour to silver, tin, and other white
polished metals. Being supposed to possess medicinal virtue, it was
formerly kept in the shop of the apothecary. According to Vauquelin,
propolis consists of one part of wax and four of pure resin; in which
respect, and in its yielding the same acid, (the _benzoic_,) it resembles
balsam Peru. It also contains some aromatic principles.

With propolis, bees attach the combs to the roof and sides of their
dwelling, stop crevices, fasten the hives or boxes to the floors and
roofs, strengthen the weak places of their domicile, and varnish the
cell-work of their combs. The chapter on Instincts details the modes in
which bees employ it for their protection against intruders into their
hives. From its being used for the firm attachment of combs to the roofs
of hives, it must be the first matter collected by a recent swarm. The
term Propolis is derived from the Greek, and signifies 'before the
city,' bees having been observed to make use of it, in strengthening the
outworks of their city.

Reaumur was unable to discover its vegetable source. It is generally
supposed to be gathered from the resinous exudations of the poplar,
alder, birch, and willow; according to Riem, from pines and other trees
of the fir tribe; though some authors have alleged that bees can produce
it where no such trees are near them, and that turpentine and other
resins have been disregarded when laid before them. A recent experiment
of Huber has solved this question: he planted in spring some branches of
the wild poplar, before the leaves were developed, and placed them in
pots near his apiary: the bees alighting on them separated the folds of
the largest buds with their forceps, extracted the varnish in threads,
and loaded with it, first one thigh and then the other; for they convey
it like pollen, transferring it by the first pair of legs to the second,
by which it is lodged in the hollow of the third. Huber examined the
chemical properties of this varnish, and identified it with the propolis
which fastens the combs to the hives.

With respect to the absence of fir-trees, &c. in the neighbourhood of
the hives, it is to be recollected, in the first place, that _bees will
fly about three miles_ (some say five,) for what they may want: +Huber+
_thinks that the radius of the circle they traverse does not exceed half
a league_, yet says that the question is undecided. In the second place,
that a balsamic and tenacious secretion is found upon the buds of several
plants and trees, which are often crowded with these insects; such for
instance as the tacamahac, horse-chesnut, and hollyhock. Dr. Evans says
that he has been an eye-witness of their collecting the balsamic varnish
which coats the young blossom buds of the hollyhock, and has seen them
rest at least ten minutes on the same bud, moulding the balsam with their
fore-feet and transferring it to the hinder legs, as above stated. When
finally moulded, the pellets of propolis are of a lenticular form.

    "With merry hum the Willow's copse they scale,
    The fir's dark pyramid, or Poplar pale,
    Scoop from the Alder's leaf its oozy flood,
    Or strip the Chesnut's resin-coated bud,
    Skim the light tear that tips Narcissus' ray.
    Or round the Hollyhock's hoar fragrance play.
    Soon temper'd to their will through eve's low beam,
    And link'd in airy bands the viscous stream.
    They waft their nut-brown loads exulting home,
    That form a fret-work for the future comb,
    Caulk every chink where rushing winds may roar,
    And seal their circling ramparts to the floor."

                                                           +Evans.+

As to the bees refusing resinous substances, when presented to them,
as substitutes for propolis, +Mr. Knight+ has assured us, in the
Philosophical Transactions, that this is not the fact; as he had seen
them carry off a composition of wax and turpentine, which had been laid
over the decorticated parts of his trees.

The bees blend this substance with wax in different proportions, as
occasion may require. Among the ancients, it bore different names,
according to the quantity of wax it contained. Virgil made this
distinction, though +Mr. Martin+ conceives that his _narcissi lachrymæ_,
_cera_ [cum quâ]--"spiramenta tenuia linunt,"--and _gluten_, all mean
the same thing: this is probably a mistake. It seems much more likely
that +Virgil+ should mean _metys_, _pissoceron_ and _propolis_, the
three names by which +Pliny+ says that the varieties of propolis were
distinguished in his time.

I have before alluded to the fortification of the weak places of hives
with propolis. M. Reaumur, whose hives consisted of wooden frames and
panes of glass, wishing to put this talent of the bees to the test,
carelessly fastened the glass of a hive with paper and paste, before
putting in a swarm; the bees soon discovered the weakness of his
paste-work, and indignantly gnawing to pieces this feeble fence, secured
the glass with their own cement.

I have already observed, that _the sage bee_ chooses the morning for
collecting pollen, on account of the dew's enabling her to compress
it better; but, as moisture would render propolis less coherent, she
_gathers this substance when the day is somewhat advanced_, and when
the warmth of the sun has imparted to it softness and pliancy. These
qualities are however soon lost, after it has been detached from the
secreting surfaces, and exposed to the oxygenizing power of the air. So
rapid is this hardening process, that the bees which store it, oftentimes
find some difficulty in tearing it with their jaws from the thighs of its
collectors.




CHAPTER XXXVIII.

IMPORTANCE OF BEES TO THE FRUCTIFICATION OF FLOWERS.


Honey is regarded by modern naturalists as of no other use to plants but
to allure insects, which, by visiting the nectaries of their flowers
to procure it, become instrumental to their fertilization, either by
scattering the dust of the stamens upon the stigmata of the same flower,
or by carrying it from those which produce only male blossoms to those
that bear female ones, and thereby rendering the latter fertile.

No class of insects renders so much service in this way as _bees_; they
_have_ however _been accused of injuring vegetables_, in three ways: 1st,
by purloining for their combs the wax which defends the prolific dust of
the anthers from rain; 2ndly, by carrying off the dust itself, as food
for their young larvæ; and 3dly, by devouring the honey of the nectaries,
intended to nourish the vegetable organs of fructification[AF].

[Footnote AF: Darwin's _Phytologia_.]

In defence of his insect protegées, +Dr. Evans+ has observed:

"First, That the proportion of wax collected from the anthers is
probably very trifling, it being so readily and abundantly obtainable
from honey.

"Secondly, That for any depredations committed on the farina, they
amply compensate, by their inadvertent yet providential conveyance of
it, on their limbs and corslets, to the female organs of monoecious or
dioecious plants; whose impregnation must otherwise have depended on the
uncertain winds. This is exemplified in the practice of our gardeners,
who in early spring, before they dare expose their hotbeds to the open
air, and consequently to the access of insects, insure the fertility of
the cucumbers and melons, by shaking a male blossom over each female
flower. For the same purpose, and with the same success, a gentleman in
Shropshire substitutes a male blossom, in place of the female one, at the
top of his embryo cucumber, which instantly adheres, and falls off in due
time. To the same kind intrusion of insects we owe the numberless new
sorts of esculents and endless varieties of flowers in the parterre:

                 'Where Beauty plays
    Her idle freaks; from family diffus'd
    To family, as flies the father dust
    The varied colours run.'

                                                           +Thomson+

"Thirdly, That in a great many instances, the honey-cups are completely
beyond the reach of the fructifying organs, and cannot possibly be
subservient to their use. Hence +Sir J. E. Smith+ _believes the honey
to be intended, by its scent, to allure these venial panders to the
flowers_, and thereby shows how highly he estimates their value to
vegetation. See his Introduction to Botany. In the same work, the author
observes that +Sprengel+ has ingeniously demonstrated, in some hundreds
of instances, how the corolla serves as an attraction to insects,
indicating by various marks, sometimes perhaps by its scent, where they
may find honey, and accommodating them with a convenient resting-place or
shelter while they extract it. This elegant and ingenious theory receives
confirmation from almost every flower we examine. Proud man is disposed
to think that

  'Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,'

because he has not deigned to explore it; but we find that even the
beauties of the most sequestered wilderness are not made in vain. They
have myriads of admirers, attracted by their charms, and rewarded by
their treasures, which would be as useless as the gold of a miser, to the
plant itself, were they not the means of bringing insects about it."

Thus the bee, by settling upon and collecting honey from a thousand
different flowers, is thereby assisting the great purpose of vegetable
reproduction, at the same time that the loads she carries home enable
her to construct receptacles for the reproduction of her own race.

"For the due fertilization of the common _Barberry_, it is necessary that
its irritable stamens should be brought into contact with the pistil, by
the application of some stimulus to the base of the filament; but this
would never take place were not insects attracted, by the melliferous
glands of the flower, to insinuate themselves amongst the filaments,
and thus, while seeking their own food, unknowingly to fulfil the
intentions of Nature in another department." _In some cases the agency
of the hive-bee is inadequate to produce the required end; in these the
humble-bee is the operator:_ these alone, as Sprengel has observed, are
strong enough for instance, to force their way beneath the style-flag of
the _Iris Xiphium_, which in consequence is often barren. _Other insects
besides bees are instrumental in producing the same ends;_ indeed they
are necessary instruments: and hence according to the same naturalist,
in some places, where the particular insect required is not to be met
with, no fruit is formed upon the plant which is usually visited by it,
where it is indigenous; for he supposes that _some plants have particular
insects appropriated to them_. The American _Aristolochia Sipho_, though
it flowers plentifully, never forms fruit in our gardens, probably for
the reason just assigned. The _Date Palm_ affords a striking instance
of the necessity of extraneous intervention to perfect fructification;
male and female flowers are borne on separate trees, and unless the two
sorts be in the neighbourhood of each other, the fruit has no kernel and
is not proper for food. There was a tree of this kind, bearing female
flowers, at Berlin, for the fructification of which, a branch, with
male flowers upon it, was once sent by post from Leipsic, (20 German
miles,) and being suspended over some of the pistils, the tree afterwards
yielded fruit and seed in abundance. +Professor Willdenow+ has stated a
very curious circumstance, concerning the _Aristolochia Clematitis_. He
observes that the stamens and pistils of the flower are inclosed in its
globular base, the anthers being under the stigma, which thereby requires
the intervention of an insect, to convey the pollen to it. The _Tipula
pennicornis_ accomplishes this object; it enters the flower by its
tubular part, which is thickly lined with inflected hairs, so as readily
to admit the fly, but totally to prevent its release, till by the fading
of the corolla the hairs have fallen flat against its sides. Hence the
insect in struggling to effect its escape, brushes off the pollen and
applies it to the stigma, thereby accomplishing the fertilization of the
flower.




INDEX.


                                                                   Page.
  Anatomy of the bee                                                 249
      The head                                                       251
           The proboscis                                           _ib._
               lips                                                  253
               tongue                                              _ib._
               pharynx                                               254
               œsophagus or gullet                                 _ib._
               mandibles                                             255
               maxillæ                                             _ib._
               antenna                                     255, 292, 307
               palpi                                            256, 308
               eyes                                                  256
      The trunk                                                 250, 256
           The wings                                                 256
               legs                                                  257
      The abdomen                                               251, 258
           The honey-bag                                             258
               venom-bag                                           _ib._
               anus                                                _ib._
               ovipositor                                          _ib._
               sting                                               _ib._
               organs of reproduction                              _ib._
  Anger of bees                                                      288
      not apt to be excited at a distance from home                  290
      fatal consequences of                                          288
  Animation of bees suspended                                        202
  Antennæ                                                  255, 292, 307
      effects of their excision                                      309
      organs for communicating information                           292
      for receiving meteorological intelligence                    _ib._
  Antipathies of bees                                                303
  Ants, anecdotes respecting                                    183, 205
      (Amazon) anecdote of                                           323
      enslaved                                                       324
      their milch cattle                                              74
      white, wonderful fertility of                                   40
  Aphides                                                             72
      principal source of honey-dew                                _ib._
      their willing subserviency to bees and ants                     75
      wonderful fertility of                                          32
  Apiary                                                              48
      best aspect for                                              _ib._
      Bonner's                                                        51
      circumstances to be avoided in                                  48
      to be desired in                                             _ib._
  Apparatus for deprivation                                          107
  Architecture of bees                                               339
      commencement and progress of a comb first observed by Huber    340
      construction of a cell                                         340
      of cells of transition                                         353
      of drone-cells                                                 350
      of royal-cells                                                 351
      geometrical accuracy of cell-work                              342
      demonstrated by Maraldi, Kœnig, and McLaurin                   346
      honey-comb, description of                                     352
      varnish for strengthening cell-work                            344
  Armour of defence against bees, &c.                                175
  Aurelia. _Vide_ Pupa.

  Bee, honey, comprises three descriptions of individuals              1
  Bee, anatomy of. _Vide_ Anatomy.
  Bee-boxes                                                           83
      compared with hives                                            100
      dimensions of                                                   83
      Dunbar's                                                       102
      observations therein                                           103
      history of                                                     109
      Huber's                                                        102
      Hunter's                                                     _ib._
      materials for, best                                             83
      Gedde's                                                        111
      Hartlib's                                                      110
      Mew's                                                        _ib._
      Reaumur's                                                      102
      Thorley's                                                      111
      Warder's                                                     _ib._
      White's                                                      _ib._
      centre-boards                                                   88
      floor boards                                                    87
      reference to venders of                                         89
  Bee bread                                                       9, 371
      dress                                                          175
      eater of Selborne                                              337
      flowers. _Vide_ Pasturage.
      house                                                           52
      shed                                                            99
  Bees, adherence of to life                                         202
      anger of                                                       288
      protection against                                             177
      animation of, suspended                                        201
      antipathies of                                                 303
      attachment to queen                                            140
      ballasting themselves (erroneous)                               48
      black                                                            7
      brooding (erroneous)                                             6
      build combs sometimes under resting boards                     125
      their contests with each other                                 289
          by single combat                                         _ib._
          by general engagement                                    _ib._
      corsair                                                        207
      death, sudden, from effluvia of Rhus Vernix                    197
      diseases of. _Vide_ Diseases of Bees.
      drone. _Vide_ Drones.
      duration, extraordinary, of a colony                           298
      education of                                                   260
      embryo                                                          10
          development of, affected by temperature                     14
      enemies of. _Vide_ Enemies of Bees.
      evolution of _ab ovo_                                           10
      excursions of                                                  377
      exotic. _Vide_ Exotic Bees.
      excrement of                                              188, 194
      fructifiers of flowers. _Vide_ Fructification of Flowers.
      generation, absurd theory of                                35, 48
      harvest season of                                              119
      impatient of cold                                              114
      indisposition to ascend with their works                       112
      instincts of. _Vide_ Instincts of Bees.
      intellect of                                                   319
      intoxicated sometimes                                           60
      language of. _Vide_ Language of Bees.
      longevity of                                                   296
      mode of approaching                                            177
      mortality of, extraordinary in 1762                            186
      numbers in a hive                                                3
      number of stocks in some situations                       234, 235
      nymph                                                           12
      origin, ancient notion of                                       48
      overstocking of                                                235
      perspiration of                                                273
      poison of                                                      286
      in the pupa state                                               12
      purchase of                                                     80
      queen. _Vide_ Queen.
      regurgitating power of                                         229
      removal from hives to boxes                                    148
      respiration of                                                 266
      scouts. _Vide_ Providers.
      secretions of                                                  273
      senses of. _Vide_ Senses.
      sexes of                                                        20
      sleep of                                                       295
      stinging of                                                    284
      stingless                                                      210
      stock, criterions of a good one                                 81
      suffocation of                                                 174
      sulphuring of                                                _ib._
      swarming of. _Vide_ Swarming of Bees.
      swarming, not apt to sting                                     138
          striking instance of it                                    139
                            of the contrary                        _ib._
      transportation of. _Vide_ Transportation.
      wax                                                            220
          average quantity in a hive                                 221
          criterions of good                                         220
          difference from myrtle wax                                 224
          annual consumption of                                      222
          secretion of, promoted by electricity                      232
          separation of from honey                                   216
          source and nature of. _Vide_ Source and Nature
            of Bees-wax,
          white                                                      221
      working                                                          3
          collectors from birth                                       15
          compared with drones                                         5
          destroy the drones                                          44
          fertile sometimes                                           23
          office of                                                    3
          sex of                                                   3, 24
              Cuvier's remarks on                                     24
          Jurine's dissections of                                  _ib._
          usual number in a hive                                       3
  Braggot, or common mead                                            245
  Breeding, commencement of                                           37
                     signs of                                        118
      early, to promote                                              119
      Hubbard's opinion of                                           117

  Cells, construction of. _Vide_ Architecture.
  Chrysalis. _Vide_ Pupa.
  Circulation                                                        271
  Clustering                                                         123
  Cocoons                                                         11, 12
  Cold, effect of on bees                                            117
          in diminishing the consumption of honey                    185
  Combs, construction of                                             340
      constructed sometimes under resting-boards                     125
  Comparative advantages of storifying and single-hiving             122
                         of wooden boxes and straw-hives             100

  Deprivation                                                        162
      to be exercised cautiously                                     163
      possible accident at the time of                               165
      modes of performing                                            167
                       Isaac's                                       170
                       Keys's                                        170
                       Dovaston's                                    171
                       Evans's                                       172
      proper periods for                                             162
  Diseases of bees                                                   184
          Dysentery                                                  188
          Vertigo                                                    189
          Tumefaction of Antennæ                                     192
          Pestilence or _Faux Couvain_                             _ib._
          probable causes of                                       _ib._
          remedies                                                 _ib._
                preventive                                           195
          review of different theories of                          _ib._
  Dividers and other implements                                      107
      their use in deprivation                                       167
  Drones, their use                                                5, 30
      evolution of _ab ovo_                                           14
      massacre of                                                     43
               how effected                                           44
      not found in all swarms                                          4
      number usual in a hive                                           3
      occasional preservation of                                      44
      sitting upon the eggs                                            6
          opinion of Mr. Morris                                    _ib._
                  of Fabricius                                     _ib._
                  of Kirby and Spence                              _ib._
  Dunbar's observations in his mirror-hive                         8, 21

  Eggs--drone, royal, worker                                           8
      first laying of                                                 37
      great laying of                                                116
      misplaced, devoured by workers                                  42
      number of, laid in a given period                           39, 40
      period at which each sort is laid                               37
      transportation, opinion of                                      42
      worker, may be rendered royal                                   19
  Electricity, effect on secretion of wax and honey                  232
  Enemies of bees                                                    199
      protection against                                             203
  Excrement of bees                                             188, 194
  Exotic bees                                                        210
      their honey-cells                                            _ib._
      of Guadaloupe                                                _ib._
         Guiana                                                      211
         India                                                     _ib._
         South America                                             _ib._
              Basil Hall's Account                                 _ib._
  Eye of the bee, peculiar construction of. _Vide_ Senses.           312

  Farina                                                             370
      collecting of                                                  371
          time of                                                    372
          confined to one species of flower on each journey          373
          Reaumur's opinion                                        _ib._
          Dobbs, Butler and Sprengel's                          373, 374
      conveyance of                                                  372
      food of larvæ, and not the constituent of wax                  371
      fructifying power of                                           370
      preparation of for use                                         371
      source of                                                      370
      storing of                                                     373
      structure of                                                   370
  Fading                                                             179
      importance of                                                  193
      syrup for                                                    _ib._
      modes of                                                     _ib._
      times of                                                       152
  Fermentation, conduct of                                           240
  Fertility of insects                                            32, 40
  Flies in Madeira wine                                              201
  Fly, flesh, erroneous judgement respecting                         306
  Food of larvæ 10
  Fructification of flowers                                          380
      instrumentality of bees to that end                          _ib._
      bees attracted to flowers by their nectar                    _ib._
          accused by Dr. Darwin of injuring flowers                _ib._
          defended by Dr. Evans                                    _ib._
          Opinion of Sir J. E. Smith                                 382
                  of Sprengel                                        383
                  not the only insects that promote
                    fructification                                 _ib._
      in the Barberry for instance, the Iris Xiphium, the
        Aristolochia Sipho of America, the A. Clematitis, and the
        Date Palm                                                  _ib._

  Hawk-moth, Death's Head 208
      ravages committed by it in the apiary                        _ib._
          resources of the bees                                    _ib._
  Hearing, sense of. _Vide_ Sensation, organs of; and Senses.
  Hives                                                               95
      Chelmsford and Hertford                                         96
      compared with boxes                                            100
      construction of, best                                           97
      dimensions of                                                   96
      distances at which they should stand from each other            49
      Dunbar's                                                       102
          his observations therein                                   103
      heat occasional in                                              39
          usual in                                                 _ib._
      materials proper for                                            95
      leaf                                                           102
      Moreton                                                         96
      Huber's                                                         91
      Huish's                                                         90
      preparation of                                                 137
      Reaumur's                                                       93
      situation proper for                                            49
      straw                                                           96
      Thorley's                                                       92
      Wildman's                                                       93
          with glasses                                             _ib._
  Hiving of swarms                                                   136
      Super- and Nadir-                                         124, 151
  Honey                                                              226
      analysis of                                                    233
      animalization of                                               227
      candying of                                                    196
      contrivances of bees to keep it in open cells                  228
      Corsican, not mulcted by the Romans                             63
      criterions of good                                             232
      deleterious                                           65, 190, 230
      flavour affected by pasturage                              65, 229
                       by season                                     232
                       by mode of separation                       _ib._
      harvests of                                                    165
      preservation of                                                233
      qualities of                                                   231
      quantity required for winter consumption                       162
          average afforded by a colony                               226
          sometimes taken                                          _ib._
      secretion of, promoted by electricity                          232
      separation of, from wax                                        216
      taken by means of dividers                                     167
  Honeycomb                                                          339
  Honey-dew                                                           71
      ancient opinions of                                             71
      modern ditto                                                    72
      Gilbert White's                                                 71
      Dr. Evans's                                                     72
      Dr. Darwin's                                                 _ib._
      Mr. Curtis's                                                 _ib._
      Sir J. E. Smith's                                               73
      Boissier de Sauvages's                                          79
      trees addicted to it                                            77
      yields a great harvest to the storifyer                         78
  Humble-bees                                         207, 209, 319, 327
  Humming, causes of                                                 270

  Idiot bee-eater                                                    337
  Imago                                                               13
  Implements, bee                                                    107
  Impregnation. _Vide_ Queen.
  Instinct                                                           318
      definition of                                                  335
      most remarkable in creatures that congregate                   318
      of humble-bees                                               _ib._
      all the phænomena of insect life not referable to it           322
      Darwin's opinion                                               323
      Hunter's                                                       330
      Virey's                                                        331
      Des Cartes'                                                  _ib._
      Buffon's                                                     _ib._
      circumstance noticed by Dr. Evans                              325
                           by Mr. Walond                             236
      Huber's humble-bees                                            327
      Amazon ants                                                    323
      bee fortifications                                             328
      anecdote of a beetle                                           330
  Instinct may be directed by intellect                              333
              modified and counteracted by intellect               _ib._
              instanced in birds' nests                            _ib._
                  in Sir J. Banks's spider                           332
                  in dogs                                            333
      Maraldi's Slug                                                 320
      Reaumur's Snail                                                319
      Reimar's opinion of memory                                     333
      weakened by domestication                                      336
      strengthened by concentration                                _ib._
  Intellect of bees                                                  319
      capable of modifying and counteracting instinct                333
      capable of directing instinct                                _ib._

  Jelly, royal                                                        20
  Jurine, Miss, dissections of                                        24

  Knowledge distinguished from Wisdom                                334

  Language of bees 291
          Mr. Knight's opinion                                     _ib._
          M. Huber's                                               _ib._
              his experiments                                      _ib._
  Larvæ                                                               10
      food of                                                      _ib._
      progressive growth of                                           12
      motions of                                                      15
      voraciousness of                                                12
      inclosure or sealing up of                                      11
      commencement of spinning cocoon                              _ib._
      worker may become royal                                         19
  Leaf-hives                                                         102
          Dunbar's                                                   103
          Huber's                                                    105
          Hunter's                                                   102
          Reaumur's                                                _ib._
  Leaven, artificial                                                 242
      natural                                                   240, 242
  Locusts, female, destroyed by males                                 46
  Longevity of bees                                                  296
      extraordinary duration of a colony                             298

  Mead, antiquity of                                                 236
      Braggot, or common                                             245
      directions for making                                          244
      esteemed by our ancestors                                      237
      ideal nectar of the Scandinavians                            _ib._
  Memory of bees                                                260, 314
          Reimar's opinion                                           333
  Metys                                                              378
  Mortality among bees and wasps                                     186
  Moth-wax                                                           199
      eggar, anecdote of                                             306
      hawk. _Vide_ Hawk-moth.
  Motions of insects                                                 274
      instances of extraordinary power of                            275

  Nadir-hiving                                                  124, 151
  Nutrition                                                          272
  Nymph                                                               12
      resemblance to a mummy                                          13

  Palpi                                                              256
  Pasturage                                                           55
      effect on the flavour of honey                             66, 230
          ancient opinion of                                          65
          Barthelemy's                                             _ib._
          Duppa's                                                    230
      noxious                                                    67, 230
          Xenophon's opinion of                                       67
          Tournefort's                                             _ib._
          Darwin's opinion of                                         68
          Barton's                                               68, 231
  Pellets, moulding of                                               372
  Perspiration                                                       273
  Pissoceros                                                         378
  Poison of Bees                                                     286
      its nature                                                   _ib._
      crystallizes in drying                                       _ib._
  Pollen. _Vide_ Farina.
  Propolis                                                           375
      analysis of                                                  _ib._
      mode of conveying                                              376
      source of                                                    _ib._
          Huber's experiments                                      _ib._
          Evans's observations                                       377
          Knight's                                                   378
      form of its pellets                                            377
      variously compounded with wax                                  378
      time of gathering                                              379
      uses of                                                        375
      substitutes sometimes used for                                 378
      Reaumur's experiment                                         _ib._
  Providers, or Scouts                                               131
      Warder's opinion of                                            132
      Butler's                                                     _ib._
      Knight's                                                     _ib._
      Evans's                                                      _ib._
      Duchet's                                                     _ib._
      Reaumur's                                                    _ib._
      Buffon's                                                     _ib._
      Bonnet's                                                     _ib._
      Huber's                                                      _ib._
      Bonner's                                                       135
  Pupa                                                                12
      resemblance of to a mummy                                       13

  Queen-bees, artificial                                              20
      discovery attributed to Schirach                             _ib._
      said to have been long known                                    20
      opinions of Vogel and Monticelli                             _ib._
      experiment of Dunbar                                            22
      not mute as Huber supposed                                      23
      attachment of workers to                                       141
      enmity towards, and combats with each other                    281
      evolution of _ab ovo_                                           14
      homage paid to                                                 144
      impregnation of                                                 25
          opinions concerning                                      _ib._
                  Bonner's                                            28
                  Bonnet's                                            29
                  Butler's                                            36
                  Debraw's                                            27
                  Dobbs's                                             26
                  Fleming's                                           32
                  Hattorf's                                           28
                  Huber's                                  27, _et seq._
                  Huish's                                             27
                  Hunter's                                        30, 33
                  Linnæus's                                           33
                  Lombard's                                           29
                  Maraldi's                                           26
                  Reaumur's                                           26
                  Schirach's                                          28
                  Swammerdam's                                        25
                  Wildman's                                           36
                  objections to Huber's theory                     _ib._
          impregnation retarded                                   37, 41
          intercourse with drones                          30, _et seq._
                  probable duration of fertilizing influence          31
          laying, commencement of                                     37
                  affected by temperature                          _ib._
          loss of, its consequences                                  144
          mode of depositing eggs                                      8
          mode of searching for when a stock has been suffocated     174
          mutilated, lose their instincts                            309
          prescience (supposed) of                                   118
          prisoners when very young                                   17
                  reason of this                                   _ib._
          virgin, when first seek the drones                          34
          voice of, authoritative                                    128
                  when imprisoned                                     19

  Reason, human, definition of                                       335
          insect, definition of                                    _ib._
                  presumptive evidence of                            322
          difference between human and insect                        335
          observations of Reid                                       356
                       of Evans                                    _ib._
  Regurgitating power of bees                                        229
  Reimar's opinion of memory                                         333
  Reproduction, organs of                                            275
                  ovaries                                            276
                  oviducts                                         _ib._
                  ovipositor                                         277
                  sperm-reservoir                                  _ib._
  Respiration, organs of                                             266
                  evidences of their existence                       267
                  stigmata, spiracles or breathing pores             266
                  tracheæ                                          _ib._
  Riem's discovery                                                     3

  Salt, of use to bees                                               186
  Schirach's discovery                                               20
  Scouts. _Vide_ Providers.
  Secretions of bees                                                 273
  Sensation of bees                                                  258
          medium of its communication                                259
          its seat                                                 _ib._
          bees have a common sensorium                             _ib._
                  evidences of it                                  _ib._
          protracted vitality                                      _ib._
          memory                                                     260
                  instances of                                     _ib._
                  Reimar's opinion of                                333
          susceptible of instruction                                 261
                  instances of                                     _ib._
          organs of                                                  258
                  antennæ                                            262
                  opinions of their offices                        _ib._
                          facts in support of them                   263
          palpi                                                    _ib._
                  uses ascribed to                                 _ib._
  Senses of bees                                                     302
          smell                                                    _ib._
                  instances of its acuteness              303, _et seq._
          touch                                                      307
                  analogy from ants                                  291
          taste                                                      309
          hearing                                                    310
                  evidences of                                     _ib._
          sight                                                      311
                  not very perfect                                 _ib._
          Dr. Virey's theory                                         316
  Sensorium                                                          259
  Separation of wax and honey                                        216
  Shed for bees                                                       99
  Sleep of bees                                                      295
  Source of bees-wax                                                 356
  Source and nature of bees-wax; pollen formerly
    supposed to be the prime constituent of it                       356
          striking difference between them                         _ib._
      wax proved to be a secretion from the body of the bee          362
      experiments and observations of Huber, Thorley,
        Duchet, Wildman, Hunter and Evans                 362, _et seq._
      regular division of labour                                     367
              hence wax-working and nursing-bees                   _ib._
      experiment to show the designation of pollen                 _ib._
      other sources of wax                                           368
  Sphinx Atropos. _Vide_ Hawk-moth.
  Spider, anecdotes of                                               261
      fertilization of                                                31
      Sir Joseph Banks's                                             332
  Stemmata                                                           315
      experiments of Swammerdam, Reaumur, &c.                        315
  Sting of working-bee                                               277
      fatal consequences attending its use                      278, 283
      not apt to be used when the bee is distant from home           289
      of queen-bee                                                   279
              her cautious use of it                                 286
      compared with sharp instruments                              _ib._
  Stinging, remedies for 284
      precautions against, when attacked                             285
  Storifying                                                         109
      will not always prevent swarming                               124
      compared with single-hiving                                    122
  Suffocating or sulphuring of bees                                  174
  Sugar an excellent substitute for honey                            360
  Super-hiving                                                  124, 151
  Swarming                                                           115
      causes of                                                    _ib._
      usual periods of                                               119
      best periods of                                              _ib._
      instance of very early                                       _ib._
      disadvantages of early and late                                120
      heat produced by                                           39, 273
      bees not apt to sting at this time                             138
          striking instance of this                                  139
          instance to the contrary                                 _ib._
      importance of queen at the time                                140
              experiments in proof of it                  141, _et seq._
  Swarms, number thrown off in a season                              115
      intervals betwixt successive                                   116
      hiving of                                                      136
      union of                                                       154
      causes of                                                      115
      period usual of                                                118
              best                                                   119
      early                                                        _ib._
      late                                                         _ib._
      led off by senior queen                                         31
      symptoms preceding                                             127
  Syrup for feeding bees                                             179

  Temperature of a well-stocked hive of bees                         274
          occasional ditto                                         _ib._
  Touch                                                              307
  Transportation of bees                                             159
          Isaac's success from                                     _ib._
          practised in Egypt, France, Italy and Greece           159-161

  Union of swarms or stocks                                          154
      Mr. Walond's method of                                         157
          methods practised by others                                154

  Ventilation                                                        268
      how accomplished                                             _ib._
  Vitality protracted                                                259

  Wax. _Vide_ Bees-wax.
      myrtle                                                         223
          its difference from bees-wax                               224
      pockets                                                        365
      working-bees                                                   366
  Wasps, formidable enemies of bees                                  199
      importance of destroying queens in spring                  45, 206
      fact respecting them noticed by Mr. Knight                     290
      extraordinary dearth of in 1806, 1815 and 1824                 186
  Wildman's feats                                                    155
  Wine-making, general principles of                                 240
      elements necessary to its formation                            240
      sweet                                                        _ib._
      dry                                                            241
      fining                                                         246
      stumming                                                     _ib._
  Wisdom as distinguished from Knowledge                             334
  Working-bees. _Vide_ Bees.


                                THE END.



  --------------------------
  Printed by Richard Taylor, Shoe-Lane, London.



                 *       *       *       *       *


Transcriber Note

Minor typographical errors were corrected. Hyphenation was standardized
to the most prevalent form used. The poetry authors were moved to a blank
line and right aligned.