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.

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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.