forming swarms. He supposes, by producing young queens early in spring,
that early swarms might be procured, which would certainly be
advantageous in favourable circumstances. But unfortunately this is
impossible. Schirach believed that queens were impregnated of
themselves, consequently he thought that after being artificially
produced, they would lay and give birth to a numerous posterity. Now,
this is an error; the females, to become fertile, require the concourse
of the males, and if not impregnated within a few days of their origin,
their laying, as I have observed, is completely deranged. Thus, if a
swarm were artificially formed before the usual time of the males
originating, the bees would be discouraged by the sterility of the young
female. Or should they remain faithful to her, awaiting the period of
fecundation, as she could not for three or four weeks receive the
approaches of the male, she would lay eggs producing males only, and the
hive in this case would perish. Thus the natural order must not be
deranged, but we must delay the division of hives until males are about
to originate or actually exist.
Besides, if M. Schirach did succeed in obtaining artificial swarms,
notwithstanding the great inconvenience of his hives, it was owing to
his singular address and unremitting assiduity. He had some pupils in
the art; these communicated the method of forming artificial swarms to
others, and there are people now in Saxony who traverse the country
practising this operation. Those versant in the matter can alone venture
to undertake it with common hives, whereas, every cultivator can do it
himself with the leaf hives.
In this construction, another very great advantage will also be found.
Bees can be forced to work in wax. Here I am led to what I believe is a
new observation. While naturalists have directed our admiration to the
parallel position of the combs, they have overlooked another trait in
the industry of bees, namely, the equal distance uniformly between them.
On measuring the interval separating the combs, it will generally be
found four lines. Were they too distant, it is very evident the bees
would be much dispersed and unable to communicate their heat
reciprocally; whence the brood would not be exposed to sufficient
warmth. Were the combs too close, on the contrary, the bees could not
freely traverse the intervals, and the work of the hive would suffer.
Therefore, a certain distance always uniform is requisite, which
corresponds equally well with the service of the hive, and the care
necessary for the worms. Nature, which has taught bees so much, has
instructed them regularly to preserve this distance. At the approach of
winter, they sometimes elongate the cells which are to contain the
honey, and thus contract the intervals between the combs. But this
operation is a preparation for a season, when it is important to have
plentiful magazines, and when their activity being very much relaxed, it
is unnecessary for their communications to be so spacious and free. On
the return of spring, the bees hasten to contract these elongated cells,
that they may become fit for receiving the eggs which the queen will
lay, and thus re-establish the just distance which nature has ordained.
This being admitted, bees may be forced to work in wax, or, which is the
same thing, to construct new combs. To accomplish the object, it is only
necessary to separate those already built so far asunder that they may
build others in the interval. Suppose an artificial swarm is lodged in a
leaf hive, composed of six divisions, each containing a comb, if the
young queen is as fertile as she ought to be, the bees will be very
active in their labours, and disposed to make great collections of wax.
To induce them towards this an empty box or division must be placed
between two others, each containing a comb. As all the boxes are of
equal dimensions, and of the necessary width for receiving a comb, the
bees having sufficient space for constructing a new one in the empty
division introduced into the hive, will not fail to build it, because
they are under the necessity of never having more than four lines
between them. Without any guide, this new comb will be parallel to the
old ones, to preserve that law which establishes an equal distance
throughout the whole.
If the hive is strong and the weather good, three empty divisions may at
first be left between the old combs; one between the first and second,
another between the third and fourth, and the last between the fifth and
sixth. The bees will fill them in seven or eight days, and the hive then
contains nine combs. Should the temperature of the weather continue
favourable, three new leaves or divisions may be introduced;
consequently in fifteen days or three weeks, the bees will have been
forced to construct six new combs. The experiment may be extended
farther in warm climates, and where flowers perpetually blow. But in our
country, I have reason to think that the labour should not be forced
more during the first year.
From these details, you are sensible, Sir, how preferable _leaf hives_
are to those of any other construction, and even to those ingenious
stages described by _M. Palteau_, for the bees cannot by means of them
be forced to labour more in wax than they would do if left to
themselves; whereas, they are obliged to do it by inserting empty
divisions. Next, the combs constructed on those stages cannot be removed
without destroying considerable portions of brood, deranging the bees,
and creating real disorder in the hive.
Mine have also this advantage, that what passes within may daily be
observed, and we may judge of the most favourable moments for depriving
the bees of part of their stores. With all the combs before us we can
distinguish those containing brood only, and what it is proper to
preserve. The scarcity or abundance of provisions is visible, and the
portion suitable may be taken away.
I should protract this letter too much, if I gave an account of all my
observations on the time proper for inspecting hives, on the rules to be
followed in the different seasons, and the proportion to be observed in
dividing their riches with them. The subject would require a separate
work; and I may perhaps one day engage in it; but until that arrives I
shall always feel gratification in communicating to cultivators, who
wish to follow my method, directions of which long practice has
demonstrated the utility.
Here I shall only observe, that we hazard absolute ruin of the hives,
by robbing them of too great a proportion of honey and wax. In my
opinion, the art of cultivating these animals consists in moderately
exercising the privilege of sharing their labours; but as a compensation
for this, every method must be employed which promotes the
multiplication of bees. Thus, for example, if we desire to procure a
certain quantity of honey and wax annually, it will be better to seek it
in a number of hives, managed with discretion, than to plunder a few of
a great proportion of their treasures.
It is indubitable that the multiplication of these industrious animals
is much injured by privation of several combs, in a season unfavourable
to the collection of wax, because the time consumed in replacing them is
taken from that which should be consecrated to the care of the eggs and
worms, and by this means the brood suffers. Besides, they must always
have a sufficient provision of honey left for winter, for although less
is consumed during this season, they do consume some; because they are
not torpid, as some authors have conceived.{N} Therefore if they have
not enough, they must be supplied with it, which requires great
exactness. I admit that in determining to what extent hives may be
multiplied in a particular country, it is necessary first to know how
many the country can support, which is a problem yet unsolved. It also
depends on another, the solution of which is as little known, namely the
greatest distance that bees fly in collecting their provender. Different
authors maintain, they can fly several leagues from the hive. But by the
few observations I have been able to make, this distance seems greatly
exaggerated. It appears to me that the radius of the circle they
traverse does not exceed half a league. As they return to the hive with
the greatest precipitation whenever a cloud passes before the sun, it is
probable they do not fly far. Nature which has inspired them with such
terror for a storm, and even for rain, undoubtedly restrains them from
going so far as to be too much exposed to the injuries of the weather. I
have endeavoured to ascertain the fact more positively, by transporting
to various distances bees with the thorax painted, that they might again
be recognised. But none ever returned that I had carried for twenty-five
or thirty minutes from their dwelling, while those at a shorter distance
have found their way and returned. I do not state this experiment as
decisive. Though bees do not generally fly above half a league, it is
very possible they go much farther, when flowers are scarce in their own
vicinity. A conclusive experiment must be made in vast arid or sandy
plains, separated by a known distance from a fertile region.
Thus, the question yet remains undecided. But without ascertaining the
number of hives that any district can maintain, I shall remark that
certain vegetable productions are much more favourable to bees than
others. More hives, for example, may be kept in a country abounding
meadows, and where black grain is cultivated, than in a district of
vineyards or corn.
* * * * *
Here I terminate my observations on bees. Though I have had the good
fortune to make some interesting discoveries, I am far from considering
my labour finished. Several problems concerning the history of these
animals still remain unsolved. The experiments I project may perhaps
throw some light on them; and I shall be animated with much greater
hopes of success, if you, Sir, will continue your counsels and
direction. I am, with every sentiment of gratitude and respect,
FRANCIS HUBER.
_PREGNY, 1. October 1791._
FOOTNOTES:
{N} So far from being torpid in winter, when the thermometer in the open
air is several degrees below freezing, it stands at (86) and (88°), in
hives sufficiently populous. The bees then cluster together, and move to
preserve their heat.
Now that I am on the subject of thermometrical observations, I may
cursorily remark, that M. Dubois of Bourg en Bresse, in a memoir
otherwise valuable, is of opinion, that the larvæ cannot be hatched
below (104). I have repeatedly made the experiment with the most
accurate thermometers, and obtained a very different result. When the
thermometer rises to (104°), the heat is so much greater than the eggs
require, that it is intolerable to the bees. M. Dubois has been
deceived, I imagine, by too suddenly introducing his thermometer into a
cluster of bees, and putting them in agitation, the mercury has rose
higher than it should naturally do. Had he delayed introducing the
thermometer, he would soon have seen it fall to between 95 and 97, which
is the usual temperature of hives in summer. In August this year, when
the thermometer in the open air stood at 94, it did not rise above 99 in
the most populous hives. The bees had little motion, and a great many
rested on the board of the hive.
APPENDIX.
[The following passages are chiefly engrossed in the substance of the
work, but the Translator, as has already been observed, for various
reasons, judges it expedient to transfer them to an appendix. In his
opinion these very minute details rather interrupt the connexion of the
narrative, however interesting they may be considered, and they pertain
more to researches purely anatomical.
The Translator has likewise in some instances incorporated several long
and important notes with the text; because it appears to him that they
actually belong to the substance of the treatise. These are the only
variations from the original with respect to arrangement.]
* * * * *
Swammerdam has given an imperfect description of the ovary of the queen.
He observes that he has never been able to find the termination of the
oviducts in the abdomen, nor any other parts excepting those which he
has described. "Notwithstanding all my exertions, I never could discover
the site of the vulva, partly because I had not all my apparatus with me
in the country, when investigating this subject, and partly from my
apprehension of injuring other parts by pressure, which I had then
occasion to examine. However, I have clearly observed a muscular
swelling of the oviduct, where approaching the last ring of the belly;
that it then contracts and afterwards dilates in becoming membranaceous.
As I was desirous of preserving the poison bag, which is situated
exactly here, along with, the muscles aiding the motion of the sting, I
could follow the oviduct no farther. However, in another female, it
appeared that the vulva is in the last ring of the abdomen, and under
the sting. The parts expanding only while the queen lays, renders it
extremely difficult to penetrate the aperture."
We have attempted to discover what has escaped the indefatigable
Swammerdam. But his observation that the research can be made to the
greatest advantage, at the time of laying, has paved the way to us. We
have remarked that the oviduct did not issue from the body, but that the
eggs fall into a kind of cavity, where they are retained several seconds
before being laid.
On the sixth of August, we took a very fertile queen, and holding her
gently by the wings in a supine position, the whole belly was exposed.
She seized the extremity with her second pair of legs, and curved it as
much as possible. This seeming an unfavourable position for laying, we
forced her to stretch it out. The queen, oppressed with the necessity of
laying, could no longer retain her eggs. The lower part of the last ring
then separated so far from the upper part as to leave some of the inside
discovered. In this cavity the sting lay above in its sheath. As the
queen now made new efforts, we saw an egg fall into the cavity from the
end of the oviduct. The lips then closed for several seconds; they
opened again, and, in a much shorter time, dropped the egg from the
cavity.
From our own observations we found that the seminal fluid of drones
coagulated on exposure to the air, and from several experiments had so
little doubt on the subject, that whenever the female returned with the
external marks of fecundation, we thought we recognised it in the
whitish substance filling the sexual organs. It did not then occur to us
to dissect the females to ascertain the fact more particularly: but this
year, whether designing to neglect nothing, or to examine the distension
of the female organs, we determined to dissect several. To our infinite
surprise, what we had supposed the residue of the prolific fluid,
actually proved the genital organs of the male, which separate from his
body during copulation, and remain in the female.
We procured a number of queens according to Schirach's method for the
purpose of dissection, and set them at liberty that they might seek the
males. The first which did so, was seized the instant she returned, and
without dissection spontaneously exhibited what we were so impatient to
behold. Examining the under part of the belly, we saw the oval end of a
white substance which distended the sexual organs. The belly was in
constant motion, by alternate extension and contraction. Already had we
prepared to sever the rings, and by dissection to ascertain the cause of
these motions; when the queen curving her belly very much, and
endeavouring to reach its extremity with her hind legs, seized the
distending substance with her claws, and evidently made an effort to
extract it. She at last succeeded, and it fell before us. We expected a
shapeless mass of coagulated fluid; what therefore was our surprise to
find it part of the same male that had rendered this queen a mother. At
first we could not credit our eyes; but after examining it in every
position, both with the naked eye, and a powerful magnifier, we
distinctly recognised it to be that part which M. de Reaumur calls the
_lenticular_ body, or the _lentil_, in the following description.{O}
'Opening a drone there appears a portion formed by the assemblage of
several parts, often whiter than milk. This on investigation is
found to be principally composed of four oblong pieces. The two
largest are attached to a kind of twisted cord, fig. 4. r, called by
Swammerdam the root of the penis; and he has denominated seminal
vessels, s. s. two long bodies that we are about to consider. Other
two bodies oblong like the preceding, but shorter and not half the
diameter, he calls the _vasa deferentia_, d. d. Each communicates
with one of the seminal vessels near, g. g. where they unite to the
twisted cord, r. From the other extremity proceeds a very delicate
vessel, which, after several involutions, terminates in a body, t. a
little larger, but difficult to disengage from the surrounding
tracheæ. Swammerdam considers these two bodies, t. t. the testicles.
Thus there are two parts of considerable size, communicating with
other two still thicker and longer. These four bodies are of a
cellular texture, and full of a milky fluid, which may be squeezed
out. This long twisted cord, r, to which the largest of the seminal
vessels is connected, this cord, I say, is doubtless the channel by
which the milky fluid issues. After several plications, it
terminates in a kind of bladder or fleshy sac, i. i. In different
males this part is of various length and flatness. By calling it the
_lenticular_ body, or the lentil, it receives a name descriptive of
the figure it presents in all males whose internal parts have
acquired consistency in spirit of wine. The body, l. i. is therefore
a lentil, a little thickened, of which one half, or nearly so, of
the circumference is edged along the outline by two chesnut coloured
scaly plates, e. i. A small white cord, the real edge of the lentil,
is visible, and separates them. This lentil is a little oblong, and,
for convenience, we shall ascribe two extremities to it, the
anterior and posterior. The anterior, l, next the head, is where the
canal, r, dividing the seminal vessels is inserted, and the opposite
part; i. next the anus, the posterior. The two scaly plates, e. i.
e. i, proceed from the vicinity of this last part, whence each
enlarges to cover part of the lentil. Under the broadest part of
each plate, there is a division formed by two soft points of unequal
length; the largest of which is on the circumference of the lentil.
Besides these two scaly plates, there are two others, n. n. of the
same colour, narrower, and fully one half shorter, each of which is
situated very near the preceding, and originates close to the origin
of that it accompanies, namely, at the posterior part of the lentil.
The rest of the lentil is white and membranaceous. From behind
proceeds a tube, k. a canal also white and membranaceous, but it is
difficult to judge of its diameter, for the membranes, of which it
consists, are evidently in folds. To one side of this pipe is
attached a fleshy part, p. somewhat pallet shaped, one side is
concave, and the edges plaited; the other side is convex. In certain
places the plaits rise and project from the rest of the outline, and
form a kind of rays; the pallet appears prettily figured. Though
lying with the concave side applied to the lentil, it is not fixed
to it. Swammerdam seems to consider this pallet as the
characteristic part of the male.
'Though the parts we have described are the most conspicuous in the
male, they are neither those which protrude first, nor when
protruded are the most remarkable. On viewing from the opposite edge
of the lentil, forming the division of the two great scaly plates, a
sac or canal, k. proceeding from the posterior part of the lentil,
there is distinctly visible the body u, which we call the arc; where
there are five transverse hairy bands of a yellow colour, while the
rest is white. This arc seems out of the membranaceous canal because
it is covered only by a very transparent membrane. One end almost
reaches the lenticular body, and the other terminates where the
membranaceous canal joins the folded yellow membranes, m. which form
a species of sac, that is applied to the sides of the aperture,
adapted for the genital organs passing through. These reddish
membranes are those that appear first on pressure, and form this
elongated portion, at whose end is a kind of hairy mask. Finally,
with the sac formed by the reddish membranes, there are connected
two appendages, c. c. of reddish yellow, and red at the end, s.
These are what appear externally like horns.{P}'
The lenticular substance, l. i. provided with each scaly lamina, are the
only parts of those described by M. de Reaumur, that we have found
engaged in the organs of our queens. The canal, r, by Swammerdam
denominated the root of the penis, breaks in copulation; and we have
seen its fragments at the place where it unites to the end of the
lentil, l. towards the anterior extremity; but we have found no traces
of the canal, k, formed of involuted membranes, which in the body of the
male proceeds from the posterior end of the lentil, l. i. nor of the
plaited pallet, p. adhering to this canal, called by Swammerdam the
penis from its resemblance to that of other animals, though he is not of
opinion that this point, which is not perforated, can perform the
functions of a real penis, and hold the principal part in generation.
The canal, k, therefore, and all appertaining to it, must break at i,
quite close to the posterior part of the lentil, since we found no
remains of the lenticular bodies left by the fecundating males, in the
body of our females. The canal, r, which Swammerdam calls the root of
the penis, with greater reason than he was himself aware, is not
extended in the body of the male as represented by the figure here
engraved, but this long twilled canal consists of several involutions,
from the seminal vessels whence it proceeds, into the lenticular body
where it terminates, and where it conveys the fluid. This canal
therefore can extend during copulation, and allow the lenticular
substance to protrude out of the body of the males.
It is evident this may be the case during copulation as is seen on
opening a drone, for, by endeavouring to displace the lenticular body,
the involutions of the cord disappear, and it extends much more than
necessary for the lentil to protrude from the body; and if we attempt
to separate it farther, the canal breaks at l. close to the lentil, and
at the same place where it breaks in copulation.
By dissection two nerves are discovered, towards the origin of the
canal, r. inserted into the seminal vessels and distribute in them, and
towards the root of the penis many ramifications undoubtedly serving for
the motion of these parts. Two small parts, perceptible near the nerves,
are two ligaments for retaining the generative organs in their proper
place, so that except the root of the penis, they cannot be drawn out
without some exertion; it and the lenticular body however can protrude,
and actually do so during copulation. A certain degree of pressure
forces all these parts from the body of the male, but they spontaneously
return, and appear reversed.
Swammerdam, and after him M. de Reaumur have admired this mechanism;
they have thought, indeed, that the return should be occasioned by the
effect of the air inflating the parts, and they supposed that the male
organs proceeded from the body, and returned during copulation, the same
as when forced out by pressure. Following their example, we have pressed
them from the body of many males; we have a thousand times witnessed
this wonderful return, which they detail with the greatest precision;
but our males never survived the operation. We have seen, as M. de
Reaumur, a few males protrude them spontaneously, even some of the parts
inverted, but at that moment they died, and were unable to retract the
parts which a pressure, most likely accidental, had forced out. Thus it
is improbable that the male organs protrude by turning out of themselves
in copulation; and the details which follow prove incontestibly, that it
is otherwise. Had not Swammerdam been prejudiced with this opinion, he
would have seen that the lenticular body can proceed from the body in
erection without reversing itself; he could have proportioned the
tortuous canal, which he calls the root of the penis; he would have seen
that, at certain times, it can be sufficiently extended to allows the
lenticular substance to protrude; he would have discovered the real use
of the scaly plates; he would have explained that of the canal k, of the
plaited pallet q, and the movements of all these parts, more admirable
perhaps than the inversion which he was the first to observe.