is from the middle of May to the middle of June; but swarms sometimes
occur so early as the beginning of April, and as late as the middle
of August[188]. The first swarm, as I before observed, is led by the
reigning queen, and takes place when she is so much reduced in size,
in consequence of the number of eggs she has laid, (for previously to
oviposition her gravid body is so heavy that she can scarcely drag
it along,) as to enable her to fly with ease. The most indubitable
sign that a hive is preparing to swarm,--so says Reaumur,--is when
on a sunny morning, the weather being favourable to their labours,
few bees go out of a hive, from which on the preceding day they
had issued in great numbers, and little pollen is collected. This
circumstance, he observes, must be very embarrassing to one who
attempts to explain all their proceedings upon principles purely
mechanical. Does it not prove, he asks, that all the inhabitants of
a hive, or almost all, are aware of a project that will not be put
in execution before noon, or some hours later? For why should bees,
who worked the day before with so much activity, cease their labours
in a habitation which they are to quit at noon, were they not aware
that they should soon abandon it[189]? The appearance of the males,
and the clustering of the population at the mouth of the hive,
(though this last is less to be relied upon, being often occasioned
by extreme heat,) are also indications of the approach of this event.
A good deal depends, however, on the warmth of the atmosphere and
the state of the weather either to accelerate or retard it. Another
sign is a general hum in the evening, which is continued even during
the night,--all seems to be in a bustle, the greatest restlessness
agitates the bees. Sometimes to hear this hum the ear must be placed
close to the hive, when clear and sharp sounds may be distinguished,
which appear to be produced by the vibration of the wings of a single
bee. This hum by some has been gravely construed into an harangue of
the queen to animate her subjects to the great undertaking which she
now meditates--the founding of a new empire. There sometimes seem to
happen suddenly amongst them, says Reaumur, events which put all the
bees in motion, for which no account can be given. If you observe a
hive with attention, you may often remain a long time and hear only
a slight murmur, and then, all in a moment, a sonorous hum will be
excited, and the workers, as if seized with a panic terror, may be
seen quitting their various labours, and running off in different
directions. At these moments if a young queen goes out, she will be
followed by a numerous troop.
Huber has given a very lively and interesting account of the interior
proceedings of the hive on this occasion. The queen, as soon as she
began to exhibit signs of agitation, no longer laid her eggs with
order as before, but irregularly, as if she did not know what she was
about. She ran over the bees in her way; they in their turn struck
her with their antennæ, and mounted upon her back; none offered her
honey, but she helped herself to it from the cells in her path. The
usual homage of a court attending round her was no longer paid. Those
however that were excited by her motions followed her, rousing such
as were still tranquil upon the combs. She soon had traversed the
whole hive, when the agitation became general. The workers, now no
longer attentive to the young brood, ran about in all directions;
even those that returned from foraging, before the agitation was at
its height, no sooner entered the hive than they participated in
these tumultuous movements, and, neglecting to free themselves from
the masses of pollen on their hind legs, ran wildly about. At length
there was a general rush to the outlets of the hive, which the queen
accompanied, and the swarm took place[190].
It is to be observed that this agitation, excited by the queen,
increases the customary heat of the hive to a very high temperature,
which the action of the sun augments till it becomes intolerable, and
which often causes the bees accumulated near the mouth of the hive to
perspire so copiously, that those near the bottom, who support the
weight of the rest, appear drenched with the moisture. This intolerable
heat determines the most irresolute to leave the hive. Immediately
before the swarming, a louder hum than usual is heard, many bees take
flight, and, if the queen be at their head, or soon follows them,
in a moment the rest rise in crowds after her into the air, and the
element is filled with bees as thick as the falling snow. The queen at
first does not alight upon the branch on which the swarm fixes; but
as soon as a group is formed and clustered, she joins it: after this
it thickens more and more, all the bees that are in the air hastening
to their companions and their queen, so as to form a living mass of
animals supporting themselves upon each by the claws of their feet.
Thus they sometimes are so concatenated, each bee suspending its legs
to those of another, as to form living chaplets[191]. After this they
soon become tranquil, and none are seen in the air. Before they are
housed they often begin to construct a little comb on the branch on
which they alight[192]. Sometimes it happens that two queens go out
with the same swarm; and the result is, that the swarm at first divides
into two bodies, one under each leader; but as one of these groups
is generally much less numerous than the other, the smallest at last
joins the largest, accompanied by the queen to whom they had attached
themselves; and, when they are hived, this unfortunate candidate for
empire falls sooner or later a victim to the jealousy of her rival.
Till this great question is decided, the bees do not settle to their
usual labours.[192] If no queen goes out with a swarm, they return to
the hive from whence they came.
As in regular monarchies, so in this of the bees, the first-born is
probably the fortunate candidate for the throne. She is usually the
most active and vigorous; the most able to take flight; and in the
best condition to lay eggs. Though the queen that is victorious, and
mounts the throne, is not, as Virgil asserts, resplendent with gold
and purple, and her rival hideous, slothful and unwieldy[193], yet
some differences are observable; the successful candidate is usually
redder and larger than the others; these last, upon dissection,
appear to have no eggs ready for laying, while the former, which is a
powerful recommendation, is usually full of them. Eggs are commonly
found in the cells twenty-four hours after swarming, or at the latest
two or three days.
You may think, perhaps, that the bees which emigrate from the parent
hive are the youth of the colony; but this is not the case, for
bees of all ages unite to form the swarms. The numbers of which
they consist vary much. Reaumur calls 12,000 a moderate swarm; and
he mentions one which amounted to more than three times that number
(40,000). A swarm seldom or never takes place except when the sun
shines and the air is calm. Sometimes, when every thing seems to
prognosticate swarming, a cloud passing over the sun calms the
agitation; and afterwards, upon his shining forth again, the tumult
is renewed, keeps augmenting, and the swarm departs[194]. On this
account the confinement of the queens, before related, is observed to
be more protracted in bad weather.
The longest interval between the swarms is from seven to nine days,
which usually is the space that intervenes between the first and the
second. The next flies sooner, and the last sometimes departs the day
after that which preceded it. Fifteen or eighteen days, in favourable
weather, are usually sufficient for throwing the four swarms. The old
queen, when she takes flight with the first swarm, leaves plenty of
brood in the cells, which soon renew the population[195].
It is not without example, though it rarely happens, that a swarm
conducted by the old queen increases so much in the space of three
weeks as to send forth a new colony. Being already impregnated,
she is in a condition to oviposit as soon as there are cells ready
to receive her eggs: and an all-wise Providence has so ordered it,
that at this time she lays only such as produce workers. And it is
the first employment of her subjects to construct cells for this
purpose[196]. The young queens that conduct the secondary swarms
usually pair the day after they are settled in their new abode; when
the indifference with which their subjects have hitherto treated them
is exchanged for the usual respect and homage.
We may suppose that one motive with the bees for following the old
queen, is their respect for her; but the reasons that induce them to
follow the virgin queens, to whom they not only appear to manifest no
attachment, but rather the reverse, seem less easy to be assigned.
Probably the high temperature of the hive during these times of
tumultuous agitation may be the principal cause that operates upon
them. In a populous hive the thermometer commonly stands between 92°
and 97°; but during the tumult that precedes swarming it rises above
104°, a heat intolerable to these animals[197]. This is M. Huber's
opinion. Yet still, though a high temperature will well account for
the departure of the swarm from the hive with a virgin queen, if
there were really no attachment, (as he appears to think,) is it not
extraordinary, that when this cause no longer operates upon them,
they should agglomerate about her, as they always do, be unsettled
and agitated without her, and quiet when she is with them? Is it not
reasonable to suppose that the instinct which teaches them what
is necessary for the preservation of their society,--at the same
time that it shows them that without a queen that society cannot be
preserved,--impells them in every case to the mode of treating her
which will most effectually influence her conduct, and give it that
direction which is most beneficial to the community?
Yet, with respect to the treatment of queens, instinct does not
invariably direct the bees to this end. There are certain exceptions,
produced perhaps by artificial or casual occurrences, in which it
seems to deviate, yet as we should call it amiably, from the rule of
the public advantage. Retarded queens, which, as I have observed,
lay male eggs only, deposit them in all cells indifferently, even in
royal ones. These last are treated by the workers as if they were
actually to become queens. Here their instinct seems defective:--it
appears unaccountable that they should know these eggs, as they do,
when deposited in workers cells, and give them a convex covering when
about to assume the pupa; unless, perhaps, the size of the larva
directs them in this case.
The amputation of one of the antennæ of a queen bee appears not to
affect her perceptibly; but cutting off both these important organs
produces a very striking derangement of all her proceedings--She seems
in a species of delirium, and deprived of all her instincts; every
thing is done at random; yet the respect and homage of the workers
towards her, though they are received by her with indifference,
continue undiminished. If another in the same condition be put in the
hive, the bees do not appear to discover the difference, and treat
them both alike: but if a perfect one be introduced, even though
fertile, they seize her, keep her in confinement, and treat her very
unhandsomely. One may conjecture from this circumstance, that it is
by those wonderful organs, the antennæ, that the bees know their own
queen. If two mutilated queens meet, they show not the slightest
symptom of resentment. While one of these continues in the hive, the
workers never think of choosing another; but if she leaves it, they do
not accompany her, probably because the heat is not increased by her
putting them into the preparatory agitation[198].
I am, &c.
FOOTNOTES:
[125] _Apis_ **. e. l. K. Dr. Bevan has lately published a very
interesting work on the _Honey Bee_, which the reader will do well to
consult.
[126] VOL. I. 481.
[127] Judges xiv. 8, 9.
[128] See Aristot. _Hist. Animal._ l. v. c. 22. Virgil. _Georgic._ l.
iv.; and Mouffet, 12--.
[129] Aristot. _ubi supr._ c. 21. _De Generat. Animal._ l. iii. c.
10, where there is some curious reasoning upon this subject.
[130] Bonnet, x. 199-- 236--.
[131] _Hist. Animal._ l. v. c. 22.
[132] _De Generat. Animal._ l. iii. c. 10.
[133] _Œuvr._ x. 194--.
[134] Bonnet, x. P. Huber in _Linn. Trans._ vi. 283. Reaumur (v.
373) observes that some queens are much larger than others; but he
attributes this difference of their size to the state of the eggs in
their body.
[135] As every reader is not aware of the differences of form, &c. that
distinguish the females, males, and workers from each other (I have
seen the male mistaken for a distinct species, and placed in a cabinet
as _Apis lagopoda_, L.), I shall here subjoin a description of each.--
i. The _body_ of the _Female_ bee is considerably longer than that of
either the drone or the worker. The prevailing colour in all three is
the same, black or black-brown; but with respect to the female this
does not appear to be invariably the case; for--not to insist upon
Virgil's royal bees glittering with ruddy or golden spots and scales,
where allowance must be made for poetic licence--Reaumur affirms,
after describing some differences of colour in different individuals
of this sex, that a queen may always be distinguished, both from
the workers and males, by the colour of her body[136]. If this
observation be restricted to the colour of some parts of her body,
it is correct; but it will not apply to all generally (unless, as I
suspect may be the case, by the term body he means the abdomen), for,
in all that I have had an opportunity of examining, the prevailing
colour, as I have stated it, is the same.
The _head_ is not larger than that of the workers; but the _tongue_
is shorter and more slender, with straighter _maxillæ_. The
_mandibles_ are forficate, and do not jut out like theirs into a
prominent angle; they are of the colour of pitch with a red tinge,
and terminate in two teeth, the exterior being acute, and the
interior blunt or truncated. The _labrum_ or upper-lip is fulvous;
and the _antennæ_ are piceous.
In the _trunk_, the _tegulæ_ or scales that defend the base of the
wings are rufo-piceous. The _wings_ reach only to the tip of the
third abdominal segment. The _tarsi_ and the apex of the _tibiæ_ are
rufo-fulvous. The posterior _tibiæ_ are plane above and covered with
short adpressed hairs, having neither the _corbicula_ (or marginal
fringe of hairs for carrying the masses of pollen) nor the _pecten_;
and the posterior _plantæ_ have neither the brush formed of hairs set
in striæ, nor the auricle at the base.
The _abdomen_ is considerably longer than the head and trunk taken
together, receding from the trunk, elongato-conical, and rather sharp
at the anus. The _dorsal_ segments are fulvous at the tip; covered
with very short, pallid, and, in certain lights, shining adpressed
hairs; the first segment being very short, and covered with longer
hairs. The ventral segments, except the _anal_, which is black, are
fulvescent or rufo-fulvous, and covered with soft longer hairs. The
_vagina_ of the _spicula_ (commonly called the sting) is curved.
ii. The _Male_ bee, or drone, is quite the reverse of his royal
paramour; his body being thick, short, and clumsy, and very obtuse
at each extremity[137]. It is covered also, as to the _head_ and
_trunk_, with dense hairs.
The _head_ is depressed and orbicular. The _tongue_ is shorter and
more slender than that of the female; and the _mandibles_, though
nearly of the same shape, are smaller. The _eyes_ are very large,
meeting at the back part of the head. In the space between them are
placed the _antennæ_ and _stemmata_. The former consist of fourteen
joints, including the _radicle_, the fourth and fifth being very
short and not easily distinguished.
The _trunk_ is large. The _wings_ are longer than the body. The
_legs_ are short and slender. The _posterior tibiæ_ are long,
club-shaped, and covered with inconspicuous hairs. The _posterior
plantæ_ are furnished underneath with thick-set _scopulæ_, which they
use to brush their bodies.
The _claw-joints_ are fulvescent.
The _abdomen_ is cordate, very short, being scarcely so long as the
head and trunk together, consisting of seven segments, which are
fulvous at their apex. The first segment is longer than any of the
succeeding ones, and covered above with rather long hairs. The second
and third dorsal segments are apparently naked; but under a triple
lens, in a certain light, some adpressed hairs may be perceived;--the
remaining ones are hairy, the three last being inflexed. The ventral
segments are very narrow, hairy, and fulvous.
iii. The _body_ of the _Workers_ is oblong.
The _head_ triangular. The _mandibles_ are prominent, so as to
terminate the head in an angle, toothless and forcipate. The _tongue_
and _maxillæ_ are long and incurved: the _labrum_ and _antennæ_ black.
In the _trunk_ the _tegulæ_ are black. The _wings_ extend only to
the apex of the fourth segment of the abdomen. The _legs_ are all
black, with the _digits_ only rather piceous. The posterior _tibiæ_
are naked above, exteriorly longitudinally concave, and interiorly
longitudinally convex; furnished with lateral and recumbent hairs
to form the _corbicula_, and armed at the end with the _pecten_.
The upper surface of the _posterior plantæ_ resembles that of the
_tibiæ_; underneath they are furnished with a _scopula_ or brush
of stiff hairs set in rows: at the base they are armed with stiff
bristles, and exteriorly with an acute appendage or _auricle_.
The _abdomen_ is a little longer than the head and trunk together;
oblong, and rather heart-shaped--a transverse section of it is
triangular. It is covered with longish flavo-pallid hairs: the
first segment is short with longer hairs; the base of the three
intermediate segments is covered, and as it were banded, with pale
hairs. The apex of the three intermediate ventral segments is rather
fulvescent, and their base is distinguished on each side by a
trapeziform _wax-pocket_ covered by a thin membrane. The sting, or
rather _vagina_ of the _spicula_, is straight.
[136] Reaumur, v. 375.
[137] Virgil seems to have regarded the drone as one of the sorts of
kings or leaders of the bees, when he says, speaking of the latter,
"... Ille horridus alter
Desidiâ, latamque trahens inglorius alvum."
_Georgic_, iv. l. 93.
[138] See VOL. I. p. 486.
[139] In hives where a queen laying male eggs has been killed, the
workers continue to make only male cells, though supplied with a
fertile queen, and the fertile workers lay eggs in them. _Schirach_,
258.
[140] Huber, ii. 425--.
[141] Thorley, _On Bees_, 179.
[142] Huber, i. 137.
[143] Reaumur, who was however unacquainted with this extraordinary
fact, has figured one of these cells, v. _t._ 32. _f._ 3. _h._
[144] Compare Bonnet, x. 156, with Huber, i. 134--.
[145] Schirach, 69.
[146] Huber, _t._ 4. _f._ 4-6.
[147] Huber, i. 292.
[148] Bonnet, x.
[149] Huber, i. 132.
[150] Schirach, 121.
[151] Huber, ii. 453.
[152] Bonner _On Bees_, 56.
[153] The same gentleman subsequently sent me the following memoranda.
July 10, 1820. A late second swarm was hived into a box constructed
so that each comb could be taken out and examined separately. On the
7th of August the queen was removed, and each comb taken out and
closely examined: there was not the least appearance of any royal
cells, but much brood and eggs in the common ones. On the 14th,
three royal cells were observed nearly finished, with a large grub
in each. On the 16th, the three cells were sealed. On the 18th and
21st, they remained in the same state. On the 22d, two queens were
found hatched, one was removed and the other left with the stock, the
remaining royal cell being still closed. On the morning of the 23d, a
dead queen was thrown out of the hive, upon which examination being
made, the royal cell left closed on the 22d was found open, and a
living queen in the stock which was allowed to remain.
[154] Huber, ii. 445.
[155] See J. Hunter's _Treatise on certain Parts of the Animal
Œconomy_.
[156] _Philos. Trans._ 1792. viii. 167. Hunter _Treatise on certain
Parts of the Animal Œconomy_, p. 65. Latham, _Synops._ ii. 672. _t._ 60.
[157] Reaum. v. 271--.
[158] Huber, i. 215--. Schirach asserts, that in cold weather the
disclosure of the imago takes place two days later than in warm: and
Riem, that in a bad season the eggs will remain in the cells many
months without hatching. Schirach, 79. 241.
[159] Schirach, _t._ 3. _f._ 10.
[160] Huber, i. 224.
[161] Ουκ αγαθη ἡ πολυκοιρανιη, είς κοιρανος εςω.
[162] Schirach, 209, note *. Huber, i. 170--.
[163] Huber, i. 171--.
[164] Huber, i. 174.
[165] Huber, i. 186.
[166] Reaum. v. 268.
[167] Huber, i. 190.
[168] Huber, i. 256.
[169] Huber, i. 286.
[170] See above, p. 56.
[171] Huber, ii. 396--.
[172] Reaum. v. 262.
[173] Reaum. v. Pref. xv.
[174] Huber, i. 269.
[175] Huber, i. 322.
[176] Reaum. v. 265.
[177] VOL. I. 376--.
[178] Huber, i. 63--.
[179] Schirach, 257.
[180] Huber, i. 319--.
[181] This conjecture receives strong confirmation from the following
observations of Sir E. Home, which I met with since it came into my
mind. From the nipples present in man, which sometimes even afford
milk, and from the general analogy between the male and female organs
of generation, he supposes the germ is originally fitted to become
either sex; and that which it shall be is determined at the time of
impregnation by some unknown cause. _Philos. Trans._ 1799. 157.
[182] i. 106--.
[183] Schirach, 7. 13.
[184] Ibid. 13. Thorley, 105.
[185] Bonnet, x. 258, 8vo. ed.
[186] Huber, i. 122--.
[187] See above, p. 57.
[188] Keys _On Bees_, 76.
[189] Reaum. v. 611.
[190] Huber, i. 251.
[191] Some critics have found fault with Mr. Southey for ascribing,
in his _Curse of Kehama_, to Camdeo, the Cupid of Indian mythology,
a bow strung with bees. The idea is not so absurd as they imagine;
and the poet doubtless was led to it by his knowledge of the natural
history of these animals, and that they form themselves into strings
or chaplets.--See Reaum. v. _t._ xxii. _f._ 3.
[192] Reaumur, 615-644.
[193]
"Alter erit maculis auro squalentibus ardens,
(Nam duo sunt genera) hic melior, insignis et ore,
Et rutilis clarus squamis: ille horridus alter
Desidiâ, latamque trahens inglorius alvum."
_Georg._ iv. 91--.
[194] Bees are generally thought to foresee the state of the weather:
but they are not always right in their prognostics; for Reaumur
witnessed a swarm, which after leaving the hive at half-past one
o'clock were overtaken by a very heavy shower at three.
[195] Huber, i. 271.
[196] Huber, i. 305.
[197] Ibid. 280.
[198] Huber, i. 316.
LETTER XX.
_SOCIETIES OF INSECTS._
PERFECT SOCIETIES CONCLUDED.
Having given you a history sufficiently ample of the queen or
female bee, I shall next add some account of the _drone_ or _male
bee_; but this will not detain you long, since, "to be born and
die" is nearly the sum total of their story. Much abuse, from the
earliest times, has been lavished upon this description of the
inhabitants of the hive, and their indolence and gluttony have become
proverbial.--Indeed, at first sight, it seems extraordinary that
seven or eight hundred individuals should be supported at the public
expense, and to common appearance do nothing all the while that may
be thought to earn their living. But the more we look into nature,
the more we discover the truth of that common axiom,--that nothing is
made in vain.--Creative Wisdom cannot be caught at fault. Therefore,
where we do not at present perceive the reasons of things, instead of
cavilling at what we do not understand, we ought to adore in silence,
and wait patiently till the veil is removed which, in any particular
instance, conceals its final cause from our sight. The mysteries
of nature are gradually opened to us, one truth making way for the
discovery of another: but still there will always be in nature, as
well as in revelation, even in those things that fall under our daily
observation, mysteries to exercise our faith and humility: so that we
may always reply to the caviller,--"Thine own things and those that
are grown up with thee hast thou not known; how then shall thy vessel
comprehend the way of the Highest?"