bees adopt another economical plan suited to the same end. They
compose the bottoms and sides of wax of very great tenuity, not
thicker than a sheet of writing-paper. But as walls of this thinness
at the entrance would be perpetually injured by the ingress and
egress of the workers, they prudently make the margin at the opening
of each cell three or four times thicker than the walls. Dr. Barclay
has recently discovered that though of such excessive tenuity, the
sides and bottom of each cell are actually _double_, or, in other
words, that each cell is a distinct, separate, and in some measure an
independent structure, agglutinated only to the neighbouring cells,
and that when the agglutinating substance is destroyed, each cell may
be entirely separated from the rest[831].
You must not imagine that all the cells of a hive are of precisely
similar dimensions. As the society consists of three orders of
insects differing in size, the cells which are to contain the larvæ
of each proportionally differ, those built for the males being
considerably larger than those which are intended for the workers.
The abode of the larvæ of the queen bee differs still more. It is
not only much larger than any of the rest, but of a quite different
form, being shaped like a pear or Florence flask, and composed of a
material much coarser than common wax, of which above one hundred
times as much is used in its construction as of pure wax in that of
a common cell. The situation, too, of these cells (for there are
generally three or four, and sometimes many more, even up to thirty
or forty, in each hive) is very different from that of the common
cells. Instead of being in a horizontal they are placed in a vertical
direction, with the mouth downwards, and are usually fixed to the
lower edge of the combs, from which they irregularly project like
stalactites from the roof of a cavern.--The cells destined for the
reception of honey and pollen, differ from those which the larvæ of
the males and workers inhabit, only, by being deeper, and thus more
capacious; in fact, the very same cells are successively applied to
both purposes. When the honey is collected in great abundance, and
there is not time to construct fresh cells, the bees lengthen the
honey cells by adding a rim to them.
You will be anxious to learn the process which these ingenious
artificers follow in constructing their habitations: and on this head I
am happy that the recent publication of a new edition of the celebrated
Huber's _New Observations on Bees_, in which this subject is for the
first time elucidated, will enable me to gratify your curiosity.
But in the first place you must be told of an important and
unlooked-for discovery of this unrivalled detector of the hidden
mysteries of nature--that the workers or neuters, as they are called,
of a hive, consist of two descriptions of individuals, one of which
he calls _abeilles nourrices_, or _petites abeilles_, the other
_abeilles cirières_.--The former, or _nurse-bees_, are smaller than
the latter; their stomach is not capable of such distention; and
their office is to build the combs and cells after the foundation
has been laid by the _cirières_; to collect honey; and to feed the
larvæ. The _abeilles cirières_ are the makers of wax, which substance
Huber has now indisputably ascertained to be secreted, as John Hunter
long ago suspected, beneath the ventral segments, from between which
it is taken by the bees when wanted, in the form of thin scales.
The apparatus in which the wax is secreted consists of four pair
of membranous bags or _wax-pockets_ situated at the base of each
intermediate segment, one on each side, which can only be seen by
pressing the abdomen so as to lengthen it, being usually concealed
by the over-lapping of the preceding segments. It should be observed
that this discovery was nearly made by our countryman Thorley, who
in his _Female Monarchy_ (1744) says that he has taken bees with six
pieces of wax within the plaits of the abdomen, three on each side.
In these pockets the wax is secreted by some unknown process from the
food taken into the stomach, which in the wax-making bees is much
larger than in the nurse-bees, and afterwards transpires through the
membrane of the wax-pocket in thin laminæ. The nurse-bees, however,
do secrete wax, but in very small quantities.--When wax is not wanted
in the hive, the wax-makers disgorge their honey into the cells.
The process of building the combs in a bee-hive, as observed by
Huber, is as follows:
The wax-makers having taken a due portion of honey or sugar, from
either of which wax can be elaborated, suspend themselves to each
other, the claws of the fore-legs of the lowermost being attached
to those of the hind pair of the uppermost, and form themselves
into a cluster, the exterior layer of which looks like a kind of
curtain. This cluster consists of a series of festoons or garlands,
which cross each other in all directions, and in which most of
the bees turn their back upon the observer: the curtain has no
other motion than what it receives from the interior layers, the
fluctuations of which are communicated to it.--All this time the
_nurse-bees_ preserve their wonted activity and pursue their usual
employments.--The wax-makers remain immoveable for about twenty-four
hours, during which period the formation of wax takes place, and
thin laminæ of this material may be generally perceived under their
abdomen. One of these bees is now seen to detach itself from one
of the central garlands of the cluster, to make a way amongst its
companions to the middle of the vault or top of the hive, and by
turning itself round to form a kind of void, in which it can move
itself freely. It then suspends itself to the centre of the space,
which it has cleared, the diameter of which is about an inch. It next
seizes one of the laminæ of wax with a pincer formed by the posterior
metatarsus and tibia[832], and drawing it from beneath the abdominal
segment, one of the anterior legs takes it with its claws and carries
it to the mouth. This leg holds the lamina with its claws vertically,
the tongue rolled up serving for a support, and by elevating or
depressing it at will, causes the whole of its circumference to be
exposed to the action of the mandibles, so that the margin is soon
gnawed into pieces, which drop as they are detached into the double
cavity, bordered with hairs, of the mandibles. These fragments,
pressed by others newly separated, fall on one side of the mouth,
and issue from it in the form of a very narrow ribband. They are
then presented to the tongue, which impregnates them with a frothy
liquor like a _bouillie_. During this operation the tongue assumes
all sorts of forms; sometimes it is flattened like a spatula; then
like a trowel, which applies itself to the ribband of wax; at other
times it resembles a pencil terminating in a point. After having
moistened the whole of the ribband, the tongue pushes it so as to
make it re-enter the mandibles, but in an opposite direction, where
it is worked up anew. The liquor mixed with the wax communicates to
it a whiteness and opacity which it had not before; and the object of
this mixture of _bouillie_, which did not escape the observation of
Reaumur[833], is doubtless to give it that ductility and tenacity,
which it possesses in its perfect state.
The foundress-bee, a name which this first beginner of a comb
deserves, next applies these prepared parcels of wax against the
vault of the hive, disposing them with the point of her mandibles
in the direction which she wishes them to take: and she continues
these manœuvres until she has employed the whole lamina that she had
separated from her body, when she takes a second, proceeding in the
same manner. She gives herself no care to compress the molecules of
wax which she has heaped together; she is satisfied if they adhere to
each other. At length she leaves her work, and is lost in the crowd
of her companions. Another succeeds, and resumes the employment;
then a third; all follow the same plan of placing their little
masses; and if any by chance gives them a contrary direction, another
coming removes them to their proper place. The result of all these
operations is a mass or little wall of wax with uneven surfaces,
five or six lines long, two lines high, and half a line thick, which
descends perpendicularly below the vault of the hive. In this first
work is no angle nor any trace of the figure of the cells. It is a
simple partition in a right line without any inflection.
The wax-makers having thus laid the foundation of a comb, are
succeeded by the nurse-bees, which are alone competent to model
and perfect the work. The former are the labourers, who convey the
stone and mortar; the latter the masons, who work them up into the
form which the intended structure requires. One of the nurse-bees
now places itself horizontally on the vault of the hive, its head
corresponding to the centre of the mass or wall which the wax-makers
have left, and which is to form the partition of the comb into two
opposite assemblages of cells; and with its mandibles, rapidly moving
its head, it moulds in that side of the wall a cavity which is to
form the base of one of the cells to the diameter of which it is
equal. When it has worked some minutes it departs, and another takes
its place, deepening the cavity, heightening its lateral margins
by heaping up the wax to right and left by means of its teeth and
fore-feet, and giving them a more upright form. More than twenty
bees successively employ themselves in this work. When arrived at a
certain point, other bees begin on the yet untouched and opposite
side of the mass; and commencing the bottom of _two_ cells, are in
turn relieved by others. While still engaged in this labour, the
wax-makers return and add to the mass, augmenting its extent every
way, the nurse-bees again continuing their operations.--After having
worked the bottoms of the cells of the first row into their proper
forms, they polish them and give them their finish, while others
begin the outline of a new series.
The cells themselves, or prisms which result from the re-union and
meeting of the sides, are next constructed. These are engrafted on
the borders of the cavities hollowed in the mass. The bees begin them
by making the contour of the bottoms, which at first is unequal, of
equal height: thus all the margins of the cells offer an uniformly
level surface from their first origin, and until they have acquired
their proper length. The sides are heightened in an order analogous to
that which the insects follow in finishing the bottoms of the cells;
and the length of these tubes is so perfectly proportioned that there
is no observable inequality between them.--It is to be remarked, that
though the general form of the cells is hexagonal, that of those first
begun is _pentagonal_, the side next the top of the hive, and by which
the comb is attached, being much broader than the rest; whence the
comb is more strongly united to the hive than if these cells were of
the ordinary shape. It of course follows that the base of these cells,
instead of being formed like those of the hexagonal cells of three
rhomboids, consists of one rhomboid and two trapeziums.
The form of a new comb is lenticular, its thickness always
diminishing towards the edges. This gradation is constantly
observable while it keeps enlarging in circumference; but as soon as
the bees get sufficient space to lengthen it, it begins to lose this
form and to assume parallel surfaces: it has then received the shape
which it will always preserve.
The bees appear to give the proper forms to the bottoms of the cells by
means of their antennæ, which extraordinary organs they seem to employ
as directors by which their other instruments are instructed to execute
a very complex work. They do not remove a single particle of wax until
the antennæ have explored the surface that is to be sculptured. By the
use of these organs, which are so flexible and so readily applied to
all parts, however delicate, that they can perform the functions of
compasses in measuring very minute objects, they can work in the dark,
and raise those wonderful combs the first production of insects.
Every part of the work appears a natural consequence of that which
precedes it, so that chance has no share in the admirable results
witnessed. The bees cannot depart from their prescribed route, except
in consequence of particular circumstances which alter the basis of
their labour. The original mass of wax is never augmented but by an
uniform quantity; and what is most astonishing, this augmentation
is made by the wax-makers, who are the depositaries of the primary
matter, and possess not the art of sculpturing the cells.
The bees never begin two masses for combs at the same time; but
scarcely are some rows of cells constructed in the first, when two
other masses, one on each side of it, are established at equal
distances from it and parallel to it, and then again two more
exterior to these. The combs are always enlarged and lengthened in
a progression proportioned to the priority of their origin; the
middle comb being constantly advanced beyond the two adjoining ones
by some rows of cells, and they beyond those that are exterior to
them. Was it permitted to these insects to lay the foundation of all
their combs at the same time, they could not be placed conveniently
or parallel to each other. So with respect to the cells, the first
cavity determines the place of all that succeed it.
A large number of bees work at the same time on the same comb; but
they are not moved to it by a simultaneous but by a successive
impulse. A single bee begins every partial operation, and many others
in succession add their efforts to hers, each appearing to act
individually in a direction impressed either by the workers who have
preceded it, or by the condition in which it finds the work. The whole
population of wax-makers is in a state of the most complete inaction
till one bee goes forth to lay the foundations of the first comb.
Immediately others second her intentions, adding to the height and
length of the mass; and when they cease to act, a bee, if the term may
be used, of another profession, one of the nurse-bees, goes to form the
draught of the first cell, in which she is succeeded by others.
The diameters of the cells intended for the larvæ of workers is
always 2-2/5 lines, that of those meant for the larvæ of the males
or drones 3-1/3 lines. The male cells are generally in the middle
of the combs, or in their sides; rarely in their upper part. They
are never insulated, but form a corresponding group on both sides
the comb. When the bees form male cells below those of neuters,
they construct many rows of intermediate ones, the diameter of
which augments progressively till it attains that of a male cell;
and they observe the same method when they revert from male cells
to those of neuters. It appears to be the oviposition of the queen
which decides the kind of cells that are to be made: while she lays
the eggs of workers, no male cells are constructed; but when she is
about to lay the eggs of males, the neuters appear to know it and act
accordingly.--When there is a very large harvest of honey, the bees
increase the diameter and even the length of their cells. At this
time many irregular combs may be seen with cells of twelve, fifteen,
and even eighteen lines in length. Sometimes also they have occasion
to shorten the cells. When they wish to lengthen on old comb, the
tubes of which have acquired their full dimensions, they gradually
diminish the thickness of its edges, gnawing down the sides of the
cells till it assumes the lenticular form: they then engraft a mass
of wax round it, and so proceed with new cells.
Variations, as has been already hinted, sometimes take place in the
position and even form of the combs. Occasionally the bees construct
cells of the common shape upon the wood to which the combs are fixed,
without pyramidal bottoms, and from them continue their work as
usual. These cells with a flat bottom, or rather with the wood for
their bottom, are more irregular than the common ones; some of their
orifices are not angular, and their dimensions are not exact, but all
are more or less hexagonal. Once when disturbed, Huber observed them
to begin their combs on one of the vertical sides of the hive instead
of on the roof. When particular circumstances caused it, as, for
instance, when glass was introduced, to which they do not like to fix
their combs, he remarked that they constantly varied their direction;
and by repeating the attempt, he forced them to form their combs
in the most fantastic manner. Yet glass is an artificial substance,
against which instinct merely cannot have provided them: there
is nothing in hollow trees, their natural habitation, resembling
it.--When they change the direction of their combs, they enlarge the
cells of one side to two or three times the diameter of those of the
other, which gives the requisite curve.
To complete the detail of these interesting discoveries of the elder
Huber, I must lay before you the following additional observations of
his son.
The first base of the combs upon which the bees work holds three or
four cells, sometimes more.--The comb continues of the same width for
three or four inches, and then begins to widen for three quarters of
its length. The bees engaged at the bottom lengthen it downwards;
those on the sides widen it to right and left; and those which are
employed above the thickest part extend its dimensions upwards. The
more a comb is enlarged below, the more it is necessary that it
should be enlarged upwards to the top of the hive. The bees that
are engaged in lengthening the comb, work with more celerity than
those which increase its width; and those that ascend or increase
its width upwards, more slowly than the rest. Hence it arises that
it is longer than wide, and narrower towards the top than towards
the middle.--The first formed cells are usually not so deep as those
in the middle; but when the comb is of a certain height, they are in
haste to lengthen these cells so essential to the solidity of the
whole, sometimes even making them longer than the rest.--The cells
are not perfectly horizontal; they are almost always a little higher
towards their mouth than at their base, so that their axis is not
perpendicular to the partition that separates the two assemblages.
They sometimes vary from the horizontal line more than 20°, usually
4° or 5°. When the bees enlarge the diameter of the cells preparatory
to the formation of male cells, the bottoms often consist of two
rhomboids and two hexagons, the size and form of which vary, and they
correspond with four instead of three opposite cells.--The works of
bees are symmetrical less perhaps in minute details than considered
as a whole. Sometimes, indeed, their combs have a fantastic form;
but this, if traced, will be found to be caused by circumstances:
one irregularity occasions another, and both usually have their
origin in the dispositions which we make them adopt. The inconstancy
of climate, too, occasions frequent interruptions, and injures the
symmetry of the combs; for a work resumed is always less perfect than
one followed up until completed.
At first the substance of the cells is of a dead white,
semitransparent, soft, and though even, not smooth: but in a few days
it loses most of these qualities, or rather acquires new ones; a yellow
tint spreads over the cells, particularly their interior surface: their
edges become thicker, and they have acquired a consistence, which at
first they did not possess. The combs also when finished are heavier
than the unfinished ones: these last are broken by the slightest touch,
whereas the former will bend sooner than break. Their orifices also
have something adhesive, and they melt less readily; whence it is
evident that the finished combs contain something not present in the
unfinished ones. In examining the orifice of the yellow cells, their
contour appeared to the younger Huber to be besmeared with a reddish
varnish, unctuous, strong-scented, and similar to, if not the same as,
_propolis_. Sometimes there were red threads in the interior, which
were also applied round the sides, rhombs, or trapeziums. This solder,
as it may be called, placed at the point of contact of the different
parts, and at the summit of the angles formed by their meeting, seemed
to give solidity to the cells, round the axis of the longest of which
there were sometimes one or two red zones. From subsequent experiments,
M. Huber ascertained that this substance was actually _propolis_,
collected from the buds of the poplar. He saw them with their mandibles
draw a thread from the mass of propolis that was most conveniently
situated, and breaking it by a sudden jerk of the head, take it with
the claws of their fore-legs, and then, entering the cell, place it
at the angles and sides, &c. which they had previously planished. The
yellow colour, however, is not given by the propolis, and it is not
certain to what it is owing.--The bees sometimes mix wax and propolis
and make an amalgam, known to the ancients and called by them _Mitys_
and _Pissoceros_, which they use in rebuilding cells that have been
destroyed, in order to strengthen and support the edifice[834].
We know but little of the proceedings of the species of bees not
indigenous to Europe, which live in societies and construct combs
like that cultivated by us. A traveller in Brazil mentions one there
which builds a kind of natural hive: "On an excursion towards upper
Tapagippe," says he, "and skirting the dreary woods which extend
to the interior, I observed the trees more loaded with bees' nests
than even in the neighbourhood of Porto Seguro. They consist of
a ponderous shell of clay, cemented similarly to martins' nests,
swelling from high trees about a foot thick, and forming an oval mass
full two feet in diameter. When broken, the wax is arranged as in our
hives, and the honey abundant[835]."
* * * * *
_Humble-bees_ are the only tribe besides the hive-bee, that in
this part of the world construct nests by the united labour of the
society. The habitations composing them are of a rude construction,
and the streets are arranged with little architectural regularity.
The number of inhabitants, too, is small, rarely exceeding two or
three hundred, and often not more than twenty. The nests of some
species, as of _Bombus_[836] _lapidaria_, _B. terrestris_, &c. are
found under ground at the depth of a foot or more below the surface;
but as the internal structure of these does not essentially differ
from that of the more singular habitations of _B. Muscorum_, and
as some of the subterranean species occasionally adopt the same
situation, I shall confine my description to the latter.