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 3MMtrence 
 
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 1881, 
 
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ATURAL HISTORY 
 
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 The Queen Bee, The royal 
 insect passes three days in the 
 egg, is five a worm, when the bees 
 close its cell, and it immediately 
 begins to cocoon, which is finished 
 in twenty-four hours. During 
 eleven days, and even sixteen 
 hours of the twelfth, it remains 
 in a state of complete repose. Its 
 transformation into a nymph then 
 takes place, in which state four 
 days and part of a fifth are pass* 
 ed. On the fifth day after her 
 
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 4 
 
 tippearance the qaeen quits the 
 hive for the purpose of fecunda- 
 tion : forty-six hours afterwards 
 she begins to lay eggs, and a hive 
 will often consist of forty thousand 
 inhabitants, the most of them her 
 own offspring. The first eggs of 
 the queen always give birth to 
 workers. In spring she lays about 
 two thousand eggs of males, re- 
 sumes it again in August, but dur- 
 ing the rest of the intervals she 
 exclusively lays workers 5 eggs. — 
 It is curious that oviposition is re- 
 tarded by cold;during winter itdoes 
 not take place. Huber relates an 
 instance where a queen instead of 
 laying her eggs 46 hours after fe- 
 cundation, did not do so for seve- 
 ral months, owing to her impregna- 
 tion having taken place just before 
 winter. The queen must be at least 
 
eleven months old before she be- 
 gins to lay the eggs of males. — 
 The bees both workers and queen, 
 know the period of oviposition 
 proper for each kind of egg, and 
 take care to provide suitable cells 
 at a proper period* Huber re- 
 moved all the workers' cells from 
 a hive, and left nothing but the 
 male cells; the bees, instead of 
 repairing the damage done to the 
 hive, by uniting the fragments of 
 comb, seemed quite disheartened, 
 went into the field, but returned 
 unladen. The queen too, hesitat- 
 ed about laying her worker eggs 
 in the large male cells, and at last 
 they were seen to drop from her 
 at random. However, six eggs 
 were deposited regularly; but the 
 workers did not treat them very 
 carefully. They were remoyecj 
 
i 
 
 6 
 
 next day, and the cells left empty. 
 In order to re-animate them, he 
 gave the bees a piece of comb, 
 composed of workers 7 cells, but 
 which were filled with male in- 
 stead of workers' eggs. For twelve 
 days the bees obstinately abstain- 
 ed from working in wax, but at 
 last they positively removed the 
 whole of the male brood, and clean- 
 ed the cells, just as if they had 
 been aware that the eggs which 
 were to come from the queen re- 
 quired worker cells. As soon as 
 this was done, the queen no lon- 
 ger dropped her eggs at random, 
 but deposited them in the cells.— 
 The male cells were then taken 
 away, and the worker cells restor- 
 ed; upon which the ordinary la- 
 bors of the hive were resumed. If 
 the workers reasoned and felt, 
 
here is a fact which would at once 
 attest their foresight and their af- 
 fection for their queen; they knew 
 she required worker cells, and ac- 
 cordingly, to accommodate her, 
 they pulled out the male brood, 
 which under other circumstances, 
 they would have fondly nourished, 
 Murray's Family Library. 
 
 Economy of Bees. There are 
 
 three substances for which bees 
 
 forage during; theh\excursions from 
 
 j the hive: honey, or a saccharine 
 
 I matter extracted from the nectary 
 
 I of flowers — the pollon or fertilizing 
 
 I dust of the anthers — and an odi* 
 
 [ riferous resin called propolis.-— 
 
 [ Honey is extracted from that part 
 
 I of the flower called the nectariunio 
 
 For the purpose of collecting this 
 
 fluid substance, the insect is fur- 
 
 \ nished with a trunk, or tongue, 
 
8 
 
 which is capable of doubling up 
 or elongating at pleasure. This 
 is not formed in the manner of a 
 tube, by which the fluid is to be 
 sucked up, but like a tongue, to 
 lick away the honied juice which 
 nature has secreted in little glands 
 which were always known to the 
 bee, although they had, until a 
 very recent period, completely e- 
 luded the researches of the most 
 skilful botanists. From the tongue 
 this sweet juice is conveyed to 
 the mouth; it then passes through 
 the gullet into the first stomach, or 
 honey bag, which when filled, ap- 
 pears like an oblong bladder, and 
 as transparent as chrystal. Chil- 
 dren in country places are well 
 acquainted with this bladder, and 
 destroy many bees in order to get 
 at their store of honey. When 
 
9 
 
 / the bee has sufficiently filled this 
 bag, it returns to the hive, and re- 
 serving only a small part of its 
 load for its own use, disgorges 
 the remainder into one of the cells. 
 Sometimes the insect may be seen 
 delivering its surplus store to an- 
 other bee, which appears ready to 
 receive it at the entrance of the 
 hive; when it flies off for a fresh 
 \ supply. Some honey combs are 
 
 always left open for the use of the 
 common workers engaged in the 
 hive ; but the greater number of 
 the cells filled during the course 
 of the summer are carefully stop-? 
 3ed up until the infernal supply of 
 joney begins to fail and it becomes 
 necessary to have recourse to their 
 contents. When the harvest of hon- 
 ey is so plentiful that the bees have 
 not sufficient room for it, they 
 
 ■ 
 
10 
 
 lengthen their cells or build new 
 ones. The pollon, or yellow dust* 
 which loosely adheres to the cen- 
 tral parts of flowers, is another 
 substance eagerly sought after by 
 the industrious bee. The breast, 
 legs, and many other parts of the 
 body, are covered with a fine 
 down, or hair. The insect enters 
 the cup of a flower charged with 
 this yellow farina, rolls itself round, 
 and soon becomes quite covered 
 with this vegetable dust. Nature 
 has provided the bee with means 
 admirably adapted to secure the 
 treasures thus collected on its body; 
 the last joint but one of each leg 
 being formed exactly like a brush. 
 These natural brushes are passed 
 one after another over the various 
 parts of the body, and by that 
 m^ans the pollon is collected into 
 

 11 
 
 two little heaps. The thighs of 
 the last pair of the insect's legs 
 are furnished with two cavities 
 fringed with hair; these form a 
 convenient basket for the use of 
 the bee. The dust collected from 
 a thousand flowers is kneaded 
 into diminutive pellets and stuck 
 into these cavities; and when these 
 balls have been increased to the 
 size of a grain of pepper, away 
 flies the insect to deposit its store 
 in the hive. But this meal, or 
 dust, is not always to be obtained 
 in sufficient quantities : early in 
 the season, before the flowers upon 
 which the bee feeds are generally 
 blown, this pollon is contained in 
 a capsule from which in its then 
 immature state, it is not easily 
 dislodged. The bee, however, 
 well knows where the object of its 
 
12 
 
 search lies concealed — it exam- 
 ines and feels these repositories: 
 I having discovered one sufficiently- 
 advanced towards maturity to an- 
 swer its purpose, it pinches the 
 capsule with its teeth, and then 
 takes possession of the hidden 
 | treasure. When a bee charged 
 with a load of this vegetable dust 
 reaches the hive, it enters one of 
 the cells head foremost. The pel- 
 lets are then detached from the 
 hollow cavities in which thev have 
 been carried, and being moisten- 
 ed and mixed with a small portion 
 of honey, they are kneaded into a 
 substance called by the country 
 people bee-bread. An adequate 
 supply of this food is indispensa^ 
 ble for the health and strength of 
 bees during the winter season.— 
 Bees may be robbed of their hon* 
 
IS 
 
 fey, and will thrive if fed during 
 the winter with treacle; but no 
 proper substitute has yet been 
 found for this bee-bread. When 
 deprived of this necessary of life, 
 they become consumptive and die. 
 The gathering of the pollen af- 
 fords a striking illustration of the 
 means indirectly employed by na- 
 ture to second her purposes. The 
 pollen is the fertilizing dust of 
 flowers; it is necessary for some 
 of it to fall on a particular part of 
 the pistil, in order that the flower 
 shafl give place to fruit, inclosing 
 the seed of a future plant. Now, 
 it has been remarked by a great 
 number of naturalists, that the bee, 
 when it collects the pollen from 
 one plant, does not go to a differ- 
 ent sort of plant for more, but, la- 
 boring to collect the same kind of 
 
14 
 
 fertilizing dust, it seeks only the 
 same kind of flowers. Since the 
 foundation of the vegetable king- 
 dom is effected in no small degree 
 through the medium of insects, 
 which, while searching for their 
 own food, unconsciously sprinkle 
 the fertilizing pollen on the re-pro- 
 ductive organs of plants, it follows, 
 that had the bee gone from one 
 kind of flower to another, this 
 would given rise to hybrid plants, 
 and thus have counteracted the 
 purpose of nature. Murray'* $ Fam- 
 ily Library. 
 
 Duels of Bees. Qn those fiue 
 spring days, in which the sun is 
 beautiful and warm, duels may 
 often be seen to take place be- 
 tween two inhabitants of the same 
 hive. In some cases, the quarrel 
 appears to have begun within, and 
 
 %***_ 
 
15 
 
 the combatants may be seen com- 
 ing out of the gates eager for blows. 
 Sometimes a bee peaceably settled 
 on the outside of the hive, or walk- 
 ing about is rudely jostled by 
 another, and then the attack com- 
 mences, each endeavoring to ob- 
 tain the most advantageous posi- 
 tion. They turn, pirouettle, throt- 
 tle each other; and such is their 
 bitter earnestness, that Reaumur 
 has been enabled to come near 
 enough to observe them with a 
 lens without causing a separation. 
 After rolling about in the dust, 
 the victor, watching the time when 
 its enemy uncovers his body by 
 elongating it, in the attempt to 
 sting, thrusts its weapon between 
 the scales, and the next instant its 
 antagonist stretches out its quiv- 
 ering win & s ) anc ^ expires. A bee 
 
10 
 
 eannot be killed so suddenly, ex- 
 cept by crushing, as by the sting 
 of another bee. Sometimes the 
 stronger insect produces the death 
 of the vanquished by squeezing 
 its chest. After this leat has been 
 done, the victorious bee constant- 
 ly remains, says Reaumur, near 
 his victim, standing on his four 
 front legs, and rubbing the two 
 posterior ones together. Some- 
 times the enemy is killed in the 
 hive; then the victor always car- 
 ries the corpse out of the city and 
 leaves it. These combats are 
 strictly duels, not more than two 
 being concerned in them; and this 
 is even the case when armies of 
 bees meet in combat. Murray' 9 9 
 Family- Library, 
 
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