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Watts. Bkk8. By tho Eev. J. G. Wood. Tub Kitchbit Gabdbit. By E. S. Dklambb. The Flowbb Gabdbk. By E. S. Dklambb. GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, ins BEOADWAT, LTJDOATB. X . 'J'he Ayiiary. BEES; HABITS, MANAGEMENT, AND TEEATMENT. BY THE EEV. J. a. WOOD, AUTHOR OF THE ** ILLUSTRATED NATURAL HISTORY," ETC. ETC. ^ ^t'oj (Etiition, h3iti[j JJUustrations. LONDON: GEORGE EOUTLEDGE & SONS, THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE; NEW YORK: 416, BROOME STREET. ^3^ 121 3 BEES. Amid the profound pysteries and inexhaustible profusion of life by which we are surrounded, and which only deepen and increase to our eyes, as science leads us further onwards — (not to baffle our inquiries, but to streng-then, by disciplining", the minds of the inquirers) — amid all the various manifes- tations of the boundless power of God, there is not, probably, one individual subject fuller of interest ahke to the practical, the popular, the scientific, or the poetical mind, than the natural history of the Honey-Bee. To men of business en- gaged in rural pursuits, there is the great question of profit to be considered ; to those who look merely on the surface of things for amusement, there is the spectacle presented of an insect community, constituted under a regular government, and exhibiting various social phenomena, which are not the less attractive that they are but partially understood; the man of science sees involved in the life of bees some of the most perplexing but attractive problems that can possibly engage his attention within the wide circle of created being- ; whilst to all in whom the poetical or idealizing faculty exists, there is the additional interest derived in part from the habits of the bees themselves, and partly from the attention paid to them by the great human masters of " the art divine,' who, from the days of Virgil, down to those of •Shakspeare and Milton, have loved them, ay, and under- stood them too in essentials, and have, in loving- them, given the bees a new claim to the love and attention of all >other men. The picture of a bee-kingdom, which Shak- «peare has drawn in the following lines, has the precision of a BEES. naturalist, united to tlie fancy of a poet, and the wisdom ot a philosopher : — " So work the honey-bees, Creatures that by a rule in nature teach The art of order to a peopled kingdom. They have a king, and officers of sorts, Where some, like magistrates, correct at home. Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad. Others, hke soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds ; Which pillage they with merry march bring home To the tent royal of their emperor : Who, busied in his majesties, surveys The singing masons building roofs of gold ; The civil citizen kneading up the honey ; The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burthens at his narrow gate ; The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum Delivering o'er to executors' pale The lazy, yawning drone." For those who have imbibed a taste for examining- the wonders of nature — who find their leisure hours better em- ployed in searching into the mysteries of creation than in wasting them in frivolous, expensive, or it may be injurious amusements — for those whose minds are attuned to the poetry of nature's book — whose eyes are enabled to see — " Sermons in stones, and good in everything," even in the nettle, the centipede, the scorpion, the toad (most maligned of animated beings), or even the dreaded cobra, or rattlesnake — there is no more interesting, more fascinating, or more really instructive branch of science than that which treats of the history and habits of insects. More particularly are they adapted for those whose active minds would fain take them to other lands, in order to increase their stock of knowledge, whilst adverse circumstances chain their unwiUing bodies at home. He who desires to see the lion, the elephant, or the giraffe, in the full enjoyment of their natural tastes, engaged in their natural pursuits, and following their natural instincts, must, like Gordon Gumming, the redoubtable lion-hunter, leave his native land, and spend years separated from his fellow men, in the depths of the African forest, or on the wastes of a burning desert. Does BEES. d the enthusiastic ornitholog-ist desire to study the habits of the humming- bird, or the mocking- bird ? He must proceed to the new world, brave the terrors of the Atlantic, expose himself to the dangers of venomous reptiles, miasmatic swamps, or it may be to the chance of g-etting* his interior ventilated by civilized revolver, or the anatomy of his brain displaced by savage tomahawk. Or does the energ-etic na- turalist wish to see for himself the habits of the gigantic whale ? — he must be corttent to live for months in a pecuHarly uncomfortable ship, to reside among icebergs at all events ; if unsuccessful, to return as wise as he went, and if successful to his heart's desire, to find himself in every body's way during the chase, the capture, and the flensing, and from the moment that the huge carcass is made fast to the ship, to the time when he disembarks, to exist in an atmosphere of blubber, and, to borrow the phraseology of the Ancient Mariner — " Blubber here, and blubber there, And blubber everywhere." Let every one m whom the sense of smell is not utterly extinct, beware how he set foot in a whaler. Is he an icthyologist giving himself up to the study of fish in their native ele- ment I* How many days in the year will he find adapted to his purpose ; when the wind does not ruffle the surface, that must be bright and clear, in order that his eyes may pene- trate into the vasty depths, and perceive the glittering crea- tures engaged in their instinctive tasks, or when the rain does not make the water irremediably muddy, or the snow and frost obscure the surface altogether ? For him whose tastes incline to the study of animated na- ture, no pursuit is better adapted than that of entomology, by which I mean practical entomology. Without attempt- ing for one moment to decry the labours of the systematic entomologist, whose discriminating eye enables him to dis- cover trifling points of diflerence marking out species, and by whose aid we are enabled to affix a certain name and position to that insect, which to the inhabitant of another country would be unrecognisable in our description, yet he who would see the full beauty of insect life, must live among insocts, and with them. Here lies the superiority of this 4 BEES. peculiar branch of natural history. Lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, in dens, as we see them at the zoolog-ical gardens, give us very little idea of what their demeanour would be in their native forests. Who could (unless he were a German) write a natural -jistory of the hippopotamus from examination of the mild, affectionate, oily monster who waddles after his keeper, and would not hear of going to sleep unless his human companion slept by his side ? Or who will say that the much enduring lions, or the slouching, lazy Polar bears, give much idea of the manners of those animals in their native haunts, where the lion stalks fearlessly, and with that majesty of deportment which want of fear always gives, or springs like a thunderbolt on his prey, dashing the enor- mous giraffe to the ground ; or where, amid everlasting ice and snow, the Polar bear glides through the water in chase of the seal, or from the ice cliff defies the armed men who approach ? Animals to be studied properly must be studied in their natural states, and if the observer cannot go to them, he must bring them to him. This he cannot do with the larger animals, but he can with the insects. The space which would not suffice for a lion to turn in, will form a forest for a beetle, and any one who has a room to give up to insects, and a hand to execute, can draw round him colo- nies of almost every order of insect, exhibiting their in- stincts and habits, as perfectly as if they had been left in the fields. He must have a hand to execute, because, when he comes to the practical part of the business, he will find, that in order to make the artificial forest, brook, or earth, as like the original as possible in all its properties, some amount of handiwork is required, and if, like Davy's experi- mental philosopher, he cannot saw a plank with a gimlet, or bore a hole with a saw, woe be to his purse. With, how- ever, some ingenuity in resource and workmanship, the study of insects may be pursued with scarcely any detri- ment to the pocket, and any one possessing a room, or what is still more valuable, a room and a yard, or the roof of a • house, may make a magic circle within which he may gather an incredible amount of insects, some by bringing them irom their native haunts, and others, by laying such irre- sistible inducements for them, that they come of their own accord. He may rear most valuable moths and butterflie BEES. from the eg'g, and secure a large brood for tlie next year , he may keep a colony of those queer mole-crickets which' show such sport if poked at with a straw ; he may transplant an entire nest of ant, wasp, or hornet, without the possibility of getting* stung-; or at all events, he may, at a trifling ex- pense, set up a few hives of another of the same order, of the common hive bee. These will, in fact, cost nothing ; as, if the management be only passable, the produce of the hives will pay their cost in the first year, and all after that will be sheer gain. If, however, after long trial, the hives fail, let him not be discouraged, but try again, leaving no method untried to discover the cause of the former failures. There are few places where bees cannot find a subsistence. Even in the hjeart of large cities, men keep colonies of bees, who, although their honey is not always of the finest flavour, yet thrive very tolerably in their domiciles on the house-top or the garret window-sill. All who are acquainted with the usages of college society, would agree that a more unpropitious locality for a bee-hive could scarcely be found than in a college window, for bees have a peculiar objection to tobacco smoke, which seldom ceases to exist within the college walls, not to mention the pranks that would be played by the more juvenile members upon the unfortunate bees through the medium of a long pipe. Moreover, bees dis- like loud and sudden noises. This taste of theirs is not likely to be gratified by the learners of the cornet-a-piston, post-horn, and other brazen instruments, which are usually played without intermission for several hours daily (like the court of the Flying Island, and with the same disregard for time), and subjected to occasional flourishes at any hour of the day or night. Then bees do not like strangers, of whom they must see plenty, if they reside in a college. Yet a colony of bees was kept, and successfully kept, in one of the colleges at Oxford. Their master is now a well-known a})iarian, whose works on bee management have met with a well deserved reputation. For several years after he left college, the bee-stands and entrance-boards might be seen in the window, serving to remind the passer-by, that one man at least existed in the college, whose mind did not deem the study of insect Hfe too trifling for the intellect of a human being. So let not the reader be deterred from the purchase (5 BEES. of hives by the apparent imsuitableness of tlie locaHty. I am persuaded that if a strong- stock were phiced in the ball of St. Paul's Cathedral, they would get their living-. For it is known that bees can fly three miles' distance in search of food, and bare would be the place indeed, where, within a circle of eighteen miles' circumference, a hive could not find food enough for its preservation. Even if they cannot do so, and supposing that they are kept more for the purpose of experiment and observation than for profit, they can be fed with sugar and beer, and will contrive to get both honey and wax out of it. Nor let those fear whose very natural dread of stings has hitherto repelled them from the apparently dangerous pursuit of bee-keeping. It is perfectly possible so to arrange the hive, that while the observer can at his pleasure examine any part of the edifice, no bee can possibly reach him, unless the bee's sting is capable of pene- trating through a barrier of wood and glass. The trouble, too, of keeping these most wonderful little insects is not nearly so great as is generally imagined. Only give them a fair start, and the less they are meddled with, the better for the bees. Put a good strong stock into the hive to begin with, and there will be little necessity to do anything with them except to take off well-glasses full of the finest wax and honey, and to substitute empty glasses ; no very laborious task. Bees, like most other corporate bodies, have a g-reat horror of interference from without, and always like to work their own reforms without the assistance of commissions from other quarters, and think that their own sovereign is quite capable of governing them without seeking- the help of other powers. So the bee-master cannot meddle too little with the bees, and he must be a most particularly somnolent individual who would find the labour of attending- to a few hives too much for him. We are told that a bee-student of ancient times, Aristo- machus, of Soli, in Cilicia, devoted nearly his whole time and thoughts to bees for sixty years ; and that another, Phihscus the Thracian, spent his days regularly in the woods m order to investigate them in their natural condition. These were evidently bee-enthusiasts. Among the more moderate lut earnest students of ancient times, may be briefly named, Aristotle, upon whose observations Virgil bus BEfJS. { mainly based his fourth Georg-ic, Pliny, and Columella, who is esteemed the most accurate among these early observers. In modern times, the study appears to have assumed an altogether more definite and scientific shape in the hands of such men as Swammerdam, the unrivalled dissector of insect structures, Maraldi, the supposed inventor of glass hives, our own profoundly philosophic Ray, Reaumur, Scliirach, John Hunter, who first discovered the true origm of wax, and^ above all, Huber, who is especially the high-priest of this particular altar in the great temple of science. The various points necessary to be known by the would- be apiarian are briefly these : — First, whether or not it i» worth while to keep bees at all. This is a question whicb can best be answered by the kind of locality at his disposal^ although, as I have before stated, the locality must be very poor indeed that will not feed one hive. Secondly, if he- has decided upon keeping bees, where, when, and at what price, to procure them ; how to establish them when pro- cured; how to watch over and manage them when esta- blished; how to extract the greatest possible amount of honey from them without injuring the hive ; how to disposa of his wax and honey when he has obtained them ; what kind of hives to use for different purposes ; how to increase the number of hives if required, and how to forward or prevent swarming. These points will be found explained in this little work, briefly and sparingly ; briefly, because the limits of the book are too small to admit of long disser- tations where a iow sentences will suffice ; and sparingly^ because many of these points are much better learned by practice than by mere theoretical teaching*. All that this little work pretends to perform is to put the reader in the way to work, and to serve, as far as a written book can do^ as a guide if he should feel perplexed. In the present state of advancement in this particular department of natural history it is very probable that a future apiarian may be enabled to discover far better methods of management than those given here. The systems, however, that are recom- mended in this work have been found to work very success- fully, and will very well serve until better are discovered. Nor can it be expected that any one who really takes an mterest in the management will keep strictly to the rules 3 BEES. laid down here, or in any other work whatever ; for he will be certain to find, as his experience increases, that he can make sundry variations from the principles on which he started, with great benefit to the prosperity of his insect colonies. The system that would answer admirably for an apiarium situated upon a hill surrounded with heather, would not be nearly so successful if the hives were placed in a sandy valley surrounded with thick woods, and plentifully watered by running- streams. The rules, therefore, which are found here, may be taken only as a foundation for a building which the architect may vary as he pleases, provided that the foundation is laid securely. If a man is not able to make these variations for himself, but perseveres doggedly in the fashion of his fathers, because it is the way he is used to, he need not put himself to the trouble of bee-keeping at all, for he is not fit for it. Examples of this may be seen in almost every village in England where the inhabit- ants are wise enough to add hives to their agricultural stock. It is an everyday sight to see two cottage gardens merely divided from each other by a hedge, each carrying on bee- keeping with very different success. In one the hives are numerous, and the busy thronging of the bees at the en- trances proclaims their strength. On inquiry it is elicited that the hives have yielded many pounds of honey and wax, and are expected to yield much more, and yet be perfectly able to live through the winter without feeding ; while in the other garden, the bees loiter about the entrances, go off to their work, and return from it almost singly, and the deep hum of the drone is never heard. This is just because the one owner takes proper care of his bees, and the other neglects them. Many injure their bees either from neglect, because they are afraid of meddling with them, or by irri- tating* them with needless interference. It is hoped that both these difficulties may be avoided by those who seek to gain a moderate knowledge of bee habits from these pages, for in most cases the bees die, swarms fail, and the honey is lost through the ignorance of the owner, and not through his wilful neglect. While, therefore, each man should learn to depend upon himself in the management of these insect kingdoms, he should not despise the instructions which be may gain from the experience of others, and which, although It may not be implicitly followed, yet may serve as a guide in different straits. So, while each aspiring- bee-master may fully intend to follow in the footsteps of the enterprising- and accurate experimentalists mentioned above, he ought to take advantage of their experience, which will save him many an hour which might have been spent in endeavouring to elucidate a fact which has already been proved. The points already ascertained are as so many steps gained in the ascent to knowledge ; and it is our business not to endea- vour to re-erect those steps, but, by taking our stand upon them, to strive by their aid to establish new ones. We know not whether the inquiring spirit of Aristomachus or PhiHscus exists among us at present, but certainly the name of those who aspire to teach the economy of bee- management is legion. In Cotton's "My Bee-Book," there is a list of other people's bee-books, to the number of about one hundred and twenty -five distinct pubHcations. One conclusion may, no doubt, be safely drawn from this fact — either to the mind or to the pocket, the subject is found profitable. We trust to be able to show that it may be both to the readers of "Books for the Country." And as the knowledge of the natural habits of the bee is the only trustworthy foundation of the artificial ones we must, to some extent, impose upon them in servitude, let us begin with the former. We shall say little of the more technical points of the study of entomology ;* but merely state that the honey-bee is one of the genus ApiSj and forms, with the other kinds of bees, of which there are several hundred in England alone, the order Hymenoptera.f We shall now request our readers to imagine themselves doing what they will find it very pleasant to do in reality, watching the chief operations of a hive through glass walls, with the aid of the most experienced eyes. A swarm, led off by an old queen, has been just housed, in a warm and comfortable tenement, but it is empty — un- • Derived from two Greek words, signifying to cut into, in illusion to the shape of insects, which are, as it were, cut into three distinct portions, the head, the thorax, or chest, and the abdomen, or belly. The word insect is derived from the Latin, and has the same mean- ing. t Derived fron> two Greek words, signifying metnlranous winged. 10 BEES. provisioned. Everything* lias to be newly made : a giant task, but nobody understands better than bees the ^* philo- sophy of labour/' and, as Gay sings — " In the little bulk, a mighty soul appears." So while some g-o off to the fields to perform the labour allotted to them there, let us see what the others are doing* in the hive. Some are clustering about the top ; and now they fix themselves to the roof by the fore-legs, while the hinder-legs hang down. Upon these other bees suspend themselves, and leave their legs similarly to the disposal of the new-comer, and thus a ladder is rapidly formed, reaching at last to the very bottom of the hive. To facihtate opera- tions, and perhaps strengthen as well as elaborate their scaf- folding, they also hang themselves in festoons, each end attached to the roof; and before the actual commencement of labours, there is a series of such festoons formed, so that the bee- workmen may ascend and descend in every direction. The entire weight of this living staircase is borne by the in- dividual bees at the top, and cheerfully borne too. Sydserff (reprinted in Cotton) says they will suffer their legs to be disjointed before they will let go their hold. Such is the patriotism of the hive. And now the bee-architect steps forth. Great bee ! it is his glorious task to shape out the design of the first combs, and to lay, as it were, the first stone of the structure ; tasks always performed by a single bee. The wax is secreted in the bodies of the bees, and appears imder eight little flaps or pockets, on the under side of the abdomen. If a bee is ex- amined carefully, these little receptacles are generally found full of wax, and when the supply is complete, the edges of the wax-plate appear from under the pockets. When in this state, the wax-plate is five-sided, very thin, semi-transparent, and exceedingly brittle, and requires preparation by the bee before it is in a fit state to build combs with. If a bee is plunged into water, the scales of wax may easily be detached with the point of a needle ; they will then rise to the surfaco of the water, and can be examined with ease, or they may be mounted as specimens to show the state of wax in its first secretion. Pollen has nothing to do with wax. Bees have been subjected to innumerable experiments when they BEEJ4. II have been deprived of pollen for several weeks, and have yet made combs, when fed only upon honey and water. In one case, they actually built combs when fed upon sugar and water only. The wax appears to be secreted principally when the bee is at rest. If combs are wanted in a hurry, a larg-e number of bees, after filling their honey-bags with honey, cluster together at the top of the hive, and remain there perfectly still for nearly twenty-four hours, by which means the wax is rapidly formed. In many cases swarms begin to build immediately after they have been settled in their new residence, and in this case the elaboration of wax proves that it must have been formed during the previous state of inactivity. But he must have materials ; and as his own stores are insufficient for such an undertaking, the obedient and industrious explorers of the country bring it to him in rapid and uninterrupted succession. Each mounts the ladder, extracts with its hind feet a plate of wax from under one of its eight scales (or pockets), where it was secreted, raises it to the mouth, turns it round under the cutting edge of the jaws (thus obtaining the eifect of a lathe), and so the whole is divided into fragments. A frothy liquor is then formed on it from the tongue, and the mixture assumes^ the aspect of a plastic but tenacious substance, white and opaque. The whole mass being then repeatedly worked together by the teeth and tongue, is drawn out in the form of a narrow ribbon of white wax. After being again mashed together, and drawn out a second time in the opposite direc- tion, it is then fit for building cells; and in that state is handed to the bee-architect, who at once commences the con- struction of the comb, while the labourer goes on with the- preparation of the remainder of the scales, and then hurries oif to collect fresh supplies. This labourer belongs to the wax-workers' class. The architect commences his work : first, he constructs a block in the centre of and upon the roof, of the shape here shown (a segment of a circle), and which measures nearly half an inch in length, about one-sixth of an inch in height, and only a twenty-fourth part of an inch in thickness. All this while, another set of bee-artisans, the sculp- tnrers, are waiting impatiently to begin. No sooner do they see room enough to introduce their somewhat smaller 12 BEES. Fig. 1. Front. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. ^ir ^^^^^ Side. Back view. Tho front, side, and back views of the block on which the first escava. tions for the cells are made. Fig. 4. r'iiii>ii!.iiiii'Hi!i|i|ililii| |i llliililiiilii!iil i_ iV!jn^ijjji^^ Front view magnified. Transverse section through the same. •bodies between the wax-workers than they commence ope- rations on the comparatively rude block thus prepared for them. One bee commences the architectural orna- ments of the hive, by excavating a shallow, circular, basin-like hole in one side of the block of wax, adding- to the sides material which it has scraped out of the hol- low. This is the first intimation of a cell. At the same time two other sculpturer-bees are hard at work upon the other side of the block, excavating similar hollows, which are so contrived that the point where they meet exactly co- incides with the centre of the first cell upon the opposite side. By building upon this foundation, and by adding to the edges, a double series of cells are built closely adjoin- ing to one another, and with their entrances opening oppo- :6ite ways. The circular hollow upon Fig. 1, represents the BEES. 73 first excavation, while the two hollows upon Fig*. 3, show the two cells commenced upon the opposite side of the hlock. Fig;. 2 merely shows the usual thickness of the first block. Now a wonderful change in the form of the cells takes place. Whether it be that instinct implanted in these insects forces them to act in a certain way, or whether it is that they have sufficient skill to direct themselves^ we cannot tell. Up to this time the shape of the cells has been cylindrical, and if the block were cut throug-h trans- versely, it would present the appearance given (much mag"- nified) in Fig*. 5, the centre of one cell exactly coinciding' with the junction of two cells upon the opposite side. In this shape, however, they remain no longer. The bees are aware that would cause an unnecessary expenditure of wax, decrease the available space of the hive, and probably inter- fere with that perfect ventilation, or at least purity of air, which they obtain by methods that surpass our skill to find out, much less rival. '^ From some eudiometrical experi- ments it has been ascertained that the air of a well-stocked hive is as pure as that by which it is surrounded."* So the bees, working to a perfect plan laid down for them by their architect, obtain a perfect result. By gradually cut- ting away all superfluous wax in the semicircles first formed, the walls become straight, and eventually the cells of two tiers present the aspect here shown : — Fig. 6. « Dr. Bevan's Honey-Bee, The best bee-book, on the whole, pub- lished in England. 14: BEES. It will be seen that the back cells must necessarily be of the same shape to fit exactly into these, and the same with those below. Every wall is the wall of two cells, each roof also a floor, and each floor also a roof. The first tiers con- sequently are pentagonal, or five-sided, the roof to whicli they are attached being- straight, whilst all the other tiers below are hexagonal, or six-sided, their top being the two planes that form the bottom of the upper tier. Each cell is thus surrounded by six others. These excavations and scoop- ings form, of course, only the floors of the cells, and from the edges of the floors the walls are built. It has been •discovered that each cell is perfect in itself, and has six sides of its own, so that the side of one cell does not form a party-wall, as it were, to the cell next to it, but the wall of its neighbour will be spread upon the outside of its own wall. The cells have been separated in order to prove this curious fact; and as every wall of each cell is varnished over with a thin layer of propolis, there is, of course, a double layer of propolis between the cells, by means of which a very careful hand can sufficiently separate the walls to prove that each wall is double. The double walls, however, being exceedingly thin, and their external edges covered with one ridge of propolis, it is impossible, from their external appear- ance, to imagine that there is more than one thickness of wax between the cells. Had it not been for the varnish of pro- polis, the walls would, of course, soon merge into one by the heat of the hive ; but that varnish, although inconceivably thin, is quite sufficient to keep them distinct enough for the eye to ascertain that they are double. The cells lie nearly horizontal, their mouths being a little elevated, and opening upon the street, or passage, whicli the bee- architect leaves on each side of every comb. Such is the general construc- tion of the cells. All animals appear to work in a circular direction, or, at all events, in a segment of a circle. This, probably, is occasioned by the creature using some part of its body as a pivot, and thereby necessarily working circularly. If we look at the labours of other insects besides the hive-bee, we find this to be the case. The leaf-cutter bee shaves off a semicircular piece from the edge of a leaf, and fixes it against the sides of her cylindrical cell. Not to mention the BEES, Yj cells of the wasp, which are subject to the same laws as those of the hive-bee, we find the plates of wooden fibre which surround and protect the nest, to be invariably of a slig-ht bowl-hke form, as if the wasp had fixed itself on its feet as a pivot, and with its jaws spread the fibrous mass into small sheets. The cocoons of various insects, when pass- ing into the pupa state, are all examples of the circular instinct. The same instinct is apparent even in the higher animals. When a bird commences her nest, she arranges a tuft of hay or grass in a fork, seats herself in the centre of it, and spins rapidly round, so as to form a circular depression; after which she works the materials round the edge of this depression. The same thing is seen in the nest of the harvest-mouse. Were not the bees so economical of wax, the whole number of cells would probably be cylindrical ; but their care of their wax induces them to scrape away as much as can be spared at the junction of the cells. Now if a cylinder is surrounded by other cylinders of equal dia- meter, six will exactly reach round it ; and if the points of junction of the central cylinder were scooped away, the cylinder would immediately become hexagonal or six-sided. So ^.t is with the first set of cells ; but the bees having already a hexagonal model on which to work, do not trou- ble themselves to build cylinders, and then cut away the angles, but work hexagonal cells at once, only the first set being made on the cylindrical principle. Whilst this first block is thus being deposited in a straight line across the roof of the hive, and hollowed out into cells as fast as it is deposited, the work also continues down- wards towards the floor of the hive, other blocks, or combs, are commenced parallel with it, divided only from it and from each other by the streets just mentioned, which are about half an inch broad. And so the work will proceed until the hive is filled with comb. Looking down upon the lines of combs in a completed hive, they would present the shape shown in Fig. 7, presuming the irregularity in the cen- tre did not exist. And why does that irregularity exist? The answer to this question forms one of the many proofs of the weakness of the theory which attempts to divide by strictly defined impassable barriers the faculties of bees, imder the name of instinct, from the reason which iiU BtL« Fig. r. guides ourselves. Between bee-reason and man's reason a space " wide as the poles asunder" may exist j but taking- Dr. Bevan's definition, that reason is the power of making- deductions from previous experience or observation^ and thereb}^ adapting means to ends, whilst instinct is the power to perform certain actions in a uniform manner, without reference to either observation or experience, then it is cer- tain that in every department of bee-economy we find numerous examples of the former. The irregularity shown above is a case in point. A stick was in the way of the fourth comb from the left, so the bees deviated to the right into the place of the sixth comb, then resumed their straight- forward course. Next, working from the opposite end of the fourth or interrupted comb, they advanced to the in- terruption and stopped, and so the space there was duly filled up. Then they filled up the unused part of the space that belonged to the fifth comb, which had been so irre g-ularly intruded upon, by a similar short line, and the general arrangement of the hive was scarcely less perfect than ordinary. The reader will observe how carefully the bees have contrived to preserve the proper distance between the combs, in order to permit the free passage of the worker or nurse-bees to their labour in various parts of the hive ; sufficient space is always left to enable two bees to pass BEES. 17 each other as they are pursuing- then' avocations in the hive. Here again (Fig*. 8) is another case of interruption. The Fig. 8. bees apparently found themselves compelled to give such a winding* course to the first comb, that they could not do better than exactly imitate its shape for all the others ; and how beautiful is the result ! Ingenious persons, no doubt, undertake to explain these and a thousand other anomahes in accordance with the theory of instinct ; but it is strange that they do not perceive that the effect of their reasoning- is to show that instinct can do all that reason does, and therefore one or the other, as a distinct quality, must be unnecessary. The above cases refer to the first erection of the bees' home. Let us give an illustration of their power of dealing with accidents in the hive. Dr. Bevan tells us, " 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, burdened 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 acci- dent 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 to- c 18 r.y.Ks getlier, Mr. W. observed throug'li the window of the box that they had constructed two horizontal pillars betwixt the combs alluded to, and had removed so miicb of the honey and wax from the top of each as to allow the passag-e of a bee : in about ten days more there was an uninterrupted thoroug'hfare — 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 re- moved the horizontal pillars first constructed, as being of no further use. The power of adapting* the construction of their habitation to suit accidental circumstances is not confined to bees alone, A most excellent observer, Mr. Smee, exhibits in his ^' In- stinct and Reason," a very singular instance of this power in a species of wasp. In that work is figured the nest of a wasp, which had been fixed to the branch of a tree. The inhabitants had already completed six tiers of cells (the combs of wasps, it must be remembered, are horizontal in- stead of vertical), when, from some reason, the branch gave way, and threw the entire nest out of the horizontal line In this predicament the wasps abandoned the hnes on which the first six tiers were built, and commenced a fresh series of combs, the openings of which opened towards the ground as the former set had done before the accident. The conse- quence is that the nest being composed of nine tiers of cells, the last three are built at right angles with the first six, forming as curious and instructive an example of the adapting powers of insect instinct as can be imagined. But the bees wait not for the completion of their grand palace to use it ; as soon as a few cells are ready, in come the honey bearers. Each makes his way to a finished chamber, goes as deep into it as he can, opens a hole with liis feet in the cream-like crust which the bees have formed for the defence of the honey, and so discharges the honey into the cell throug-h his open mouth. His burden gone, off he flies; others "take his place; drop by drop the cell is filled, and then closed so perfectly that tlie honey will re- main good in them for many years. But all the honey thus brought home is not stored. The bringers have been feeding themselves while collecting, but the poor hard- working artisans in the hive have nothing to eat, unless they cease their labours and stop the g-reat work of the hive ; that they will not do ; so the others attend to them with the greatest care and affection. They go to them, they open their mouths (the temporary honey store-house), the bung-ry, tired v/orkers of the hive put in their proboscides exactly as they would do into a flower, and so eat. It is said^ also, that certain robber bees maintain themselves in a gen- tlemanly and Paul Clifford-like manner, by waylaying in- dustrious common-place bees who have been meritoriously employing- themselves in working for the £-ood of their hive, and then compelling ihe poor innocent creatures to deliver up the contents, not of their saddle but their honey- bags, generously permitting their victims to set out unin- jured in search of more honey to replace that which they have appropriated to their own uses. The proboscis is too interesting a piece of vital mechanism to be passed by with only an indirect mention. So let us first show it greatly magnified, as in the accompanying engraving (Fig. 9), and then examine it a little in detail. (Fig. 9.) Bees form part of that section of insects called mandibu- late insects, i. e., insects which eat with jaws, in contradis- tinction to the haustellates, or insects wliich suck up liquid food through a trunk. Beetles, hornets, and other insects^ CO SEES. are also mandibulates, but the bees have a fui^tlier distinc- tion, in that they lap up food with a proboscis, and after- wards transfer that food to their mouth, as the elephant does. This kind of insect is called " lambent," or lapping- insects, from a Latin word " lambere," to lick or lap. It is by means of their mandibles, or jaws, that they are enabled to excavate the wax, smooth the mterior of the hive, and perform similar labours ; and by means of their proboscides, they moisten, knead, and spread the wax, as well as collect honey. Althoug-h the parts of which the proboscis is com- posed are so minute as to be scarcely visible to the unassisted eye, yet they are quite as complex as those of the mighty eie[)hant's trunk. The proboscis consists of no less than five distinct branches ; namely, a central trunk, or tongue, and four horny scales, tapering- to a point, convex outwards, and con- cave towards the trunk. The two outer ones so sheath the inner, as to appear but one single tube. By a joint in the middle they bend or extend all at once, carrying* with them the unarticulated or unjointed proboscis, which is cy- lindrical, and about the size of a human hair, and appears through a magnifier to be composed of successive rings. It has probably as many short muscles as the tongue of a fish, which are capable of moving it in all directions, and towards its termination is furnished with hairs, or villi, some of which at the point are very long, and seem to act like capillary tubes. Mr. Wildman assures us that he has seen the trunk growing bigger and less by turns, swelling the instant the bee sucked, and this alternate lessening and enlargement propagated from the extremity to the root What a delicate apparatus of invisible muscles must per- form this office ! The trunk is capable of being contracted and folded up at pleasure, for if it were constantly extended, it would be exposed to injury. When at rest, therefore, it is doubled up by means of its joint, and lies in a very small compass; the first portion being brought within the lip, and the second part folded under the head and neck ; pro- tection is given to it by a double sheath, consistmg of four strong scales, the two inner scales sheathing the tongue, and the two outer and larger ones encompassing* the whole. When at work, the trunk is lengthened beyond BEES. C'i its slieaths, probes the very bottom of the flowers, through all impediments of foliage or fructification, and drains them of those treasured sweets which without such an apparatus would be completely inaccessible. The proboscis of the bee is not used like that of flies, as it is not tubular like theirs, but serves as a brush or besom to sweep, or as a tongue to lap. Having collected the nectar of Howers in small drops, it deposits its collection upon the tongue, which is protruded for the purpose of receiving it, and having received it, withdrawn again.* The reader must guard against the common fallacy of supposing the proboscis to be same thing as the tongue, The proboscis is a collection of several organs, which are to be found variously modified in every insect; but the tongue is an extremely minute organ, and is so small and insignificant that a careful examination with a lens is required to detect it. The proboscis collects the honey, and deposits it in the mouth, from whence by the action of the tongue it is passed to the honey-bag. In some cases, the means used by the bees in order to get at the honey are singularly ingenious. The humble- bee, as is well-known to observers, when engaged upon the blossoms of the bean, which are too narrow to admit its bod}', and too long for its trunk to reach to the bottom of the flower where the honey is found, bites a hole just over the part where the honey is found, and through the orifice inserts its proboscis, and extracts the hidden sweets. But it is not so well known that the honey-bee resorts to the same stratagem. It has been repeatedly seen biting* through the flower of the common fuschia, and extracting the honey ]»recisely in the same manner as the humble-bee. It may be as well to remark in this place, that the sweet liquid vv'hen extracted from the flower, is not what we call honey, but appears to gain its consistency and peculiar odour in the crop of the bee. Whilst honey is thus being collected for the present nourishment of the workers in the hive, and for future sup- ply in case of need (observe, the sealed stores are never touched except in periods of real distress among the com- • Dr. Evans, in Bevan's Honeij-Bee, BEES. muniiy), another important department of the commissariat of the hive is attended to in a no less exempUiry manner. There will be young ones in the hive by and by; how are they to be fed ? " Why, with bee-bread, to be sm-e," answers some old nurse-bee of the hive; and so, having*, we may suppose, received their instructions, the bees set out to collect pollen as well as honey, from wherever they can find it. If you watch the bees as they return to the hive, you will scarcely see one of them without a little ball or pellet of farina on each of its hinder-leg-s, at the part marked a in the accompanying; engraving* (Fig*. 10). Fi^. 10. The hinder leg of the Worker-bee ; a, the part on which the pollen is carried. Of the six legs of the bee, the four hinder leg-s are used for collecting pollen. On each of them one joint is so thickly covered with thick and highly elastic hairs, that by using these joints as brushes, the bee is enabled to brush the pollen from the stamens. From these legs the pollen is transferred to the fore pair of legs, which, by help of the jaws, knead it into a compact mass. This mass is then placed on the hinder legs, where it is defended from falling b}^ a triangular groove edged and covered with thick hairs, which form, together with this groove, a kind of basket, which may be often seen so heavily laden, that it appears almost im- possible for the little creature to sustain itself in the air, BEES. 23 when weig-lied down with two such comparatively enormous balls of farina. These balls are invariably of the same colours as the anther-dust of the flower in which these luxurious little rog'ues have been rolling- ; there can be no doubt, therefore, that it is of this substance, after it has been used for the reproduction of vog'.etable life, that the bees take possession, to assist in the rearing- of their infantine insect-life : another in- stance of the economy that exists amidst all the profuse wealth of the natural world. Well, the little pollen-bearers come back to the hives 5 there they are met by the expectant nurses, who take part of the pollen from them and devour it, but not for themselves, it is only laid by for the future use of the larvae. It is placed in that sing-ular receptacle the honey bag-, where it becomes sufficiently mixed with liquid honey for the young* and tender g-rubs to devour it. It is possible that the bee may be able to regulate the food that passes from the honey-bag- into the stomach, as well as that which it reg'urg-itates into the mouth, but it is more probable that, after remaining for a certain time in the honey-bag, it involuntarily passes into the true stomach. As to the rest, watch that bee yonder ; after the nurse has done with her she is looking- for a cell, making a noise all the wliile with her wings to call her brethren around her. On reaching- the cell, with at least one attendant, she balances herself firmly on the edge with her middle and hind legs, whilst with the fore legs (her arms and hands) she seizes the farina, drops it into the cell, and leaves the attendant bee to knead it into the bottom and varnish it over, whilst she flies back to " fresh fields and pastures new." The " bee-bread " is unquestionably composed of the pollen of flowers, probably kneaded up with a little honey, but so little that it is not perceptible to the taste. There have been many discussions as to the exact substances of which this bee-bread is composed. From examinations made by m3'self, it appears that the bee-bread, -when taken at dif- ferent depths from the same cell, is composed of the pollen taken from different plants, but that which the bee takes Lome on its thighs, has been invariably found to consist of the pollen of one flower only ; so that it would appear that 24 BEES each bee, when it starts on its collecting- tour, devotes itself to one particular species of blossom. The nse of this curious instinct in the fructification of flowers is evident. The bee, by visiting various blossoms, either shakes the pol- len from the stamens upon the stigmata, or by bearing* about them the pollen from a male flower, and afterwards visiting' a female flower of the same species, renders them fruitful. This great object will, of course, be better secured if the bee only visits one species of flower, as if it visited several, either the pollen might be such as would have no fertihzing' efiect, or it would produce an endless catalogue of varieties which, as is well known, never do occur spon- taneously, and are only to be found in the garden of the florist, who often appears to base his happiness on pro- ducing- a flower as unlike its original form as possible. There is yet another substance formed by those wonderful little workmen, the bees, namely, j^'^opoUsy which is of a resinous nature, and derives its name from its uses. This most useful material is obtained principally from the young buds of various plants, which are defended by a resinous varnish from the weather, while they are yet feeble and unable to withstand its inclemency. Among the principal of the resinous buds we may notice those of the hollyhock, the horse-chestnut, the willow, the poplar, and the fir. It is taken from the bud in threads, moulded upon the thighs, and conveyed home just as the pollen is. The bees seldom make use of it in its original state, but mix it with wax in various proportions according to the work to be executed. It is somewhat singular that bees should employ this substance so extensively, for they are in general violently opposed to the smell of turpentine, and you can hardly insult a bee more than by offering him a little spirits of turpentine to smell. The actions of the poor bee strongly resemble those of a cat which has been forced to inhale the odour of a reasonably powerful bottle of smel- ling salts. Propolis signifies before tJie city; the Greeks having observed that it was used by the bees to strengthen the outworks of their city. It is with propolis the combs (or the blocks out of which they are constructed) are fastened to the roof of the hive. It is with propolis the bees defend BEES. 'Jo themselves from catching- cold or rheumatism through draughts, by stopping up ever}^ crevice into their hive, no* matter how minute, so that one only opening shall exist,, the proper legitimate entrance. M. Reaumur once thought proper to fasten the glass of a hive with pasted paper, in a careless manner, before putting in a swarm. Just as he had anticipated, the bees found out his unworkmanlike conduct, and contemptuously tearing away with their teeth the trumpery defence he had put, they made all firm and taut, as the sailors say, with good solid propolis. Once an un- lucky shell-less slug crept into a hive. After having settled him with their stings, the bees varnished him carefully over with this same propolis, to prevent his becoming unpleasant in the dog-days. Another, confiding apparently in hig impenetrable shell, an impudent, idle, yet honey-loving snail,* thinking to plunder their stores, appeared on the threshold of their dormitory — to learn, alas! most un- expectedly, a new use for this wonderful composition ; the bees actually glued him down to the ground, at the edges of his armour, as firm and immoveable as a rock, before he had time even to explain that he was but looking in, and intended to go back again instantly. Propolis has a remarkably rapid arying property. Although when first procured from the tree it is plastic, soft, and can be easily removed in threads like birdlime, yet, in a very short time after it has been taken from the secreting sur- face of its native tree, it becomes hard and comparatively brittle. So rapid is this change, that the bees who are engaged in collecting propolis are forced to gather it about noon-day, when the sun is at its height, as the heat of the sun softens it for the time ; they are furthermore obliged to work with great rapidity, and hurry homewards directly they have taken a cargo, as, even in the short space of time which their flight homeward consumes, the propolis often becomes so hard, that they can scarcely detach it from their hair-covered baskets. * While decoying moths at night by means of a fragrant and inr toxicating mixture of beer, sugar, and rum, spread upon the trees, I seldom found one of the trees without one or more large gray slugs already busily devouring the sweet deception, and several more de- scending from the branches, eager to join in the feast. CG liBES. Bees are so fond of this their veg-etable mortar, that they will never commence the work of a hive until every crevice lias been carefully filled up. It is, therefore, a considerable saving- of time to the bee-keeper, to take care that his hives are closely made, and particularly that they fit quite accurately to the surface of the footboard, as the bees will waste very much of their valuable time in stopping- gaps. Wooden hives, in particular, should be carefully examined, as either the footboard itself, or the bottom of the hive, is apt to shrink, if it has been made of ill-seasoned wood, or has not been clamped. The mansion thus in process of erection, the storehouses thus bein^ rapidly filled, the great mysteries of life and reproduction beg-in to evolve their wondrous phenomena. In our respect for the wisdom of some of our ancestors, we cannot but transcribe their theory of the propagation of bees. We have said " theory," but that is hardly the right word ; for the following " experiment of the gene- ration of bees," was, it appears, 'practised by '^ that great husbandman of Cornwall; old Mr, Carew, of Anthony." Thus run the directions : — ^^ Take a calf, or rather a sturk (steer), of a year old, about the latter end of April, bury it eight or ten days till it begin to putrify and corrupt ; then take it forth of the earth, and opening* it, lay it under some hedge or wall where it may be most subject to the sun ; by the heat whereof it will (a great part of it) turn into mnggots, which (without any other care) will live upon the remainder of the corruption. After a while, when they begin to have wings, the whole putrified carcase should be carried to a place prepared where the hives stand ready, to which, being- perfumed with honey and sweet herbs, the maggots, after they have received their wings, will resort." This, it appears, was a practical man's method of proceeding to stock his hives. Need we, then^ wonder at the ancient poet, whose guidance he was (perhaps unwittingly) following, Virgil, who has given similar directions, only more poetically expressed, in his fourth Goorgic : — BEES. 27 " Firet in a place, by nature close, they build A narrow flooring, guttered, wattled, and tiled. In this four windows are contrived, that strike To the four winds opposed, their beams oblique. A steer of two years' old they take, whose head Now first with burnish'd horns begins to spread ; They stop his nostrils, whUe he strives in vain To breathe free air, and struggles with his pain. Ivnocked down he dies ; his boAvels bruised within Betray no wound, a thin, unbroken skin. Extended thus, in their obscene abode They leave the beast ; but first sweet flowers are strowed Beneath his body, broken boughs and thyme, And pleasing cassia, just renewed in prime. This must be done, ere spring makes equal day, When western winds on curling waters play ; Ere painted meads produce the flowery crops, Or swallows twitter in the chimney-tops. The tainted blood in this close prison pent Begins to boil, and through the bones fejrment. Then, wondrous to behold, new creatures rise, A moving mass at first, and short of thighs ; Till shooting out with legs, and imped with wings, The grubs proceed to bees with pointed stings ; And more and more afiecting air, they try Their tender pinions, and begin to fly. At length, like summer-storms from spreading clouds, That burst at once, »nd pour impetuous floods ; Or flights of arrows from the Parthian bows When from afar they gall embattled foes ; With such a tempest through the skies they steer, And such a form the winged ofispring bear." Dkyden's Viegil, Georg. IV. 1. 417. Need we wonder that the poet should take on trust in his day, what " that great husbandman of Cornwall " would recommend to others, after trialj in his day, so many cen- turies later? Let us now see if we cannot trace, with tolerable clearness, nature's own method of proceeding*. It is not easy to follow the operations of the bees during* the incidents we are about to describe, but patient observers have succeeded in doing* so ; and with their aid, then, let us again turn our eyes inwards upon the hive. Behold the queen-bee, attended by her guard of some dozen bees, moving- slowly and with regal dignity among her subjects. You cannot mistake her for an instant, even if you did not ry BEES. see how the way opened for her movements, how all the heads of the workers are inclined towards her as she moves^ and how fondly they caress her with their antennae in passing- ; for she is in person every (fraction of an) inch a queen, and bears the stamp of sovereignty upon her in most legible characters. She is larger than any of her subjects, ;is well as more elegant in her form. The abdomen, espe- cially, is much long-er than in the bees around her : the wings much shorter, and the legs and antennae of a paler colour. The queen bee is not so much larger than her subjects as is generally supposed. An old queen certainly is considerably Lu'ger, but the difference consists principally in length, as the drone is in reality a larger insect than the queen. I have often had queen-bees which so closely resembled the ordinary working bees, that none but a practised eye could have dis- tinguished them from the ordinary inhabitants of the hive, and several persons to whom they were shown alive could not for some time be persuaded of their regal station. Yet she is easily distinguished from her subjects by many un- mistakeable signs. Besides those marks of difference given above, her short wings cross shghtly when she is at rest, thus affording an easy method of separating her from the ordinary bees. This shortness of wing also causes her flight to be very different from that of her subjects — her body hangs down rather more than theirs. Her sting is of a curved form, whereas that of the working- bees is straight. The internal anatomy of the queen-bee may be seen in the engraving, p. 35. NoAV that we have been presented to her apiarian majesty as she really is, let us see what opinion older writers held, who were not favoured as we are with all the adjuncts of leaf-hives, mirror hives, and other necessary apparatus for performing- the difficult and dehcate feat of observing the queen-bee. Even in these days, observers are constantly contradicting- each other's researches, and although science has so far ad- vanced in bee-knowledge, yet we are not by any means fully put in possession of the movements of the sovereign of the hive. The object of her mysterious aerial excursion, for ex- ample, can only be conjectured from analog}^, as no telescope lias as yet followed the winged monarch in her flig-lit It is, therefore, no wonder tn-an; men aesutuie oi xne nie^^s j: Ovv BEES. 29 servation which \ve possess, should have also conjectured from analogy. The great difference between our reasoning- and theirs is, that we, among- whom entomolog-y has risen to the rank of a separate science, build our conjectures on the foundation of well known habits of insects, whereas, the older writers, who wei-e unacquainted with entomolog-y, drew their analog-ies from human governments. The reader will see how completely one author has taken human rule as his g-uide. After a long- description of the personal appearance, and presumed orig-in of the hive monarch, he proceeds to observe : — " And if he chance to find among- his young- ones any one that is a fool, unhandsome, hairy, of an angry disposition, ill shapen, or naturally ill conditioned, by the unanimous consent of the rest, he gives order to put him to death, lest his soldiery should be disordered, and his subjects being- drawn into faction, should be destroyed. He sets down a way to the rest, gives order what they shall do — some he com- mands to fetch water, others to make honey-combs within to build them up and g-arnish them ; othersome to g-o and get in provision ; those that are stricken in years he cherisheth at home, the younger he exerciseth in labour and vicissitude of employments ; and although he himself hath immunity from mechanick labour, yet, as cause shall require, he also refuse th not to work, nor doth he ever g-o abroad but for health sake or necessity. If he be by reason of ag-e in health, he marches as g-eneral in the vang-uard of his army, and in person opposeth himself to all encounters ; neither is he borne by his attentants willing-ly, unless it be when he is so old and diseased that he cannot either go or fly. When night comes on, the signal being given by the trumpeter, the common sort are commanded to their lodging, and the watch being- set, every one betakes himself to his rest. As long- as the king- lives, all the swarm enjoys peace, and all things are in quiet, for the drones keep themselves willingly in their own cells, the eldei* bees are content with their own places, nor do the younger run out of their own into the elders' lodgings. The king lives apart from the rest in a more eminent and large palace, with a waxen fence curiously made, compassed about, as it were, with a kind of wall. A little way from him dwell the king's children, to whom, ii' 80 mnz?. tlieir father or mother do but hold up the fing-er (as thoy say), they are husht. But the king* being- dead, the subjects are perplexed, the drones lay their young; ones in the bees cells, and all things are out of order." . . . The author then proceeds to remark how bees are of nine orders, each springing- from a different stock. There are lion-bees, bull- bees, cow-bees, and calf-bees. The king'-bees are those which spring- from the brain of the lion, and are endowed with noble qualities according- to the kingly brain fi-om ^vhich they issued. The noble bees spring- from the other parts of the lion, and the canaille from cows, calves, &c. The author here has made the same mistake as did Shak- speare, who flourished about the same time, in considering the queen bee as the father of the hive. He is sadly puz- zled what to m-ake of the drones, and assigns to them the duties of wet nurses — apparently because he found that they did nothing that he could discover, except faring upon the best of the hive during their sojourn in it. It is another great proof of the genius of Shakspeare, that with such false and absurd accounts as these for his only guide, he has in the description of a hive, which has been before quoted, in- stinctively omitted the erroneous accounts, and merely com- mitted the slight error of mistaking the sex of the regal bee. Perhaps it is to be wished that he had known it, as although Dr. Bevan in his preface has chosen a ver}^ elegant com- parison between the queen-bee and our present queen, yet it is hardly possible that Shakspeare would have omitted such an opportunity for introducing a little delicate flattery towards his sovereign, who has already been so often cele- brated in his works. We will now briefly consider the anatomy of the hive bee, although this little work is wished to be practical, yet as no work can supply every information, or act as a guide under all the various circumstances which must take place in every apiary, it is necessary that the bee-keeper should have some knowledge of bee-anatomy, as without such know- ledge, it is impossible to understand the physiology of the insect, and unless the physiology is understood, it is almost impossible that the management can he properly carried on. No man thinks himself fit to undertake the charge of stableS; unless he is thoroughly acquainted with the BEES. - Ql characters and the external appearance of horses, and also has some knowledg'e of then' complaints or diseases, which presupposes some knowledg'e of their org-ans. Yet every one considers tliat he can keep bees, even if he does not know the difference between the head and the thorax, or considers that the stomach and the honey-bag* are identical. We will, therefore, first take a survey of the external org*ans of the bee. As all insects are, it is divided into three distinct portions^ called the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. On each side of the head are placed the eyes. They are arrang-ed into two clusters, and appear at first sight to be merely two eyes. Those clusters, however, are, in fact» composed of many thousand each, of a hexagonal form, and closely resembling' a honey-comb if placed under a powerful microscope. The surface of the eye is defended from dust, wet, and other annoyances by slightly curved, elastic hairs, springing from the junctions of the angles of the hexagonal eyes. To see the eye properly in the microscope, it must be carefully cleansed from the colouring matter, which will bo found lining its interior, and if then it should prove too opaque, Canada balsam will render it sufficiently transparent for the observer. On account of the projecting hemisphe- rical form of these groups of lenses, the insect is enabled to see on every side without turning its head, a feat, indeedj^ which in the bee is impossible, on account of its shape. The eyes of that most ferocious and ravenous of insects, the tiger-beetle, are remarkably prominent, and the same thing- may be noticed in the swiit and rapacious dragon-fly. Besides these two great groups of composite eyes as they are called, each bee possesses three very small single eyes, called stemmata. These are placed in a triangular position upon the very top of the head, and are so minute that they cannot be seen without the aid of a lens of some power. The iise of the stemmata has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained. The antennae or horns, as they are sometimes called, are organs of considerable importance, but their precise use has never yet been discovered ; some think them to be organs of hearing, others that they serve as guides to the bees in their dark hives, and others, perhaps with more reason, that they are the organs of a sense which we ourselves do not possess, BEKS. jind of wliicli, of course, we are incapable of judging. When an insect is deprived of its antennae, it always appears quite bewildered, and can no longer procure food, guide itself, o? even direct its mouth to the food placed before it. Ants, who also belong to the same order as the bees, constantly touch each other with their antennae as they pass and repass, and seem to make them their means of communicating ideas — how, is unknown. These organs consist of twelve joints in the female, and of thirteen in the male. Of the parts of the mouth generally called the proboscis, some description has already been given. This, together with the principal mandibles or jaws is concealed by the upper lip or labrum when the head is examined from above. The palpi appear just outside the labrum. The palpi, which look like very small antennae, are of consider- able importance. Entomologists are more inclined to give them the name of feelers, than to bestow that appellation upon the antennae, as the insect is always seen to apply them to its food before eating. When deprived of them, the insect does not appear to be thrown into that state of bewilderment, which is caused by the loss of its antennae. In some insects, such as the great water-beetle {Hydrous piceus), the palpi are longer and larger than the antennae. The thorax is joined to the head by the slight throat. This important portion of the bee's body is principally in- tended to bear the organs of locomotion. The thorax is divided into three parts, which in beetles where the skeleton is harder than in the bees, can be separated from each other. Of these the first segment, called the prothorax, bears the first pair of legs, the second segment, called the mesothorax, bears the first pair of wings (which are analogous to the wing-covers of beetles) and the second pair of legs, while the third segment, called the metathorax, bears the second pair of wings, and supports the third pair of legs. The thorax, also, seems to protect the great mass of nervous cords which meet just below the first pair of legs. The leg- is composed of several joints, and terminated by two hooks, by means of which it is enabled to hang to any substance, as the sloth hangs on a tree, without requiring to use mus- cular exertion. There is, also, at the sole of the foot, an apparatus similar to that of the fly, by which it can attacii T1ECS. 33 itself to a smooth surfuce, by exhausting- the air after the manner of a sucker. The abdomen is the last portion of the body. It is composed externally of ring's, diminishing* in diameter, and sliding- one witliin another in order to shorten or lengthen the body. It contains all the most important vital organs, which will be described in the paragraph on the internal anatomy of the bee. Along the two sides of the abdomer. are ranged the spu'acles, or apertures leading to the respira- tory apparatus. The whole of the body is covered more o^ less thickly with hairs, which when placed under a good microscope prove to be straight and branched, so that a group of hairs looks very like a clump of bamboos. We will now proceed to the examination of the internal anatomy of the bee. As the anatomy of the humble-bee is precisely the same as that of the hive queen-bee, I have preferred taking* it as an example, because its very much superior size enables the various organs to be seen without magnifying, an assistance which should never be had re- course to unless necessary. On laying open the abdomen of a female humble-bee, the first thing that strikes the observer will be the masses of fat obscuring- the organs. As bees are not visited by the ichneumon-flies, like the caterpillars, whose fat is so often kindly cleared away by the ichneumon-larva, the first thing the dissector must do, is to free the organs from every par- ticle of fat, which by the assistance of a needle and a very fine pair of forceps, he can easiiy do. The following organs Vvill then lie open to him. Connected with the proboscis, and passing* completely through the thorax, will be seen the tube called the oeso- phagus, or gullet, which serves to convey the food into the next part of the digestive apparatus, the honey-bag. This important organ acts as a reservoir from which the food may either be returned to the mouth, or pass into the true stomach, just below. The honey, when it is taken from the Howers, is stored in the honey-bag until the bee reaches home. In that organ it appears to undergo a change, which gives it the peculiar opacity and consistence so character- istic of good honey. In fact, the honey -bag performs much the same functions in the bee, that the ruminating* stomaclj 34 t,,j, does in the cow. At the lower part of the honey-bag-, tho valve is seen which admits the food througli a short neck to the true stomach. This is a c^'lindrical organ increasmg' in diameter slig-htly after leaving' the honey-hag-, and hound hy innumerable muscular rings. When the food has reached this point it is heyond the control of the hee, and cannot he regurgitated. In this organ the honey or other food under- goes that change which causes it to he secreted as wax. Lastly, the stomach emerges into the intestine, which after making- a few convolutions, passes straight to the extremity of the abdomen. The organs of reproduction now engage our attention. Passing from the upper part of the ahdomen, are seen two slender, slight, thread-like organs, separating near the base of the honey-hag into a number of tubes slightly swelled here and there. These are the ovaries or egg- reservoirs, which meet and form a common oviduct, or egg- tube. Opening into the oviduct is a wonderful piece of apparatus called the spermatheca, which retains the vivify- ing fluid, and appears, as far as we can see_, to render each €gg fertile, as it passes the opening. The next object that strikes our attention is the sting. This organ, which has been described in another place, is situated at the extremity of the abdomen. Rather to the left of the sting, the poison-bag is seen, which is supplied with its irritating contents by means of two very fine thread-like glands, which may be seen springing from its summit. The nerves have been removed, as the mass of ganglia, or collections of nervous matter, would have ob- scured the oesophagus entirely. Suffice it to say, that the nervous S3'stem of the bee consists of a number of ganglia, of which some very large ones occupy the head, to supply the organs of sight, smell, and touch, while others are placed at intervals down the thorax and abdomen, sending- out small nerves to the parts to which they supply feeling. A great collection of ganglia is found in the thorax, and to destroy this part of the nervous system is the most merciful way of killing insects. A smart pmch with the forceps will mostly ■cause the death of an insect, in the most instantaneous inanner. Insects have no real brain, that is, they seem to liave no nervous centre like the brains of higher animals. BEES, 33 The respiratory apparatus in insects is composed of tubes. These tubes open down the sides of the abdomen, in val- vular apertures, closely fring-ed with elastic hair, called spiracles, or breathing-holes. The spiracle^ communicate -vdth two large tubes that pass along- the sides of the abdo- men, and from them other tubes spring, traversing every portion of the body, serving as ligatures to keep the internal organs in their proper places, and piercing to the extremities even of the feet and antennse, so that an insect may be said to breathe with every portion of its body. The cylindrical form of the tubes, together with the necessary flexibility, is preserved in a most wonderful manner. The breathing tubes are composed of several membranes. Between these a fine and very elastic thread is coiled, closely resembling a wire bell-spring. This arrangement preserves the tube"?; from being flattened, or contracted by any movement ; while at the same time, so strong is this thread, that it can easily be removed from the tubes without breaking. I have removed two inches of the spiral thread of the breathing tubes of the humble bee. Even when separated from the tubes, the thread retains its elasticity, and when released from the forceps, springs into a spiral form again. .rig. 11.) Anatomy of Hmnbie Bi-v.* • From an original dissection. BEES. The re.^pective appearances of the qiieen^ the worker (or honey-collector, whether known by the name of wax- worker, or sculpturer, or niirse-bee), and the drone, of whom we shall speak by and by, are shown in the accompanying- sketch. The drone-bee is even more easily recoi^-nised than ri-. 1-2. The three descriptions of bees of a liive. The left hand figure is the Drone, the right hand drawing represents the Queen, and the Worker occupies the centre. the queen. Its eyes are much larger than those of the ordinary bees, and almost meet at the back of its head. Its body is wide and blunt, its proboscis is shorty its head is large and round, and it has no sting. This is the male insect, and each hive contains from 1,500 to 2,000 of them, according to its strength. When Hying it makes a deepei hum than the worker-bees. The working-bees, which compose the great mass of the inhabitants of the hive, are the manufacturers of the wax and honey, and architects of the comb. Each worker is peculiarly fitted for the labour which it performs. On the tibia, or shank of the hind-leg, is a little basket, in which it conveys its burden home. It is also furnished with a receptacle within its body, wherein it, carries home the honey obtained from the tlovvers, and from which it can at »\ny time rt^ect the contents, a power absolutely neces- BEES. 37 Gary, as it has to fill the cells with honey which it has fir.st swallowed. It is also furnished with a pair of very ])ower ful jaws, moving- laterally. These jaws are extensively used in the architecture of the combs, and general economy of the hive. Its sting* (which is described more largely in another place) is straight. The most curious circum- stance about the worker-bees is, that that they are all undeveloped females, and can, when in their larva state, be metamorphosed into queens. Now and then a worker- bee becomes partly fertile ; but it never lays any but drone og-gi:i. This partial fertility is probably occasioned by some of the royal bee-bread dropping into the cells of those worker-bees located near the royal cell. More probability attaches itself to this theory from the circumstance, that these fertile workers never appear except in hives where the bees have lost their queen, and have been obliged to elevate a worker larva to the regal throne. The question of the sex of the worker-bees was curiousiy enough established by the dissections of a young lady, whose loss is to be deplored by all naturaHsts, Mdlle. Jurine From some cause or other, most probably from want of equal skill, I have never been able to verif}^ her dissections to my own satisfaction, the small masses, at firyt supposed to be undeveloped ovaries, generally turning out, when e/.- amined by the microscope, to be congeries of air-tubes. In the museum of the College of Surgeons are several prepa- rations, which are asserted to show the undeveloped ovaries of the worker-bee. Look again into the hive. The queen is about to com- mence her maternal labours in the deposition of eggs, fron. which are to issue the future community, or possibly half-a- dozen communities. To shut out from prying eyes, and invest the whole affair with the solemnity and si)lendou! befitting the occasion, a living curtain is formed impene- trable to all but the most patient, skilful, and fortunate eyes. The bees attach themselves to each other in the mode be- fore pointed out ; but then the object was to form a ladder, now it is a screen required. So they connect themselves into a dense mass, a perfect " grape-like cluster, or living- garland." This is done with such wonderful skill and ease, that bees can fly off from the cluster, even from its 3S BEEO. ver}' centre, without exciting confusion in the group. Tijo strength of the topmost hees is here shown even more strikingly than in the formation of the ladder ; the bees at the top have, in these moveable clusters, nothing to take hold of to enable them to support the weight of their com- rades, and appear to need nothing. Possibly, as Mr. Wild- man supposes, they may possess some power of distension, and so, like fishes, buoy themselves up. Although the strength of insects is surprising when contrasted with the comparative strength of the larger animals, I am inclined to think that muscular strength has little to do with the power of the bees to sustain a great weight by their claws. The shape of the claws is such that if a dead bee is taken, and its feet placed in the proper position, it will hold up not only its own weight, but that of several other bees added to it. Of course by its muscular power it can so arrange the claws as to enable it to sustain the greatest amount of weight compatible with the integrity of the claw ; but when its feet are once fixed, the bee displays its strength not so much in retaining its hold, but by its power of releasing itself at will. Most people have felt the struggles of a cockchafer to get loose from the entanglements in which it has involved itself by flying heedlessly against unwary passengers in the dusk of the evening, and must have noticed how firmly the claws retained their hold, even though -".he terrified insect was perfectly willing to loosen them. Thus attended, and amid all the rejoicings of her sub- jects, the queen proceeds to a cell, thrusts her head into it to see if it be quite as it ought to be, which of course it is among such zealous and industrious housewives, then turn- ing, she inserts her abdomen, leaves an egg in an upright position, fixed by a glutinous matter, and moves on to repeat the operation in another cell. The fecundity of the queen partakes almost of the miraculous. Huber speaks of 200 eggs daily being laid; Schirach, of 100,000 in a season; whilst a correspondent of the Gardener^ Chronicle has had queens that have laid 1,000 a-day for three months m succession. Almost incredible as this account may appear, the queen- bee is far surpassed in fecundity b}' the queen of the ler- mite, or wliite-ant, as it is often erroneously called. Tlii:^ creature, who measures in her virgin state about half-an- inch in leng-th, and proportionahly wide — not quite so large as a small wasp — when laying-, measures three inches in length, and about an inch in diameter. The whole of this enormous mass is composed of eggs, which are laid at the rate of sixty per minute. During a considerable period the eggs of workers alone are deposited, or in other words, eggs are deposited in the cells for the worker-bees only, which form the great mass of the cells, as the workers form the great bulk of the bee community. But after a certain time the queen begins to lay eggs in the cells of the droneS;^ which are larger and more substantial than the cells of the workers, and later built. Their position is generally near the bottom of the combs, And now, hj what mysterious law is it that twenty days after these drone-cells receive their egg^, from wliich are to spring* the males of the future community, the worker-bees begin the erection of a still more stately species of cell for the deposition of the eggs that are to become queens, and to be fertilized by the said drones ? Who can tell ? These royal cells show how little of mere routine, or slavish adherence to instinct, guides the bees. They differ in their numbers in different hives, from three or four, to twelve or thirteen ; they are situ«<;4}d frequently at the sides of the combs, but are also found in the very centre, standing erect like a queenly palace, nearlj two inches high, and erected with a most loyal disregard of all those habits of economy which the bees show in so striking a manner in their meaner erections. Thus, for instance, they will use as much wax to build one of the royal cradles, as would suffice for a hundred of the others* The form of the royal cell is not unlike that of a pear suspended perpendicularly, with the sides or walls full of holes. For four days the egg of the worker-bee remains appa- rently unchanged. But the vital principle is at work :vithin, and at the appointed time, on the fifth day, a small \vhite worm, with several ventral rings, appears at the bottom of each cell. This increases in size, nourished probably by the whitish transparent fluid in whicli it 40 "RrES. ly.£. IS. Eoyal cell. f!oats, until its extremities touch the sides of the cell, when they curve, and beg'in to approach each other, until the}' almost form a ring-. The nurse-bees now come to feed it with bee-bread ; the little worm, larva, mag'g-ot, or grub (for by all these names it is known), opens its lateral pincers, and the precious morsels are eagerly devoured. Reaumur sujiposes that this bee-bread is no long-er what it at first was, 'farina merely, but that it is mixed in the stomach of the nursing--bees with honey and water. He even thinks the nurse-bees can alter the re- la-tive strength, as it were, of this mixture, to suit the strong- or more delicate stomachs of the nurslings, as they are more or less advanced in growth. We shall see, by and by, that they can not only do this, but have important objects to attain in so doing-. The larvas soon show the effects of such good feeding-, by nearly filling- up the whole space of their cells. That is the signal for a new operation. The nursing--bees now seal up the cells with a light-brown cover. No more luxurious feeding- at present. The larva BEES. 41 must Leg'in to work. It is the lot of all, bees as well as men. Happily for the bees, they seem never to have any doubt, or to make any fuss, about their " mission," strang-e, and wonderful, and beautiful as are the operations they have to perform. To live, to know their work, and to do it, rre with them convertible propositions. The larva now begins to line the cell with a silky film, alternately shorten- ing- and lengthening- its body in the process. This silky thread proceeds from the middle part of the under lip, and is composed of two threads gummed tog-ether as they issue ii'om the two adjoining- orifices of the spinner. The larva then encloses itself in a cocoon, after the fashion of the silk- worm, and looks not very unlike an Egyptian mummy in its swaddHng-clothes. This process completed, in aoout thirty- six hours, it is no long-er a larva, but a pupa or nymph. At last comes the hour of true birth, when the young- imago, as it is now called, shall breathe the pure air of the external world, and bask in the ra^^s of the g-olden sunsbine. On the twenty-first day after the deposition of the eg-g-s, tbe young- ones, of a grayish colour, may occasionally be seen in front of the hive, undergoing the process of purification at the hands of the nurse-bees. After the pupa-bee has passed through its various changes, its first movement towards entering its new state of existence, is to gnaw through the cover of the cell. This it does without much difhculty; but releasing itself from the cell is quite another matter, for the other bees do not c^ive it the slightest assistance towards freeing- itself from its embarrassments. An accurate observer has repeatedly seen an unibrtunate bee, after many struggles, enabled to poke its head out of the cell, and look round upon the new world presented to its gaze, when just as it was on the point of forcing- its shoulders out, a body of unfeeling worker-bees ran over it in the pursuit of their daily avoca- tions, and compelled the unfortunate insect to dive back into the cell from which it had so recently emerged. Again and again had the j)oor bee to retreat just as it had elfected its escape, and not until after numerous interrup- lions of the same nature, were its persevering endeavours crowned with success. The nurse-bees pay the most un- rt^ijiil.tini;- attention to the vouni*- bees, f'om the time that 42 BILKS. t.ue egg- is hatched until the cell is closed; t)ut then thoy appear to think no more about the matter, and leave the infant bee to its fate with the most philosophical indii- lerence. This only relates to worker-bees, for the nurse- bees have repeatedly been seen to assist the drones, and their assiduity in attending- on the young queens is quite as great at the time of their emerging as when they were first hatched. Some days elapse before the young worker-bees and drones can fly. As to the queen, special provision is made, as we shall see presently. The internal changes of the bee during this period are no less remarkable than the external changes, and are exceed- ingly interesting to the dissector. The tube, enormously large in the middle, and very small at each end, which at first formed the entire digestive system, gradually contracts in diameter; the part immediately behind the thorax be- gins to swell at one side, and is gradually changed into the honey -bag ; the intestine first makes a small bend out of its straight course, then makes one twist, and then another, until the whole beautiful machinery is completed. In the Museum of Anatomy, at Oxford, is a complete series of dissections to illustrate the changes of the digestive organs. If any of my readers should wish to dissect bees for them- selves, I would recommend them to begin with the humble- bee, as its much greater size renders it easier to the un- practised dissector, and its internal anatomy is almost pre- cisely the same as that of the queen hive-bee. Queen-bees are too scarce to waste; but female humble-bees may be obtained any day. I do not know a more beautiful sight than a series of well-executed dissections of the humble- bee. By taking a nest they may be found in all stages, and a few weeks spent in careful examination and dissection (always taking care to sketch, if possible, any circumstance that seems remarkable) will give more real knowledge on the subject than reading a host of books. Few tools are requisite. A pair of Beale's dissecting scissors, a pair of fine forceps, a magnifjing-glass, and a few needles, are all the requisites. The insect should be fastened to a plate of cork loaded with lead, and sunk under water or spirit, from which it must never be removed, or the delicate oi'gan-j, deprived of their original attachments, and burdened with BEES. 415 the v/eig'ht of water hang-ing- upon them, Vv-ill burst, imd render iill the labour of the operator useless. The people thus rapidly coming- into existence, where are its future governors f* Watch the old queen as the spring* advances, the period when all these changes are at their climax, and you will he more than ever astonished at the wondrous phenomena of the bee-mind. See how restlessly she runs about. Now she seems about to go on laying- eggs ; but hurriedly withdraws without doing so. jNo wonder she is agitated. She is about to abdicate; not about to lay down the cares and glory of sovereignty, cer- tainly ; but about to quit her established, peaceable, and quiet kingdom, to go she knows not whither, with a part of her subjects, exposed to she knows not what accidents before she may again find herself by her comfortable, regal, warm comb (her fire) side. But she respects the laws of nature, and obeys them. In those cells which she run^i over in so much agitation, larks her successor, waiting but for the proper hour to ascend the throne. How easily she could tear open the cells and destroy her! But a power greater than ambition withholds her. The bees no longer pay her their usual attention. An idea of divided alle- giance seems troubling them. They get as excited as their queen. Some terrible calamity — civil war, perhaps — im- pends. Oh, no ! the bees are at once too sensible and toa unselfish. They divide — perhaps take leave of each other affectionately — and off goes the first swarm, led by their reluctant but duty-obeying monarch. The swarm does not go oft^ at an early period of the day, or at a very late one, but generally starts from its parent hive between ten in the morning to three or four in the afternoon, although instances have been known of swarms starting as early as seven in the morning, and as late as five in the afternoon. This instinct is useful enough to the pro- prietor who is anxiously expecting a swarm, as he need not commence his watch before seven or eight, and is released about four. It seems rather strange that the rightful queen should always go off with the swarm instead of remaining in office and sending the newly emancipated princess, if she may be so called, to take charge of the swarm. But so it is, and almost every queen-bee owes her throne to usurpation, 44 BEES. and will in all probability, if sli6 lives long- enoug-li, be dis- posse.ssed of it by the same means. She makes a terrii.ile disturbance thoug-h, before sbe does set off; and were the bees possessed of reason, we might almost think that they left the hive for the sake of peace and quietness. At all events the old queen uses her experience to some purpose, for she will not leave her former kingdom unless the day is a very fine one. The succeeding swarms appear to pay less attention to the weather. The^ period of delightful coolness which succeeds a summer storm is a common time for the swarm to rise on the wing. If the bee-keeper thinks that the swarm is starting too soon, he can generally send it back into the hive, by gently sprinkling the cluster of bees as they hang out of the hive, with water from a small watering-pot. The same means have been adopted to make the swarm alight where it was wanted, but as water cannot alwjiys be thrown high enough to reach a swarm on the wing, sand has been found sufficient for the purpose, and the bees, mis- taking it for rain, come down at once and settle in some sheltered place. Some bee-keepers recommend firing a gun, which the bees may possibly mistake for thunder. It is a mistake to suppose that a number of swarms will make the hives richer, as a weak hive will necessarily be a poor one, and in many cases the latter swarms are merely caused by the violent conduct of the young queens, who make such a disturbance in the hive that the bees attach themselves to one of them and leave the hive to avoid these disturbances. Sometimes two or even more queens go with a swarm, ia w^iich case there is a battle royal when they arrive at their new residence. Sometimes, also, two swarms select the same spot for their resting place, when a fight is inevit- able, but it is a general fight, and not confined to the queens only. When the swarm has settled, an empty hive should be placed under them, and the bough on which the bees are clustering sharply struck, when they will fall into the hive, which should be immediately placed on a cloth spread on the ground, and the bees will soon ascend into the hive, which should be previously sprinkled with sugar and ale, or smeared with honey on the inside. if the swarm is too small to make a stronfj; hive it will be BKKS. 45 hotter to send it back ag-ain to its pnrent liive. This can be done bv searching- for, and removing- the queen, when the bees will g'enerally return upon discovering- their loss, or can at all events be taken to the door of the hive, when they will re-enter of their own accord. The proper weig'ht of a swarm is from five to seven pounds, and all swarms under that weig'ht should be imited to others. If the weather is un- favourable after a new swarm is hived, it will be necessary to feed the bees until a change of weather enables them to seek food for themselves, as they have no food in store. Some bee-masters recommend that a newly hived swarm should always be fed for a few days. But bees colonize — not merely emig-rate. It is not merely the young- surplus population that are compelled to g'o forth, but, on the contrary, a mixture of bees of all ag-es, and, no doubt, of all conditions. They do not rush away from home careless of what becomes of them when abroad. They do not trust to bee-gossip of the advantages of this place, or the disadvantages of that; and find out too late how absurd they have been. No, they send out scouts to examine the face of the country, and make them proper reports. Would one could look at a few of the bee " blue-books." As this fact of the scouts has been doubted by some of the bee-men, who seem to think the only way to understand these insects, is to think as meanly as possible of their capacity, we may observe that the following cases are given by Dr. Bevan, on the authority of one of the most accurate and profound of ob- servers, Mr. Knight, from a paper published in the PMloso- pJiical Transactions, in the form of a letter to Sir Joseph Banks. " On one occasion he observed from twenty to thirty bees paying- daily visits to some decayed trees, about a mile distant from his garden; the bees appeared to be busily employed in examining the hollow parts, and particu- larly the dead knots around them, as if apprehensive of the knots admitting moisture. In about fourteen days these seeming- surveyors were followed by a large swarm from his apiary, which was watched the whole way, till it alighted in one of these cavities. It was observed to journey nearly in a direct line from the apiary to the tree. On several similar occasions the bees selected that cavity which Mr. Knight thought best adapted to their use." He noticed at another ^•3 liiiiis time that a tree, after having- been examined and apparently approved, was deserted in favour of a hive ; a circumstance he attributes to long- hereditary habits of domestication. That they do prefer such homes appears tolerably clear, for they will flock to them under unpromising* circumstances, such, for instance, as the hive in question being- strewed over with dead bees. But probably the bees know perfectly well how to estimate the value of such an alarming-looking- spec- tacle ; and can accurately determine whether it was owing" to any peculiar defects in the hive, or simply to some ona or other of those ills to which bees are heir. Mr. Grant, the author of some very interesting papers on bees in the Garde7ier''s Clironicle, witnessed their operations in a case of this kind. " In a quarter of an hour from their taking- possession, they were observed busily employing- bringing- out the dead bees, small fragments of honey-comb, dead insects, and other dirt ; and by the middle of the following day a little conical heap of their cleansings was to be seen on the ground in front of the hive ; before night well loaded labourers were seen entering to repair the dilapidations, and refurnish the empty cells." In the delicate and rather hazardous operation of securing a swarm, it will add considerably to the ease and carefulness of the operator if he is well defended from the bees. There are some persons who may do anything* with bees, such as the celebrated Wildman, who was accustomed to amuse him- self by making' a swarm of bees settle on his chin like a beard, or hang from his hand, together with many other feats of the like nature, but there are many whom the bees detest, and who on that account cannot venture to meddle with a hive. Even the illness of a formerly loved master has been known to destroy the allegiance of his bees, who would not suffer him to handle them until he had perfectly recovered. A bee-dress is therefore requisite. This consists principally of a large piece of gauze or net, tied round a wide- brimmed hat, and fastened securely round the shoulders. The hands should be defended with woollen gloves, whose thickness prevents the sting from reaching the skin, while the bee can easily withdraw its weapon after the attack. The gloves should be drawn over the buttoned cuffs of the ooat. Thus defended the bee-owner may laugh at the BEES. attacks oi a tliousand bees. The hands and face may a« a lurther precaution be rubbed with sweet herbs. It is necT.'S- sary that the brim of the hat be very wide, as otherwise the veil sits closely upon the tip of the nose and the point of the cbin, neither of which, particularly the former, are ag-reeaole places to be disfigured with the sting* of a bee. If at any time a bee succeeds in fixing* its sting, there is no better cure than a little ammonia or hartshorn rubbed on the place. Jf'^ bee-keeper should be without a small bottle of harts- iiorn, which must be always kept carefully stopped. The swarm once resettled in their new habitation, their labours begin with the construction of the comb in the mode we have already described in the preceding* pag-es. But the round of the yearly phenomena in the old hive is not yet completed. We must see what passes in the hive after the departure of the first swarm or colony, which gene- rally takes place in the morning*, or middle of the day, when a g-reat number of the bees are abroad, collecting honey. Stirring* news for them to receive as they return to the hive ! However, there is no time for lamentation ; no good in dis- order. So, g-radually, quiet is restored. And then we may see the nurse-bees once more at work, engaged not only in tending the ordinary young, but in what may be called the culminating point of their annual labours, the helping forth into the world the royal scions, and from which they will supply their own queenless realm. They accordingly scrape away fiom one of the royal cells the wax that has been so lavishly bestowed upon it. Doubt not but they know whicli is the right one, that is to say, where lies the oldest of the young unborn queens. And here is exhibited another re- markable example of the bee-provision. The eggs in the royal cells were all laid with an interval of at least a day be- tween each. Now that they are coming to maturit}'' accord- ingly, they come not altogether, but in due succession, by which means the bees, as we shall see, have time to know how many of them they shall want, and be able to provided accordingly. In due time the royal pupa within obeys th« stirring influences that call upon her to burst her cerement, and she would at once emerge into perfect life, but that the nurse-bees, who keep watch and ward over her, knowing what is £^ood for her better than she does herself as yet, 48 a-'-i^^^ immediately solder over the top of the cell with wax, and ];eep her prisoner for about two days. Why? In order, evidently, that she may not, like the young* bees, be unable to fly when she emerg-es from the hive. And this is not left to guess-work. The bees know accurate!}^ when she is ])repared, and most likely, by means of the quality or nature of the sounds she emits, which to man's gTosser ears come in the shape of a number of monotonous notes, so rapidly repeated as almost to combine into one continuous sound. At last she comes forth in her perfect beauty and power. What an hour is that for the bees ; especially for those in- defatigable, careful, admirable, model matrons and house- wives, the nurse-bees ! We envy Mr. Grant the pleasure he once enjoyed of " having* an excellent view of the young* (jueen, about two inches above the entrance, enjoying and cleaning herself, and receiving great attentions from her subjects." But it is in every sense a spring season, with its changeable weathers and moods. The young queen learns — how, we wish some one would tell us — that there are other young* queens, successors and possible rivals, in the hive. She, too, grows excited, whilst, unlike the old queen, she knows not what to do between conflicting impulses. She rushes to the cells — she will tear them open — she will sting* the tenants to death — she will — but no ; the cells are powerfully guarded, it is for the community to determine in a legitimate mode how these vast questions are to be dealt with ; they warn her away ; they bite her if she resists. She would even be in danger, but that, in case of extremity, she is in possession of some magical words (we tell no fairy- tale) that in an instant render the sentinels motionless. But if, taking advantage of this calm, she again approaches the forbidden ground, they recover themselves, and, in military phrase, do their duty. Huber witnessed this most interest- ing scene more than once. He describes the young* queen at such a time as standing with her thorax against a comb, and crossing hei wings upon her back, keeping* them in motion, but not unfolding them, whilst she emitted the dread mysterious sounds, which were responded to by the weaker and hoarser cries of the yet pent-up unborn queens that she seeks to destroy. And what is it the bees want her to do, but learn the lesson bequeathed to her by her predecessor — BEES. 49 leave the hive with another colony, and reHnquish the rig-hts of sovereig'nty over the parent community in favour of one of her helpless sisters. And so, at last, she departs, and a second colony is speedily in course of establisliment. Possi- bly a third, and yet a fourth, and a fifth, may follow ; the number of swarms being* determined, no doubt, in ordinary circumstances, by the number of the bees, and the heat of the hive. But when the last swarm has departed, and the number of the inhabitants so lessened that the guards of the royal cells can no longer preserve their eflSciency, the re- maining- young- queens emerg-e as they please, two or three at a time, and civil war, alas! does at last take place. But what an admirable mode of making- civil war it is. It is the monarchs who fig'ht, and who are but few in number, and must, therefore, soon bring- the contest to an end; it is the bee-people that look on, quite content to pay allegiance to the conqueror. Of course no bee-subject can thus be in danger, by espousing the wrong side, of losing his property, or his rank, or have his temper exasperated by defeat and humiliation ; the contest affects none of these things. Let us, too, watch the contest. Two young aspirants for the throne are meeting ; they rush at each other ; each seizes with her teeth the antennae of her rival ; they cling in mortal combat so close together that head, belly, and breast are mutually opposed. But nature has made them aware of their value, or possible value, supposing there were no other incipient sovereigns in the hive ; and of the danger of instant death to both, should they in that position launch at each other the fatal dart. So they separate by a tacit mutual consent, and would apparently leave the combat to be de- termined at some other time. But that will not do for the bees. They can stand no shilly-shallying in the matter. They must and will know who is to be their ruler. Is government to stand still because the would-be governors are cowards ? Certainly not. So the rivals are again driven together into the area, no matter how often the queens seek to evade the mortal issue, until at last the stronger one seizes the other by the wing, curls her extremities under the body, and infiicts the death-pang. The constitution of the queenrbee appears to be mucli stronger than that of the ordinary bees. When a drone bee £ UO BEES. is pierced witli a sting, he dies almost immediately, but tbo queen, althoiig'li she is completely disabled, does not actually die for several hours, but remains crawling- about the hive in a state of utter debility, while the victorious queen, knowing- that her late opponent is incapable of doing- any mischief, quietly lets her crawl about as much as she likes, and disdains to attack her a second time. She is now un- questioned mistress of the hive. Love succeeds to w^ar. The Amazon of the hour changes for an equally brief period, to the tender virgin, whom many aspire to woo and win. High in the air, where no eyes may follow, the drones pre- pare her nuptial couch. Before she ascends, she looks carefully around her, perhaps to assure herself against pry- ing- eyes, perhaps to know her own kingdom again, of which she has yet had so little experience. A few coy half-flights now take place, as though her mind misgave her, and, at last, she rises, describing in her flight large horizontal circles, until she is beyond the ken of human eyes. She returns in about half an hour, and so ends her brief time of love. Henceforward she is the queen and the mother (literally) of her people, and exhibits accordingly, ever afterwards, the gravity and decorum suitable to her exalted position. Although the queen-bee is really the mother of the hive, this privilege of hers is now and then usurped by a subject. It does sometimes happen that the worker-bees become fertile and lay eggs as well as the queen. This curious fact serves to prove the assertion that worker-bees are but undeveloped females. The fertile worker, however, deposits only eggs which become drones. The fiict of their fertility is accounted for by supposing that some of the food intended for the royal nursling, and which is more pungent and stimulating than the food of the ordinary bees, has by the clumsiness of the nurse-bees been dropped into their cells while they were in their larva state. This conjecture is rendered more probable by the fact that those fertile workers invariably issue from cells near those fortunate bees who have been transformed into queen-bees by the ordinary pro- cess. When it so happens that the lawful sovereign of the hive has not been impregnated within twenty days after her emerging from her cell, the eggs which she lays will produce nothing but drones. The eggs producing drones -BEES. 52;' nre in all cases laid late, but it does appear a very sing-ular fact that a delay of so sliort a period should metamorphose the whole of the contents of the ovaries into male egg's. Hiiber conceived that the drones appeared thus late on ac- count of the young queens. A sad business remains behind. The post of queen's- favourite has always been an honour of dubious value, often of tragic ending, even among mankind ; with bees it is in- evitably a fatal destiny. No sooner is the business of swarm- ing ended, and the worker-bees satisfied there will be no lack of fertile queens, than issues the terrible edict for the massacre of the drones. Poor fellows ! It is to be hoped they comfort themselves with the reflection that their fate is an everlasting homily, presented by nature in dogmatical but most effective fashion, of the uselessness of all who labour not for their living. If one must die for the good of one's kind, by all means let it be as a martyr. Poor fellows! how they dart in and out, and up and down the hive, in the vain hope of escape. The workers are inexorable. Huber tells us the latter plant their stings so deeply—for the most part between the segments of the abdomen — that they can- not extricate themselves without turning as upon a pivot- The cruelty apparent in the fierceness of the attack is per- haps onl}^ kindness, for the wound is immediately fatal : the drones expand their wings, and die. All the drones, how- ever, are not stung to death. Some are merely disabled by the workers, who bite and injure the roots of their wings so as to prevent them from taking to flight, while others appear to be merely expelled from the commimity and escape un- hurt, although they are too wise to attempt to return ; at all events, whether stung, maimed, or expelled, they all perish, and probably the fate of those who perish within the hive is to be preferred to that of the unfortunate bees who suffer a lingering death from cold or hunger, as they can find no warm hive to shelter them, and do not know how to seek honey from flowers, as they have always fed from the stores at home. The unfortunate drones do not resign themselves to their fate as meekly as might be expected, but offer a most vigorous resistance to their murderers. Their struggles, are of course vain, for they are overpowered by numbers,, and their jaws and wings, however powerful, can tlttj.fipprlx ILLINOIS LIBRARY ^^ BEES. resist the active little \vorking--bee who is, in addition to these weapons, armed with its formidable sting-. The instrument of all this slaiig'hter, the sting, is certainly iJne of the most beautiful and perfect weapons in creation. Look at the edge of a razor, or a needle's point, and a bee's sting-, under the microscope, and then perhaps some idea of ■^.ts exquisite character may dawn upon the mind. Whilst the razor-edge looks like the back of a stout knife, villainously made, too blunt and uneven to cleave a billet of wood ; whilst the point of the needle appears to be some quarter of an inch broad, and of irregular shape, full of holes and scratches, the sting- shows everywhere the most consummate workman- ship, ending- in a point that even when so hig'hly magnified, still appears fine and sharp. Yet this penetrates instantly the comparatively thick skin of a man's hand. And this again is but the scabbard or sheath of still more delicate in- struments, namely, two bearded darts. With regard to this curious instrument, the sting-, it may be as well to mention that no insects except the Hymenoptera possess it, and of those only the females are thus armed, the males in all cases being- havmless. Moreover, comparatively few of the Hy- menoptera possess a true sting-, by which is meant, a sting; that can penetrate, and instil poison into the wound. Many hymenopterous insects, such as the ichneumon flies, have the sting- enormously developed, in some reaching- more than an inch in length, but these are unable to penetrate even the most delicate skin with their apparently formidable weapon, which is only used for depositing- their eggs in a proper locality. The sting- acts thus : — When the bee is about to sting-, the sheath is first thrust in to make an opening ; then follows one of the darts, penetrating- a little farther into the flesh, and holding- by the four beards on its outer side ; then the other makes a still farther advance, and so they progress alternately until they acquire a firm hold of the oftending* body. Lastly, there issues into the wounds thus made, a poison from the reservoir at the base of the sheath. The poison which renders the trifling- wound caused by the sting to be so painful, is secreted in two thread-shaj^ed glands lying- along the intestine. These glands pour the poison into a small bag-shaped receptacle at the base of the sting,*witb which it is connected by a short duct, and by means of which BEES. 53 duct the poison is conducted into the canal of the sting*. As Paley has justly observed, " the machinery would have been ineffective without the rankling* poison; the poison could not have been used unless some opening* were made for it : a striking* example, indeed, of the union of chemistry and mechanism." The pain of the bee's sting" may be considerably lessened by a few very simple precau- tions. If the pigmy but formidable assailant be permitted cpiietly to withdraw its sting, the smart will be much relieved, and will wholly disappear if a little hartshorn be applied to the wound. If, however, the bee has inserted its sting* and left it behind, in a part that can be moved about, as in the hand, if it is so held that the poison-bag* of the sting* hangs downwards, very little poison will enter the wound. I was once attacked by a bee which settled on my thumb, aud then Hew off, leaving* its sting* inserted in the skin. I was not aware that the bee had used its sting* at all, until convinced by actual inspection. The base of the sting* was then hang- ing* downwards and caused no pain, but when in the course of inspection the point of the sting* became lower than its base, the smart very soon showed that the poison had begun to pour into the wound. Upon again inverting* it, and im- mediately taking* out the sting*, very little inconvenience was felt. After extracting* a sting it is useful to press the barrel of a key firmly round the part. This precaution will prevent the poison from spreading, and also bring* it more surely in contact with the hartshorn which has been placed upon it, or will g*uard it until the hartshorn can be applied. In the absence of hartshorn, any alkaline substance will alleviate the smart, as the poison is of an acid nature, and is neutra- lized by the alkali. Common soda will ansv/er tolerably well, but hartshorn is the best remedy, and a supply should always be carried about the person in a small bottle, when any operations against bees, wasps, or hornets, are in progress, as even the armour of a bee-dress does sometimes suffer damages which permit the entrance of an infuriated bee, who will be certain to employ its sting* in a most uncom- fortable manner. Soap has been tried with some success, and the leaf of the common dock, which is so useful as a remedy against the stings of the vegetable wasp, the nettle^ is no ineffectual remedy. Si BEES. The ordinary tenor of the bees' unwritten constitution regarding- the succession to the throne having- been thus indicated, there remains to ask what do the}"" do in case of accident, supposing their queen to be lost or dead, and no other young* queens forthcoming from the royal cells ? This is perhaps, even among so many interesting phenomena as bees afford, the most interesting of all. And first, let us ask how they know when a queen is lost ? Of course if she is lying dead before them, they can at once perceive the extent of their calamity, and very touching is the mournful respect they pay to her deceased body. But how is it that in a hive, say of twenty thousand bees, the whole are in a state 'of profound agitation very soon after her abstraction? It has been said, that if they do not touch her with their antennae -occasionally they at once conclude she is lost. But sureh'' it is not meant to say that twenty thousand bees can be for ever touching the queen in endless and due rotation in order to be satisfied of her presence? Clearly the bees have a language. Look at the many incidents already narrated, for which some kind of language appears indispensable, and without which we cannot imagine their truth. Indeed, there is not one of them in which the supposition of a power of rapid communication from one to many does not seem in- volved. Ruber's experiment showed, we think, that the bees have a language, and that the antennae form the organ. He divided the bees of a hive into two portions — so that no physical communication could take place. The bees, where the queen was not, soon grew agitated, and after waiting a due time, three or four hours usually, evidently said to them- selves, ^' Our queen is lost; let us make another," and set to work accordingly. How, we shall show presently. Huber then repeated the experiment, but opened a communication through a grating wide enough for the antennae to pass through. All remained perfectly quiet. Every bee's loyal heart remained placid and content. Now, how could this happen except in one or other of these three modes ? The queen must have come to the grating, and remained there while every one of the bees in the sundered portion came and touched her Avith his antennie ; or the bees knew positively from each other there was nothing the matter; or lastly, and this is the most rational supposition, they took it for SEES. 55 granted, as we do, when we hear nothing* about our g'racious sovereign, that all went well. But if, on the contrary, the bees hear the terrible news that their queen is missing, that no one knows where she is, or when she will return — what do the poor distracted creatures do ? Shakspeare says — " The Commons, like an angry hive of bees That want their leader, scatter up and down, And care not whom they sting." Bees' loyalty is no lip loyalty. Dearly do they love her, raid, so far as they can, protect her. Dr. Warder tested this, somewhat cruelly but most decisively. " Having shaken on the grass all the bees from a hive which they had only tenanted the day before, he searched for the queen by stirring amongst them with a stick. Having found and ]:»laced her, with a few attendants, in a box, she was taken into his parlour, where the box being- opened, she and her attendants immediately flew to the window, when he clipped off one of her wings, returned her to the box, and confined her there for above an hour. In less than a quarter of an hour the swarm ascertained the loss of their queen, and, in- stead of clustering together in one social mass, they diffused themselves over a space of several feet, were much agitated, and uttered a piteous sound. An hour afterwards, they all took flight, and settled upon the hedge where they had first alighted after leaving the parent stock ; but instead of hang- ing together like a bunch of grapes, as when the queen was with them, and as swarms usually hang, they extended themselves thirty feet along the hedge, in small bunches of forty, fifty, or more. The queen was now presented to them, when they all quietly gathered round her, witli a joy- ful hum, and formed one harmonious cluster. At night the doctor hived them again, and on the following morning- repeated his experiment, to see whether the bees would rise. The queen being in a mutilated state, and unable to accom- pany them, they surrounded her for several hours, apparently willing to die. with her rather than desert her in distress. The queen was a second time removed, when they spread themselves out again, as though searching for her. Her repeated restoration to them, at different parts of their circle, produced one uniform result; and these poor, loval. ^^' BEES. and Ijving creatures always marclied and coimtermarched every way as the queen was laid ! The doctor persevered in these experiments, till, after five days and nights of fasting-, they all died of famine, except the queen, who lived a few hours long-er, and then died. The attachment of the queen to the working--hees appeared to be equally as strong* as their attachment to her; though offered honey on several occasions during the period of hei separation from them, she constantly refused it, disdaining a life that was no life to her without the company of those which she could not have ! " What did Burke mean by saying- the age of chivalry was gone ? Had he forgotten the bees ? If a new or strange queen be introduced into the hive within two or three hours after they have thus lost the rightful sovereign, she will experience an opposite kind of manifestation of bee-loyalty. However true a queen by nature she may be, she is here a pretender. The bees therefore surround her, and starve her to death : they have too much respect for queens to sting them. So do they check undue monarchical encroachments. On the other hand, if a stranger queen be introduced to them some eighteen hours or so after the loss of their own, they look upon her very differently. She is a benefactor, and wel- comed accordingly. It is true, they are guarded in their first reception ; they treat her as a prisoner for a time, perha})s still hoping their own beloved mistress may yet return, but in the end she receives the allegiance of all. If twenty-four hours have passed since the loss of the ordinary queen, the bees are so delighted at the thought of a suc- cessor to the vacant throne, that a stranger queen is gladly accepted the instant she presents herself. But supposing no such fortunate accident to cotmter- balance the unfortunate one, the bees then resort to the wonderful power that has been given to them of, in a sense, making their own queens. Certain larvae, two or three days old, lying in the ordinary cells, and that woidd in the ordinary course become working-bees, are selected ; three of the cells adjoining to each of them are broken down and formed into one ; the nurses bring the royal bee-bread, or " ro^^al jelly," which is of a more stimulating pungent cha- T-acter than the ordinary composition, and give the larv39 BEES. 57 tbus royally destined a lavish supply. They then pnss through the usual stag'e of pupa to that of perfect queen. The discoverer, or rather, perhaps, the reviver and promul- gator, of this startling- metamorphosis was Schirach, a clergyman of Little Bautzen ; and his experiments have heen confirmed by Huber. The final experiment which proved this most wonderM and astounding- fact, is thus related by himself: — "I put some pieces of comb containing* worker's eg-g-s in the cells, of the same kind as those already hatched, into a hive deprived of the queen. The same day several cells were enlarg-ed by the bees, and converted into royal cells, and the worms supplied with a thick bed of jelly. Five were then removed from these cells, and five common worms, which forty-eig-ht hours before we had seen come from the eg-g*, substituted for them. The bees did not seem aware of the chang-e ; they watched over the new worms the same as those chosen by themselves • they continued enlarg-ing- the cells, and closed them at the usual time. When they had hatched them seven days, we removed the cells to see the queens that were to be produced. Two were excluded almost at the same moment, of the largest size, and well formed in every respect. The time of the other cells having elapsed, and no queen appearing-, we opened them. In one was a dead queen, but still a nymph, the other two were empty. The worms had spun their silk cocoons, but died before passing- into their nymphine state, and presented only a dry skin. I can conceive nothing- more conclusive than this experiment. It demonstrates that bees have the power of converting- the worms of workers into queens, since they succeeded in procuring- queens by operating- on the worms which we ourselves had selected." These facts seem wonderful enoug-h, but Mr. Pettig-rew, a well known practical apiarist, will not allow this strange power to be explained by the assertion that the metamor- phosis is accomplished by permitting- the female grub to attain to its full development, but makes it even more ex- traordinary by denying that it is meiely the eggs of workers that can be thus metamorphosed. He says, " How startling* soever it may seem, how doubtful soever my friends may be, I, were I worth a thousand pounds, and given to betting, ^8 BEE3. would wag-er it all that I would cause the bees to metamor- })liose all the egg's that a queen may lay into drones exclu- sively ; nay, I would cause them to be metamorphosed into working- bees in March, and into drones in April, and so on alternately, and a few into queens at any time."* This is a point to which it would be well if scientific men would give renewed attention. All the known facts appear at present to favour Mr. Pettigrew's statements. Although it may appear that as the bees are indued with 80 much ingenuity, and have so many methods of procuring a new monarch, in place of the one lost, yet it does sometimes, although very seldom happen, that the queen perishes, or is lost, when there are no eggs in the hive fit for transforma- tion. In that case the bees appear to lose all their former ■energies, wander listlessly about the hive and its entrance, collect no new stores of honey, but live upon that which has been already laid up, and when that has been exhausted, either perish of hunger at home, or leave the hive in despair. In such a state, they will, of course, be only too glad to ■welcome a stranger queen, but it is recommended instead of giving- them a new monarch to give the stock to another iiive, when they will at once fall into its ways, and return to their wonted habits of industry and economy. It appears that the bees are occasionally subject to mis- haps in the process of development from the eg^\ On one such occasion, when the larva of a queen was concerned, the incident was marked by some peculiarly interesting* pheno- mena. Keys, the author of a very excellent book entitled ^'The Anti'ent Bee-Master's Farewell" (1796) beheld the whole, and thus recorded his observations : — " I saw the ■workers very busy in demolishing a royal cell, close to the window of a box. It had been sealed up some days : but continuing so beyond the usual period of exclusion, I sus- pected some mischance, and, therefore, was very intent to observe the result. At five o'clock one morning, the workera were very deeply engaged in opening the side of the cell ; in about two hours they had made a chasm large enough to see the nymph, and which they were endeavouring to pull •— s. d. Minorca, -which is the best per lb. 2 6 Narbonne „ 2 Pure native honey in the comb „ 1 Other native honey „ 8 But pure native honey in the comb, obtained in glasses, i^5 sought for the table, and therefore often sells for double the ])rice above-mentioned. We shall only add, that Mr. Smart^ a well-known apiarian, considers hundreds of stocks may be kept where only tens are now to be found, so far as regards the capabilities of support, the main point to be considered. To that subject, therefore, we now turn : — BEE-FLO WEES. Conspicuous among- all the plants loved by bees (for {he best of reasons, that they get the most honey or other sub- stances from them), are clover, wild-thyme, heath, and broom, borage, French buck- wheat, and 31diJotvs leitcan- tlia. This fast may be usefully grown for the bees' especial gratification. It is easily cultivated, blooms from June to November, and is ornamental, in addition to its otlier good qualities. But the most important qualification of bee-pas- turag'e is, that there shall be always something- for the bees, from the ver}^ e;irliest spring to the very latest autumn. I?: ,vill be useful, therefore, to append a LIST OF BEE-FLOWERS. Spring, Erica Carnea* Almond Turnip* Winter aconite* Wallflower* (single) Cabbage, &c* Kosemary* Borage* Strawberry Laurustinus Onion Tulip Hazel* Gooseberry- Hawthorn Snow-drop Apricot Gorse or furze Crocus* Peach Columbine Willow* Apple T.aburnum Osier* Gooseberry* Berberry* Primrose Currant* Bibes Sanguineum Hepatica Laurel Dutch Clover* Violet Summer. Syringa Mignionette* Yellow vetch Helianthemum Blackberry Sainfoin Annual poppy* Chestnut Broom Sea-kale Mallow Wheat French willow Lime* Viper's bugloss* Sweet-briar Hyssop Easpberry* Bean Teazle Symphora Yellow lupine Nasturtium Atituvm. Eacemosa Michaelmas daisy French buckwheat,* Heath* Winter savory sowed at Midsum - Sunflower Purple houseleek mer Lemon tbymo* Ivy Spanish broom* St. John's-wort Honeysuckle Hollyhock* IMelilotus leucanth Those marked with an asterisk are understood to De the flowers especially favoured by the bees. What a choice little garden ibr himself, as well as for his bees, the apiarian may make from the above list, if he does not choose to leave the bees dependent upon the stores of the neighbour- hood at large ! • -' BEES. Should the siirroimdinf^ neig-hbourhood not furnish a suf- ficiency of flowers, the practice of transportation, or shifting-, IS strongly recommended by many authors. It is not in the power of every bee-keeper, but as those whose home is ])hiced by a river or canal, have a means at hand for transport- inj;- their hives, I have chosen to mention it here. In some countries, boats are built expressly for this purpose. They receive a very large number of hives in each boat, and by travelling' for a few hours at night, the bees find themselves in a new country during* their working- hours, and the hives ^re rapidly filled with honey and wax of the best quality. The boatmen receive a small sum for each hive that they transport, but I rather fancy that their ingenuity does not rest until it has extracted some portion of the honey from the best filled hives. The Nile is much used for this pur- pose, and bees traverse the entire length of Egypt during the summer. In China ducks are subjected to the same migratory life, and thrive amazingty. Hives may easily be carried on men's shoulders, as that mode of conveyance shakes them less than carriage by waggon. Heaths are the best places that bees can possibly live in, and in Scotland there are people who make their living by taking care of hives during the time that the heath is in blossom, a period of about two months, for which time a rent of from one shilHng to eighteen pence is paid by the proprietor. It is always necessary while the bees are migrating, to take them at least ten miles during the nocturnal journey, as they are otherwise apt to fly back to the former position of their hive, and to lose themselves in searching for it. The distance to which bees can fly for food is shown in the following anec- dote, which has been recently published : — '' A man who kept bees in Holborn, and wishing to find out where they worked, sprinkled them all with a red powder as they came out of the hive in the morning. As the heath and thyme were now in full bloom, he at once thought that Hampstead, being the nearest heath, would be the likeliest place to find his bees. As soon, therefore, as liis bees were gone away, he hastened to the heights of Hampstead. The walk was a long and toilsome one, of tit least four miles, in a July sun. But he trudged man- fully on, soon left behind him Camden and Kentish Towns, BEES. '97 and at last was refreshed with the soft summer breeze sweeping- across the purple and golden bloom of the heath. After a few minutes' rest on the green sward, he began his search, and before long was delighted to find there, among thousands of other busy bees, his own little fellows in the dusty red coats, which he had given them in the morning." Many of the bees made the journey more than twice in each day, thus piloting themselves through sixteen miles of smoke and dust within the twelve hours. If the hives are taken by water, they should always be placed on the shore at some distance from the bank, before opening the doors, as they will very probably when return- ing home wearied and laden with their burdens fall into the water, before they can reach the hive. If the hives nre placed for the season, they should be kept at some little distance from other hives, as if they are weak, their more powerful neighbours will inevitably plunder them. COMMENCEMENT OF OPERATIONS. And now, gentle reader, we will venture to suppose you, as an admirer of bees, or of the profit that may be derived from them, are determined to commence operations in a quiet careful way, that shall give you an opportunity of learning, by the management of a few, how to deal success- fully with any number. The first thing to be done in commencing operations, is of course to procure your bees. This can generally only be managed by purchase, and, in that case, follow the re- commendation of Boswell : — " It is with a beehive as with a wife, never take one on the recommendation of another person." In order to enable the intending bee-keeper to effect this important point in a satisfactory manner, a few simple observations are here given. The best time for purchasing is in the spring*, when the purchaser should carefully watch the proceedings of the bees belonging to the hives which he intends to purchase. He may be assured that things are going well, if the bees pass i-apidly to and from the hive, many of them bearing their baskets of yellow pollen upon their legs. If the examination is made before swarming, particular attention should be paid 78 BEES. to the numlier of drones, as if they muster strongly, the hive is sure to be a populous one. If it is spring" when you commence, purchase a recent swarm just comfortably settled in a new hive, weig•hin^• not less than four or five pounds, and for which you may pay, perhaps, ten shillings. This will be a first swarm, second swarms seldom weigh more than two pounds. If it be autumn, your best way will be to obtain a swarm of the same year, with all its " plant," as the commercial men say, of combs and brood ; in short, an established but still young colony. This should weigh from twenty-five to thirty pounds, and contain, according to the apiarian's not very flattering or poetical mode of calculation, about half a bushel of bees. For this you will not pay too much by an expenditure of twenty shillings. If you buy a colony of older date, you know not how undue may be the pro- portion of the ^^ plant " over those who are to work it, and must not trust to weight alone in a stock-hive ; but see that the combs are of a pale colour, as dark ones show age, that they are worked down to the floor of the hive, and that the interstices of the combs are well filled with bees. These important particulars may be easily learned by gently turning up the hive at night when the bees are at rest. If the footboard of the hive is not purchased at the same time, it will be found advisable to separate the hive fi'om its footboard by small wedges some few hours b'efore it is intended to be removed. This precaution will prevent the bees from clustering on the floor, and will drive them to take refuge among the combs, together with which they are easily moved. The hive can then be placed upon its new footboard, and removed with it. Of course the entrance must be kept carefully closed during the pro- cess of removal, as the bees are generally very indignant at the unceremonious treatment they are experiencing, and if they should escape would soon use their stings with considerable effect. A piece of perforated copper, or tin, fixed against the entrance will readily effect this object, and at the same time afford sufficient ventilation. Bevan also recommends that if the purchase is made in autumn, and the hive should be full of honey, it would be safest to BELS. 70 cafiv ir m an inverted position, to avoid the risk of detacli- ing the heavily-hiden combs. If the purchase is made in autumn, ascertain that the massacre of the drones has taken place, as if this has not happened there is something- radi- cally wrong- in the hive. In all cases the massacre of the drones is a cei'tain sig-n that no more swarming- is intended for that season. Never put a swarm into an old hive, as it will be almost certainly infested with vermin, and particu- larly with the eg-g-s of the insidious honey- moth, who will be ready enoug-h to attack the hive, without having- its eg-gs introduced where they can, as soon as they are hatched, set about their marauding- incursions. WINTER MANAGEMENT. Supposing you commence in autumn, this will be one of the first things on which you will be anxious. First, as to their food ; second, as to their protection against cold. If bees require feeding in the winter, it is because they have been wrongly deprived of the very stores they had laid by for that season. One of the advantages of all systems of double or treble hives, as we may call the junction of two or three hives or side-boxes together — in technical language storifying — is, that they allow the central or chief portion of the colony to remain permanently undisturbed, so that there is always food in it for the bees when required. If a hive weigh less than twenty pounds at the approach of winter, food should be given at once, so that there may be no disturbance in the hive in the periods of frost. The most natural of all modes, is to lay a piece of honeycomb in the hive about October or November. If that be not readily obtainable when wanted, honey in a plate will do, \vitli short straws over it for the bees to alight on, or good sugar mixed with boiling water in equal weights. If necessary, the hive may be raised, to receive the plate or comb, by an eke — that is, a hive prematuivly cut short, as It were, in the construction, at three or four rounds. This fits exactly the bottom of the hive, and forms a con- tinuation of its edges. It will be good economy to repeat tbfs feeding in spring, when the bees begin to stir about, but find the fiowers not so early as themselves, 'i'he food in 80 BEES. spring IS placed, by some keepers, outside the hive, under the protection of an empty hive, or any other suitable cover. Tiie ])ohcy of this advice is very questionable, as if tbe food, whether honey or sug-ar, is exposed outside the hive, the robber-bees are sure to find it out ; and there will, in all probability, be a constant warfare going' on between the bees for whose benefit it was intended and the bees who intend to benefit themselves dishonestly. All this feeding-, however, is quite unnecessary where bees are regularly well managed, and the hives have grown strong-. Feeding the bees by any process which requires the hive to be turned up, is at all times but a clumsy expedient, and ^more so, if feeding is required in winter-time, as if bees are suddenly exposed to severe cold they die instantly. To put a piece of honeycomb inside the hive is certainly the most natural plan; but as that cannot be done without turning up the hive, some other method must be discovered. There have been many most ingenious devices invented for this important purpose. Some hives are made with moveable drawers in the footboard, in which a saucer full of honey is placed, of course properly guarded by per- forated card, or other material, and then introduced into the bottom of the hive. But to make the feeding appara- tus ns natural as possible, we must remember that the honey for the winter is not stored upon the floor, but in combs hanging- from the roof, and we must, therefore, attempt as far as we can to imitate nature. The next best plan, as we cannot in most cases actually suspend a comb for the bees, is to place their food at the top of the hive, and not at the bottom. This, of course, cannot be done in an ordinary straw hive ; but in any of the carefully-made capped hives, whether of straw or wood, it is easily managed by placing the food upon the top of the hive, withdrawing the cork, or whatever obstacle is placed to prevent communi- cation with the upper part of the hive. Thf, bees soon find out their food, readily ascend, and carry it away into their combs. In this case no bees but those of the hiv© can obtain access to it, and the important point is also gained, viz., that of scarcely diminishing the temperature of the hive. As to the form of the feeding vessel, each bee-keepei HUES. 81 will probably invent his own. Those which are intended for the top of the hive g-enerally have a hole through the centre to correspond with that which forms the communi- cation with the cup or bell-g-lass, and through which the bees ascend. One form is that of a flat wooden basin of a soup-plate form, with a tube throug-h the centre through which the bees pass, and a great number of concentric cir- cular channels cut around the tube, the hollows of which were filled with honey, so that the bees could safely sit upon the ridges while they sipped their food from the chan- nels. Perhaps the most ingenious plan is that of a French bee-keeper, who manufactures a paper comb, and places that upon the hive, so that the bees can take their honey almost as if they were drinking it out of real combs. Tllte only difference is that the cells of the paper comb are cylin- drical instead of hexagonal. With regard to the material with which they are to be supplied, their natural nutriment honey, is, of course, the best ; but care must be taken that it has not been removed from a hive by means of sulphur, or the bees will be made most seriously ill by the tainted food, and probably lose many of their number. Above all things, take great care that the honey is not candied ; it not only is actually poisonous to the bees, but they also have often perished from daubing themselves with the candied honey, which they have in- dignantly cast on the floor of their hive, and through which they must pass whether they enter or leave the hive. Sugar, mixed with boiling water or beer, is an excellent substitute for honey. The best way of making this pseudo- honey, is by dissolving a pound and a half of sugar in a quart of ale, boiling- it gently for about five minutes, care- fully skimming ofl" the scum. Some prefer adding a little salt when it is presented to the bees. If a real comb cannot be ]-)rocured, or an artificial one take up too much time iri making, a piece of thin wood or pasteboard, pierced full of holes, and laid on the surface of the food, will float there, and enable the bees to get at their food without daubiog themselves in their attempts to feed. o ^'^ UKK3. THE HIVE. Tliis slioiild be formed of some material that v;ill neither readily receive and conduct the summer's heat to the hive, nor radiate its own heat away from it in winter. Straw and wood are both good non-conductors of heat, and are both much used. The common straw hive answers every purpose when bee-management in its simplest shape is desired ; and if a more elaborate system is to be pursued, the same straw hive is easily made the chief portion of a larger structure, having' conveniences for facilitating artificial swarming-, or preventing swarming altogether, so far as it can be pre- vented, or for removing the honey. The straw hives have one advantage over those of wood; they admit freer passage of air by insensible degrees into the hive, and of moisture out of it. It will save the bees time and trouble, which to you .fiieans honey, if you take care the inner surface of the straw hive is carel'ully freed from all roughnesses. India matting- has been used with success for lining straw hives. But use no paint, nor washes, nor anything of the kind. The ordinary bell-shaped straw hive is of course not to be thought of, but it may be made the foundation of an excellent single hive by an hour's work. About one quarter should be cut from the top, and upon this a flat thick piece of wood be fastened, projecting about half an inch all round. In the centre of this wooden top, bore a hole with a large centre-bit, and you have the body of the hive. The lower rim of the hive should be protected by a wooden hoop, in which the entrance is not to be cut, but out of the substance of the foot- board, which should be as thick as can conveniently be obtained, and alwaj^s of wood. A bell-glass will go over the hole in the top of the hive, and a smaller hive of straw, or a wooden cover will protect this and keep it dark, for the bees cannot bear light to intrude upon their labours. The hole should be kept closed with a bung until the bees begin to hang about the entrance of the hive, when the bung should be withdrawn, and the bell-glass with its cover be placed upon the hive. The bees finding more space for their labours will at once turn their attention to the interior of their hive, and the ])ell will speedily be filled with the most beautifully pure honey. When this is the case, a piece of tliin metal shouiij be slipped between the glass and the wooden top, so as to cut off the combs from tlieir attachment to the floor, and at the same to prevent the bees in the interior from escaping- when the glass is removed. This should not be done imme- diately, as the queen may be among those imprisoned in the glass, which will be known by the quiet behaviour of the bees already in the glass. If they become excited, the queen is sure not to be among them, and the glass may be taken off, and its place supplied by another. The full cap, being in- stantly wrapped in a cloth, should be taken to some distance from the hive, and on the removal of the cloth the imprisoned bees will take the opportunity of regaining their home. A cap thus treated may be sold at a high price, as the comb will contain no eggs, young, or bee-bread, and also forms a very pretty ornament to the table. I knew one case where a lady, a bee enthusiast, took a cap nearly three feet in height full of pure honey, and was so charmed with it that she kept it as a spectacle, and never could prevail upon herself to empty it. If this plan be adopted, the bees will find plenty to do, and you will not have a swarm until the hive is so strong that it can easily spare it, and at the same time the original stock of honey in the hive will be untouched, and may possibly afford another supply, although not quite so pure. Another very excellent way is to form the top of the hive of loose bars, instead of a solid board. This not only admits of capping, by placing over the bars a board per- ibrated in the usual manner, but allows the bee-keeper to remove any comb at pleasure. This is a most useful power, as old combs can in that manner be removed, or unsound portions cut away without disturbing the remainder of the hive. Each bar should be loosely placed in notches cut in the top of the hive, and always laid from front to back. The bees can be easily induced to follow the direction of the bars by })lacing a piece of guide-comb upon each bar. This is done by taking a piece of pure, clean comb, some of which should always be kept for the purpose, rubbing it on a smooth piece of iron, and then immediately pressing on the bar, to which it will adhere with tolerable firmness, and the bees will of their own accord fix it quite tight. Tiiis should bo done to H UEKS. each bar. A small piece of comb will suffice, as all that is required is to give the bees the direction in which to work. The comb must be carefully cut, in order to preserve its original inclination. The distance of the bars from each other should be about half an inch, and their width one inch and one-eig-hth. These proportions should be carefully observed, and then ample room will be given for the varia- tion in the thickness of the comb that bees constantly pro- duce. The brood cells, as they are to hold young* bees, are always the same depth, but the honey or store cells are often leng'thened very considerably. The power of thus removing* a single comb will be found most advantageous when the comb begins to blacken by age. After a few years the successive generations of young- bees leave so many of their exuviae and shrouds in the cells, that they become too small to receive young any more, and are often used for containing honey. The honey of these cells is sure to be very poor, and they hardly contain any wax at all. I have now in my possession several series of silken cocoons which I have taken from old cells. They fitted one inside another, like a series of thimbles, and were easily withdrawn after a careful maceration. The hive should always be placed upon a stand of a single log, the footboard projecting as far as possible, in order to keep off mice, rats, and other vermin. Care must be taken that when the wooden top to the hive is first fixed, all space be- tween the straw and the wood should be carefully filled up with putty, or better with Roman cement, or the bees will fill up the spaces themselves with propolis, and waste much time in so doing. The same remarks will apply to the wooden hoop at the bottom of the hive, which should also be care- fully smoothed so as to fit the footboard as closely as possible- A Glass Window should be let into the back. This is not merely an agreeable adjunct, as admitting you when you please to a certain degree of familiarity with the bees, but often proves of use in questions of pure business-management. Bees, however, if they courteously answer your courteous mode of approaching them (which is, by gently breathing only through your nostrils, and with an easy nonchalant air, that seems to saj, I don't care for the bees, and they have BEES, 85 no reason to care for me), if they endure your society, they Avill hardly flatter you so much as to like it; therefore disturb them as little as possible, and never uselessly. You may have occasion to turn up the hive, to examine the in- terior, or remove a part of the contents ; but this must not be done after the flower season is past, for the bees can no longer collect propolis to renew the fastening* you will have destroyed, — that by which the bottom of the hive was se- curely fixed to the board on which it stands : an indispen- sable provision against winter cold. As to lOTotection from cold, bees in good hives really need none beyond what is afforded by freedom from damp and severe winds, shutting out the direct rays of the sun in winter and early spring, and, above all, by taking care tliat they are not left too few in number to keep up the natural heat of the hive. This appears to be their own mode of pro- tecting themselves. As the weather grows more and more severe, they draw more and more closely together into the centre of the hive to create their fireside, towards and from which all the bees approach and recede in fair and wise rotation ; whilst, on the contrary, as the cold decreases, they again expand in proportion. They are not, therefore, torpid, or not regularly so, at least. Of course, they do not work, nor do they in winter itself appear to eat, except in periods of unusual warmth, which stirs alike their limbs and their appetites. The judicious apiarian will see that the less fre- quently these untimely movements occur the better it will be for the bees and for him. Some bee-keepers recommend that the entrance of the hive should be narrowed towards the winter, and that in November it should be closed altogether, except a space left for ventilation. A thick covering of matting or straw will preserve them fi-om the cold of winter, or from what is even more dangerous, the treacherous gleams of a winter's sun, which often induce the bees to leave the hive, and then they (lie from cold before they can return. If the hive has been already protected by a layer of Roman cement on the exte- rior, hardly any other protection is requisite. Roman cement will render a straw hive as durable as a wooden one, make it water tight, and eftectually keep out mice and other vermir v/ho are particularly given to burrowing in the straw, S6 BEES. devouring the honey. The cement has also the advantage of heing- cheap, and g'reatly assists in fixing* windows and other appHances. The coating should be tolerably thick, and then not even the insidious moth can obtain an entrance except through the door, where the bees will keep a good watch, and the hive will lose less heat in winter, and gain less m summer than can be managed even by the most careful dressing and undressing the hive with straw bandages. If the hive is as it should be, placed in a shed, the bees may be considered as quite secure from cold. If the stock does not appear strong enough, another should be added to it, and the conjoint stocks will not require an ounce more honey than the original inhabitants. One foe, not the less dangerous from being unsuspected, is an internal dampness, which gives no outward sign, but has caused the destruction cf many a hive of bees, much to the astonishment of the owner, who has probably bestowed great care on them. A very effectual method of preventing this misfortune is to place over the aperture in the top of the hive a bell glass, covered with flannel or cloth, and wiping away the moisture as it appears on the inside of the glass. This precaution is more necessary in a wooden than in a straw hive, as the latter partially absorbs the vapour. In all probabiHty bees sustain the severity of a Russian winter better than they do our com- paratively mild season, because the air is much more dry than in England. ■ Several experiments have been tried, some very success- fully, many completely the reverse, upon the apparently murderous plan of burying the hives in the winter, only leaving* a tube to communicate from the mouth of the hive with the air. In or two cases the bees survived through the whole winter, and only consumed a few ounces of hone}', but in many other cases, the experiments were terminated by the death of the bees. When the spring begins to appear, the hives should be still more carefully shaded from the sun's rays, and if they should begin to swarm about the entrance, a shower from a watering-pot will lead them to believe that it is rain- ing, and that they had better go on with their work within the hive. Aspect. — A north, north-east, or liorth-vvest aspect is BEES. 87 recommended j but there appears no objection to a direct southern one, if you take care that the fierce rays of the meridian sun shall not stream upon the poor perspiring- bees in summer, and if you take care to prevent its perfidious rays in winter from wooing the bees forth in the delusion that, as the old song- says, — " Summer is ycoming in, Loud sing cuckoo ; " and then leaving thorn before they have got back to the hive, chilled and hungry, no flowers to be seen, dropping- down at last in their exhaustion to rise no more. The hive should always, if possible, be placed so as to be free from the first rays of the morning- sun, as the bees are sometimes tempted out too early, and tire themselves before the flowers are fairly opened. More real work appears, from the experience of a well-known entomologist, to be done between eight o'clock a. m. and twelve than in the whole of the day beside. The vicinity of high trees should be avoided, as although they afford shelter from the wind, yet they are apt to prove the destruction of the bees, who are blown among- their branches, and beaten down by the twigs. Moreover should a swarm by any accident escape, and settle upon a lofty branch, it will not be a very easy matter to capture it. Whatever trees are placed near the hives should be low, and if possible bushy. The bees should be provided with water as near their hives as pos- sible. A very shallow, gravel-bedded brook is§the best thing they can have ; but if this is not attainable, several flat plans filled with water, should be placed near the Ifives and resting-places formed for the bees by a number of peb- bles on M'hich they can sit. A little salt occasionally dissolved in the water will be found advisable. Of course it will be found very usuiid to plant near the hive the plants mentioned on p. 75, to which may be added mustard, single roses, sage, radishes, parsley, peas, marigolds, parsnips, lily, privet, &c. The last-mentioned shrub is also an ex- cellent one for shelter to the bees, as the twigs keep them- selves in due bounds, and do not whip down the wearied bees in a high wind. Lime-trees are also excellent npigh- bours, as the leaves are at certain times of the yeai* covered ^° BEES. v'itli honey-dew, and the bees frequent them in such nurn- l)ers, that to pass under an avenue of" limes when the honey- dew is on them, is Hke walking* amid innumerable swarms of bees unsettled as to their future destination. All evil- scented places, such as brick-kilns, tan-yards, or bone- crushers', should be avoided ; and the careful bee-keeper will cautiously shun factories or mills, whether worked by steam or water, as the bees have a peculiar objection to noisy neig'hbourhoods, and always prefer trees to chimneys. Richardson advises that if your bee-shed or stand is placed ag-ainst a wall, it will be necessary to ascertain that there is no dung-hill ag-ainst its opposite side, as he found his boxes deserted by the bees, who have a decided objection to a permanent residence in such an unsavoury locality, althoug'h they frequently pay visits to dung--heaps, for the purpose of drinking* the moisture which drains from them. This may, however, be avoided by placing* salt in the supply of water near the hives, as has been described. COLLATERAL, NADIR, AND SUPER HIVES. So far for the simple single hive. We will now describe shortly the compound hives. These are chiefly of three sorts, the Nadir, Collateral, and Super. The Nadir hives are those where the additional hive is placed under the original ; the Collateral, those where, as the name implies, the hives are placed side by side. Of these, the Collateral are much to be preferred, as in the Nadir hives the bees are exposed to many inconveniences, among* which may be reckoned the labour of mounting* up through two hives, to deposit the honey or pollen which they have brought home, a task which to an already wearied and heavily laden bee would be an addition to its labours. Moreover, the brood combs are apt to be distributed unequally, so that the bee-master is never sure of getting a hive full of pure honeycomb, as he can in the collateral hiving. Super-hiving is where the addi- tional hive or box is placed above the mother hive. To this nearly the same objections apply as to the nadir system, and I shall, therefore, merely describe the collateral system. Tills may be accomplished either with straw hives or wooden boxes. Straw hives, however, are not very manageable, or at BEES. 80 least do not answer for the centre box^ and the description, will, therefore, be only of boxes. It is not to be expected that every one will be able to purchase the somewhat ex- pensive series of hives described by Mr. Nutt, but it m hoped that his description of a '^ set" of collateral hives will be sufficiently clear to enable any man of tolerable ingenuity^ and moderately acquainted with the use of tools, to construct a set for himself, even though he be no joiner or carpenter. He need not expend his time upon the external ornament oF the hives, or make quite as elegant a set as depicted by Mr. Nutt, but if he only takes care to have the interior smooth, and carefully worked, using* well-seasoned woody against which the rays of the meridian sun, the drenching* summer showers, or the frosts of the winter months, may beat in vain, his hives will answer as well if not better than many an elegant and carefully finished bee-palace such as- are frequently reared. Mr. Nutt's description of the proper form and materials of the collateral boxes is as follows : — "The best wood for them is, by some, said to be red cedar ; the chief grounds of preference of which wood are,, its effects in keeping moths out of the boxes, and its being a bad conductor of heat. But of whatever kind of wood bee- boxes are made, it should be well seasoned, perfectly sound,, and free from what carpenters term shakes. Good, sound, red) deal, answers the purpose very well, and is the sort of wood of which most of my boxes have been made hitherto. The sides of the boxes, particularly the front side, should be, at the least, an inch and a half in thickness ; for the ends, top,, and back parts, good deal, one inch thick, is sufficiently substantial ; the ends that form the interior divisions and openings must be of half-inch stuffs, well dressed off, so that, when the boxes and dividing tins are closed — that is, when) they are all placed together — the two adjoining ends should not exceed five eighths of an inch in thickness. These com- munication-ends, the bars of which should be exactly parallel with each other, form a communication or division as the case may require, which is very important to the bee, and by which the said boxes can be immediately divided without injuring* any part of the combs, or deluging the bees with liquid honey, which so frequently annoys them, in exti-actino^ 90 BEE^. their sweets from the piled or storified Loxes. This is not the only advantage my boxes possess ; the receptacles or frame-work, for the ventilators, must he four inches square, with a perforated flat tin, of nearly the same size ; and in the middle of that tin must be a round hole, to correspond with the hole throug-h the top of the box, in the centre of the frame-work just mentioned, an inch in diameter, to admit a perforated cylinder tin ventilator, nine inches long. This flat tin must have a smooth piece of wood, well made to fit it closely, and to cover the frame-work just men- tioned, so as to carry the wet ofi"; then ])lacing this cover over the square perforated tin, your box will be secure from the action of wind and rain. The peribrated cylinder serves both for a ventilator, and also for a secure and convenient receptacle for a thermometer, at any time when it is neces- sary to ascertain the temperature of the box into which the cylinder is inverted. "Within this frame-work, and so that tiie perforated flat tin described may completely cover them, at each corner make a hole with a three-eighths centre-bit tln-ough the top of the box. These four small holes mate- rially assist the ventila,tion, and are, in fact, an essential part of it. "We next come to the long floor, on which the three square bee-boxes which constitute a set stand collaterally. This floor is the strong top of a long, shallow box, made for the express purpose of supporting* the three bee- boxes, and must, of course, be superficially of such dimensions as those boxes, w^hen placed collaterally, require j or if the bee-boxes ])roject the eighth part of an inch over the ends and back of this floor box, so much the better, because in that case the rain or wet that may at any time fall upon them, will drain off completely. Por ornament, as well as for use, this floor is made to project about two inches in front ; but this projection must be sloped, or made an inclined plane, so as to carry ofi* the wet from the front of the boxes. To the centre of this projecting front, and on a plane with the edge of the part cut away for the entrance of the bees into the pavilion, is attached the alighting board, which consist of a piece of planed board, six inches by three, having the two outward corners rounded ofl" a little. The passage from this alighting board into the pavihon is cut, not out of the edge BEES. 01 of tlie Lox, hut out of thejioor hoard, and should not be less than four inches in length, and abouu half an inch in depth, «o as to make a clear half-inch way under the edge of the box for the bee-passage. I recommend this as preferable to ix cut in the edge of the box, because, being- upon an incHned plane, if at any time the wet should be driven into the ])avilion by a stormy wind, it would soon drain out, and the tloor become dry; whereas, if the entrance passage be cut out of the box, the rain that may, and at times will, be