430 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



" Brutes " (it is the remark of Mr. Knight) " have language to express 

 sentiments of love, of fear, of anger; but they seem unable to transmit 

 any impression they have received from external objects. But the lan- 

 guage of bees is more extensive; if not a language of ideas, it is some- 

 thing very similar."^ You have seen above that the organ of the language 

 of ants is their antennae. Huber has proved satisfactorily that these parts 

 have the same use with the bees. He wished to ascertain whether, when 

 they had lost a queen (intelligence which traverses a whole hive in about 

 an hour) they discovered the sad event by their smell, their touch, or any 

 unknown cause. He first divided a hive by a grate, which kept the two 

 portions about three or four lines apart ; so that they could not come at 

 each other, though scent would pass. In that part in which there was no 

 queen, the bees were soon in great agitation ; and as they did not discover 

 her where she was confined, in a short time they began to construct royal 

 cells, which quieted them. He next separated them by a partition through 

 which they could pass their antennae, but not their heads. In this case 

 the bees all remained tranquil, neither intermitting the care of the brood, 

 nor abandoning their other employments ; nor did they begin any royal 

 cell. The means they used to assure themselves that their queen was in 

 their vicinity, and to communicate with her, was to pass their antennae 

 through the openings of the grate. An infinite number of these organs 

 might be seen at once, as it were inquiring in all directions ; and the queen 

 was observed answering these anxious inquiries of her subjects in the most 

 marked manner ; for she was always fastened by her feet to the grate, 

 crossing her antennae with those of the inquirers. Various other experi- 

 ments, which are too long to relate, prove the importance of these organs 

 as the instruments of communicating with each other, as well as to direct 

 the bee in all its proceedings.^ Besides their antenna3, the bees also 

 cause themselves to be understood by certain sounds, not indeed produced 

 by the mouth, but by other parts of their body : — but upon this subject I 

 shall have occasion to enlarge hereafter. 



That bees can remember agreeable sensations at least, is evident from 

 the follovi^ing anecdote related by Huber. — One autumn some honey was 

 placed upon a window — the bees attended it in crowds. The honey was 

 taken away, and the window closed with a shutter all the winter. In the 

 spring, when it was reopened, the bees returned, though no fresh honey 

 had been placed there.^ 



From the earliest times our little citizens of the hive have had the 

 character of being an irritable race. Their anger is without bounds, says 

 Virgil ; and if they are molested, this character is no exaggeration. Some 

 individuals, however, they will suffer to go near their hives, and to do almost 

 any thing ; and there are others to whom they seem to take such an 

 antipathy, that they will attack them unprovoked. A great deal will 

 probably depend upon this — whether any thing has happened to put them 

 out of humor. The bees usually do not attack me ; but I remember one 

 day last year, when the asparagus was in blossom, which a large number 

 were attending, I happened to go between my asparagus beds ; which 

 discomposed them so much, that I was obliged to retreat with hasty steps, 

 and some of them flew after me : I escaped, however, unstung. Thorley 



1 In Philos. Trans. 1807, 239. « Huber, ii. 407. ^ ibid. 375. 



