TERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 395 



of bees is more extensive ; if not a language of ideas, it is something very 

 similar." * You have seen above that the organ of the language of ants is 

 their antennae. Huber has proved satisfactorily that tliese parts have the 

 same use with the bees. He wished to ascertain wiiether, 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 tiie 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 experiments, 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 pro- 

 ceedings.* Besides their antennas, 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 

 following 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 cha- 

 racter 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 sufier to go near their hives, and to do 

 almost anything ; and there are others to whom they seem to take such 

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

 probal)ly depend upon this — whether any thing has happened to put them 

 out of humour. The bees do not usually 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 t)ctween my asparagus beds ; which dis- 

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

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

 relates an anecdote of a gentleman, who, desirous of securing a swarm of 

 bees that had settled in a hollow tree, rashly undertook to dislodge them. 

 He succeeded j but though he had used the precaution of securing his head 



1 In FJiilos. Trans. 1807, 239. 



2 Huber, iL 407. '■> Ibid. 375. 



