PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 1S9 



The natural station of bees is in th6 cavities of de- 

 cayed trees ; such trees, Mr. Knight tells us, they will 

 discover in the closest recesses, and at an extraordi- 

 nary distance fronj the hive ; in one instance it was a 

 mile : and at swarming, they sometimes are inclined to 

 settle in such cavities. After the discovery of one, from 

 twenty to fifty, who are a kind of scouts, maybe found 

 examining and keeping possession of it. They seem 

 to explore every part of it and of the tree with the 

 greatest attention, even surveying- the dead knots and 

 the like'^. When a hive stands unemployed, a swarm 

 will also sometimes send scouts to take possession of it, 

 . How long our little active creatures repose before 

 they take a second excursion I cannot precisely say. 

 In a hive the greatest part of the inhabitants generally 

 appear in repose, lying together, says Reaumur, but 

 this probably for a short time. Huber tells us, that 

 bees may always be observed in a hive with the head 

 and thorax inserted into cells that contain eggs, and 

 sometimes into empty ones ; and that they remain in 

 this situation fifteen or twenty minutes so motionless, 

 that did not the dilatation of the segments of the abdo- 

 men prove tlse contrary, they might be mistaken for 

 dead. He supposes their object is repose from their 

 labours '*. The queen, for this purpose, enters the large 



^ KiiiglK ill Philoi: Trail:!, for 1 807,237. Marshall, yi/nr/rw//. of Norfolk. 



^ It has been snpiio^od, and <he sttpposiiion was adopted originally in 

 tfiiri work (Vol. I. 1st Ed. p. S71), that the object in this case is brood- 

 ing the eggs; but upon further consideration we incline to Iluber's opi- 

 nion, that it has no connection with it, the ordinary temperature of the 

 Live being; siifRcient for this purpose ; and the circumstance of their en- 

 tering unoccupied cells proves that this altitude has no particular connec- 

 tion with the eo;gs. JIuI>er, i. 212.—" When large pieces of comb," says 



