60 Transactions of the 



colony : these have often been observed, for several clays pre- 

 vious to the migration of a swarm, hovering round a hollow 

 tree and exploring every nook and corner. Other bees are 

 employed in ventilating the hive, of which more anon ; others 

 are said to watch the signs of the weather and the state of 

 the wind. A bee is seldom caught in a shower, however 

 sudden; sometimes, when we perceive no change in the air 

 whatever, the bees, though working with great assiduity, 

 hurry within the hive ; and the event proves their fears to have 

 been well grounded. Gathering clouds produce this effect on 

 them, and I have often been told that a swarm can be easily 

 brought to the ground by scattering sand over them, which 

 they mistake for rain. Bees possess a standing army ready 

 to attack an invader and eject him from the hive ; a detach- 

 ment is frequently placed near the entrance to act as guards. 

 All the work of the hive is done by the working bees ; the 

 drones collect no honey, and the queen bee leaves the hive 

 once only, except when she leads off a swarm. About four 

 or five days after the egg of the working bee has been 

 deposited, the larva is hatched. The eggs are of an oval 

 shape and of a bluish- white colour. The larva is like a small 

 white worm coiled up at the bottom of the cell. Its food con- 

 sists of pollen, mixed with honey and water. The larva is 

 fed by nurse bees, and as it gi'ows stronger, it changes its 

 skin. On the fifth or sixth day it attains its full size, and 

 the other bees close up its cell with a mixture of wax and 

 propolis. It then ceases to eat, and employs the next thirty- 

 six hours in spinning its cocoon. It remains in the chrysalis 

 state for a week, and then emerges from its cocoon a perfect 

 bee. Till within the last few years, the working bee has 

 been considered to be of no sex, but it is now proved be- 

 yond a doubt that the queen bee and the worker are both 

 developed from the same kind of larva. While the drones 

 are destitute of a sting, the queen bee and the worker are 

 both endowed with one, and all the organs of the latter are 

 essentially the same as those of the queen bee, though some 

 are more, some less, developed. For the discovery of the 

 sex of the worker, we are indebted to Schirach, who, on first 

 announcing his discovery, was met with incredulity and 

 contemj)t. But the question has since been put beyond all 

 dispute by the experiments and observations of later apiarians, 

 and especially of Hiiber. The drones, or males of the com- 

 munity, are distinguished by the absence of sting, and by the 

 peculiar buzzing sound which they emit while flying. They 

 are considerably larger than the worker, and even than the 



