llt> On the (Economy of BeeL 



It has been remarked by Mr. John Hunter, that the mattef 

 which bees carry on their thighs is the farina of plants with 

 which they feed their young, and not the substance with- 

 which they make their combs ; and his statement is, I be- 

 lieve, perfectly correct : but I have ob-served that they will 

 also carry other things on their thighs. I frequently co- 

 vered the decorticated parts of trees, on which I was riiaking 

 experiments, with a cement composed of bees-wax and tur- 

 pentine ; and in the autumn I have frequently observed a 

 great number of bees employed in carrying off this sub- 

 stance. They detached it from the tree with their forceps, 

 and the little portion thus obtained was then transferred by 

 the first to the second leg, by which it was deposited on the 

 thigh of the third: the farina of plants is collected and trans- 

 ferred in the same manner. This mixture of wax and tur- 

 pentine did not, however, appear to have been employed iu 

 the formation of combs ; but only to attach the hive to the 

 board on which it was placed, and probably to exclude other 

 insects, and air during winter. Whilst the bees were em- 

 ployed in the collection of this substance, I had many op- 

 portunities of observing the peaceful and patient disposition 

 of them as individuals, v.hich Mr. Hunter has also, in some 

 measure, noticed. When one bee had collected its load, and 

 was just prepared to take flight, another often came behind 

 it, and despoiled it of all it had collected. A second, and 

 even a third load was collected, and lost in the s'ame man- 

 ner, and still the patient insect pursued its labour without 

 betraying any symptoms of impatience or resentment. 

 When, however, the hive is approached, the bee appears 

 often to be the most irritable of ail aninials ; but a circum- 

 stance I have observed amongst another species of insect?, 

 whose habits are in many respects similar to those of bees, 

 induces me to believe that the readiness of the bees to attack 

 those who approach their hives, does not in any degree 

 spring either from the sense of injury or apprehensions of 

 the individual who makes the attack. If a nest of wasps be 

 approached without alarming its inhabitants, and all com- 

 munication be suddenly cut off between those out of the 

 nestj and those within it, no provocation will induce the 



former 



