1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CITLTUUK. 



389 



forward in the study of bees; but he could do this 

 only by the help of his wife, Marie-Aim6e Lullin; 

 his neiee, Miss Jurine, and, above all, his servant 

 Burnens. He himself manifested the most untir- 

 ing perseverance and the greatest ingenuity, so 

 that, by Burnens' sagacity, all of Huber's experi- 

 ments with bees were practically demonstrated. 

 Miss Jurine, who loved natural history above all 

 else, supplemented Huber's work all she could, 

 fearing not to take up the dissecting-knife and mi- 

 croscope in bis aid. She was the first after Swam- 

 merdam to demonstrate that worker-bees are fe- 

 males. She it was, too, who, with Huber, established 

 the principles on which the sages of our century 

 grounded the doctrine of parthenogenesis. Besides 

 that, Miss Jurine was Huber's secretary, full of 

 willingness and self-devotion. Every day she noted 

 down the results of the new investigations, and she 

 also wrote the letters which Huber dictated to 

 Charles Bonnet and his friends, and imparted to 

 him the results of his labors, and directed their at- 

 tention to numerous questions relating to bees. 



FRANCIS HUBEK. 



Huber's interest in bees was greatly enhanced by 

 the researches and writings of Swammerdam, Reau- 

 mur, Schirach, and probably also of the celebrated 

 Swiss bee-keeper, Duchet de Remauffens, and the 

 Messrs. Gelieu. As a conclusion to the investiga- 

 tions of these men, it was possible for him, in spite 

 of his unfortunate surroundings, to add greatly to 

 the realm of apiculture; hence we may not forget 

 that he everywhere encouraged and helped others 

 by the nobility of his life. 



In his later days he lived retired, but in peace, at 

 Lausanne, where he died Dec. 22, 1832, at the age 

 of 83. 



Huber's discoveries are known to scholars through 

 his letters to Charles Bonnet; and they made his 

 name so celebrated in all Europe, and even in 

 America, that for many years he was recognized as 

 the greatest apicultural genius; and even yet Ha- 

 met calls him the greatest of the lovers of bees (le 

 plus grand lies apiphiles). It was in 1196 that his first 

 epoch-making work was brought to light, bearing 

 the title, Nouvelles Observations sur Jes Abeilles (New 

 Observations on Bees). His son, Peter Huber, in 



1814 issued the work in two editions, and added 

 thereto an appendix in regard to the origin of wax. 



Huber's work is, not only on account- of its con- 

 tents, but for the peculiar circumstances under 

 which it was first brought to light, entirely without 

 parallel in scientific literature. The recognition 

 which it received was universal, so that, after the 

 first appearance of the work, Huber was received 

 into the French Academy of Sciences, and other 

 scientific bodies. 



The New Observations were translated into near- 

 ly every European tongue. The Saxon commissari- 

 at Riem, in Dresden, translated it into German in 

 1798, and Pastor Kleine, of Luethorst, translated it 

 again in 1856, and published another edition in 1869, 

 with notes. 



Huber, by his observations on the secrets of bee- 

 life, made clear what the most sagacious and 

 learned observers from the time of Aristotle and 

 Aristomachus down to Swammerdam and Reaumur 

 had sought for in vain; and it is to be the more re- 

 gretted that some German bee-keepers of great 

 influence, such as, for instance, Spitzner and Ma- 

 tuschka, gave him no recognition. 



He gave interesting explanations in regard to the 

 habits of bees, their respiration, the origin of wax, 

 the construction of comb, etc. He confirmed Schi- 

 rach's proposition, that, by a change in the mode 

 of treatment and food of larval bees, queens could 

 be reared from worker eggs, and showed, likewise, 

 the influence which the cell exerted on the insects. 

 He showed further, that not only the queen but a 

 certain species of worker-bee could lay fertile eggs, 

 and showed, likewise, the function of drones. In 

 opposition to Braw, Hattorf, Contardi, Reaumur, 

 and others, who held very peculiar opinions in re- 

 gard to the fertilization of queens, Huber showed 

 that the" fertilization takes place outside of the 

 hive, at the same time that drones are flying, and 

 that the union is effected in the air, and that the 

 queen, on her return from the flight, has adhering 

 to her body the evidences of fertilization, and that 

 egg-laying takes place about 46 hours afterward. 

 These and numerous other experiments he often 

 proved in his works with the utmost exactness; 

 and especially did he lay down the most important 

 and interesting information in regard to feeding 

 bees, their method of building, the leaf-hive, foul 

 brood, etc., in his letters to an eminent apiculturist 

 in Switzerland, Mr. C. F. P. Dubied. These eighteen 

 very long letters of Huber, the first of which was 

 dated Oct. 12, 1800, and the last Aug. 12, 1814, were 

 written partly by Huber himself, partly by his wife 

 or daughter, to whom he dictated. So far as I 

 know, this correspondence has never been translat- 

 ed into German, which is greatly to be regretted. 



When one reads Huber's observations, it becomes 

 evident that the author interested himself in bees, 

 from a scientific standpoint only. In one of his 

 letters to a friend, he writes that he never realized 

 any material benefit from bees. This is easy to un- 

 derstand when we consider that his experiments 

 with them lasted the entire year through, and were 

 conducted only for the sake of science; and one 

 naturally inquires how he found bees enough to 

 carry out his numerous experiments. 



Mr. Kellen here gives a picture of Huber's 

 leaf -hive, which we will describe briefly in 

 our own words, simply basing our figures 

 on his. 



Take, for instance, ten single-pane win- 



