CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



blackish above, and tinted with yellow inferiorly, 

 while the presence of two ovaries or egg-recep- 

 tacles in the abdomen demonstrates her sex. She 

 has also a sting, considerably bent. The Germans 

 call the queen the mother-bee ; and this is the most 

 appropriate name, since her functions are those of 

 a parent rather than a potentate. Her sole pro- 

 vince is to lay the eggs, from which issue those 

 annual multitudes that perpetuate the race in new 

 communities. The queen usually commences 

 laying eggs on the fifth day after she has assumed 

 the perfect state, and often continues without inter- 

 mission from early spring to the end of September, 

 laying in the warmest season about two hundred 

 eggs a day. 



NATURAL ECONOMY OF THE HIVE. 



The breeding of young bees commences in 

 February, and a hive, however thinned by the 

 previous winter, becomes, under ordinarily favour- 

 able circumstances, crowded to excess in mid- 

 summer. Besides the developed bees, it abounds 

 in eggs and young ones not matured. That fine 

 instinct which, in the case of bees, occasionally 

 prompts to acts almost above the power of reason, 

 relieves this crowded state of things. The queen- 

 bee, the proper mother of at least the great body 

 of the hive, resolves upon departure with a swarm. 

 The phenomena attending that departure will be 

 noticed under a separate section ; in the mean- 

 time, let it be supposed that the queen has led off 

 a colony, and that, by the care of the owner of the 

 bees, the swarm is lodged in a new and empty 

 hive. 



The first object of the community is to clean out 

 their new lodging thoroughly, if they find this not 

 done beforehand. The next great object is to 

 block up all the chinks of the hive, smooth its 

 projecting parts, and lay a stable foundation for 

 the future works of the interior. Besides the 

 wax which they use so extensively in their archi- 

 tecture, bees also employ, particularly at first, a 

 remarkable substance called propolis, from the 

 Greek words pro and polis (before the city), as 

 indicating its use on the superficial parts of the 

 hive. Propolis is a grayish-brown resin, of an aro- 

 matic odour, and better fitted by its tenacity for 

 cementing than wax. Bees gather this from the 

 poplar, alder, birch, and willow trees. In the heat 

 of the day, when the viscous matter is ductile, it is 

 thus carried off by the insect. A small thready 

 portion is detached, kneaded with the mandibles, 

 and then, by means of the fore-feet, placed in the 

 basket of the hind-legs, a smart pat or two being 

 given to secure it there. Another portion, similarly 

 kneaded to make it portable, and a little drier, is 

 basketed in the same way, till as much is procured 

 as the insect can carry. Sometimes the patient 

 creature will spend half an hour in the mere 

 kneading of a portion of propolis ; and occasion- 

 ally other bees will come behind and rob the little 

 labourer of its whole load, for a succession of times, 

 without eliciting the slightest symptom of impa- 

 tience. When a bee reaches the hive with its load, 

 the propolis adheres so firmly, that the insect has 

 to present its limbs to the workers in the hive, who 

 detach it, and immediately use it, while yet ductile, 

 to fill all the crevices of the hive, and smooth the 

 projecting parts. Another remarkable use is made 

 of the propolis. From the hour of their entrance 



676 



into the hive, bees are liable to the intrusion of 

 other creatures. A fly they can soon remove, but 

 what are they to do with a snail ? They can sting 

 it to death, to be sure, in an instant, but their puny 

 strength is totally insufficient to remove the car- 

 case. In this dilemma they completely obviate 

 the disagreeable effects of the presence of a large 

 putrefying body by covering it with propolis, which 

 hardens over the mass, and gives a pleasant aroma 

 in place of a fetid odour. With the propolis, 

 moreover, they often narrow the entrance to the 

 hive, forming a secure barrier, when they have 

 reason to dread the intrusion of the death's-head 

 moth, their great enemy in some countries. 



In the meantime, while some workers are using 

 the propolis for the purposes first stated, others are 

 commencing the preparation of the cells or combs. 

 The propolis is employed to attach these to the 

 edges of the hive, but wax is the component 

 material of the cells themselves. We shall find, 

 in noticing the after-arrangements of the completed 

 hive, that the working-bees are naturally divided 

 into two great classes ; but at the outset of their 

 labours, when the cells are being constructed, they 

 form three sections, each of which pursues it& 

 allotted toil with admirable order and regularity. 

 One section produces the material for the combs, 

 and forms it roughly into cells ; the second division 

 follows the first, examines and adjusts the angles^ 

 removes all the superfluous wax, and perfects the 

 work ; while the third band passes continually out 

 and in, seeking and bringing provisions, chiefly 

 pollen, for the second section, which never quits 

 the hive.- The first class fly abroad at intervals, it 

 being necessary that they should have rich saccha- 

 rine food for the secretion of the wax. As the 

 secretion goes on best in a state of repose, bands 

 of the wax-producers, after feeding fully, sus- 

 pend themselves in clusters from the roof, each 

 hanging from the hind-legs of the one above, till 

 the wax-scales are formed, and they are prepared 

 to take up the work. This clustering occurs on the 

 very entrance of a swarm into a hive, when a 

 seeming inactivity of several hours takes place, till 

 the production of wax is set agoing. It will be 

 seen that the second section, the architects proper,, 

 have the most unremitting toil to perform. They 

 never quit it when once begun, excepting to turn 

 to the little waiters of the third section, and indi- 

 cate their hunger by holding out their trunk ; when 

 the caterer either spirts out a drop or two of 

 honey, or furnishes pollen from the stores brought 

 in. 



Cells. 



But if the labour of the architect class be severe, 

 their work, when complete, is a marvel of instinc- 

 tive ingenuity. Bees always begin their work, in 

 ordinary circumstances, at the ceiling, suspending 

 their structures from it. Their combs are arranged 

 in vertical and parallel plates, with a space of 

 about half an inch betwixt contiguous pairs ; and 

 each comb is nearly an inch in thickness. At the 

 outset, when one wax-making bee leaves the sus- 

 pended cluster alluded to, and lays the foundation 

 of a cell, others follow in rapid succession, not only 

 adding their wax to that of the first, but soon com- 

 mencing new combs, one on each side ; and so the 

 work goes on, in most cases, until the whole roof is 

 covered with foundations. The architects proper,, 

 also, are meanwhile at their finishing-work. Thi 





