THE HONEY-BEE. 



disposed to sting when they are swarming than at 

 other times. It sometimes happens, however, that 

 a swarm may settle on the person of any individual 

 who may be near, in which case presence of mind 

 is absolutely necessary for the preservation of life, 

 perfect stillness being indispensable until the 

 queen is removed, when all the bees will follow. 



Massacre of the Drones. 



Another of the great natural phenomena of the 

 hive is the massacring of the drones. It was at 

 one time asserted that the worker-bees did not use 

 their stings against the stingless males, but merely 

 pushed them out to die. This idea, however, re- 

 sulted from the massacre being always committed 

 at the bottom of the hive, whither the poor drones 

 retire in clusters in July and August, as if aware 

 of the doom impending over them. As usual, by 

 one of his ingenious expedients, Huber discovered 

 the truth. Six swarms were put on glass tables, 

 beneath which the watchers placed themselves. 

 * This contrivance succeeded to admiration. On 

 the 4th of July, we saw the workers actually 

 massacre the males, in the whole six swarms, at 

 the same hour, and with the same peculiarities. 

 The glass table was covered with bees full of ani- 

 mation, which flew upon the drones as they came 

 from the bottom of the hive ; seized them by the 

 antennae, the limbs, and the wings, and after having 

 dragged them about, or, so to speak, after quarter- 

 ing them, they killed them by repeated stings 

 directed between the rings of the belly. The 

 moment that this formidable weapon reached 

 them, was the last of their existence ; they 

 stretched their wings and expired. At the same 

 time, as if the workers did not consider them 

 as dead as they appeared to us, they still struck 

 the sting so deep, that it could hardly be with- 

 drawn ; and these bees were obliged to turn round 

 upon themselves, with a screw-like motion, before 

 the stings could be disengaged. 



' Next day, having resumed our former position, 

 we witnessed new scenes of carnage. During 

 three hours, the bees furiously destroyed the males. 

 They had massacred all their own on the preced- 

 ing evening, but now attacked those which, driven 

 from the neighbouring hives, had taken refuge 

 amongst them. We saw them also tear some 

 remaining nymphs from the combs ; they greedily 

 sucked all the fluid from the abdomen, and then 

 carried them away. The following days no drones 

 remained in the hives. 



'The males are never destroyed in hives de- 

 prived of queens ; on the contrary, while a savage 

 massacre prevails in other places, they there find 

 an asylum. They are tolerated and fed, and many 

 are seen even in the middle of January. They are 

 also preserved in hives which, without a queen, 

 properly so called, have some individuals of that 

 species that lay the eggs of males, and in those 

 whose half-fecundated queens, if I may use the ex- 

 pression, propagate only drones. Therefore the 

 massacre takes place in none but hives where the 

 queens are completely fertile, and it never begins 

 until the season of swarming is past.' 



ARTIFICIAL MANAGEMENT THE APIARY. 



The artificial management of the hive forms, in 

 some measure, a distinct branch of the present 

 subject In the first place, the local situation of 



an apiary, or accumulation of bee-hives, has been 

 held of especial consequence. 



Site of Apiaries. 



The hives must be sheltered in a particular 

 manner from the action of high winds. A wall 

 or hedge is not sufficient to yield the requisite 

 protection ; houses or lofty trees are necessary to 



30%. 



^^Q*^-- 



y 



insure it. The reason of this is, that the bees, 

 returning homewards, require a calm air at a con- 

 siderable height above their dwellings, otherwise, 

 when they attempt to alight, they are dashed to 

 the ground, and killed, their exhausted strength 

 disabling them from coping with a wind of any 

 force. A low position, inclosed with woods, suits 

 them best. Bees drink much, and a fountain or 

 brook is essential to them ; deep pools or cisterns 

 very often cause their death by drowning. Shallow 

 troughs, filled with moss or floating wood, are 

 recommended as a substitute for shallow rills. It 

 is an error, according to the experienced bee- 

 keeper, De Gelieu, to suppose that hives should 

 be placed full in the sun. Bees, he says, live and 

 thrive in shady places of moderate and uniform 

 temperature; hence their partiality for forests. 

 Besides, exposure to all the extremes of the solar 

 heat melts and spoils the honey. In fine, if 

 exposure to the sun be beneficial at all, that 

 exposure should last only for a comparatively 

 short time, or from about ten o'clock till noon. 

 Hives should not be placed on upper floors, on 

 account of the increased danger from wind. At 

 the same time, a bee-house ought to be so made 

 as to cause a free passage of air, though not of 

 strong currents, at all periods, with openings both 

 anteriorly and posteriorly. A covered shed or 

 veranda is perhaps the best form of a bee-house, 

 yielding both a shade from the heat and shelter 

 from the wet Where hives are simply placed on 

 open stands, these should be about sixteen inches 

 from the ground, and three or four feet apart 

 Quiet is necessary to their successful operations ; 

 and it has been found that they do not thrive well 

 in the neighbourhood of smithies, mills, steam- 

 engines, and the like, partly, we believe, on 

 account of the noise, and partly owing to the 

 smells emitted from such works. 



As to the district of country, that of course will 

 always be preferable which yields such vegetable 

 productions as the insect can turn to account 

 'Large heaths, sheltered with woods,' savs the 

 Naturalists Library, 'are extremely productive 

 of honey, as the wild thyme and other flowering 

 plants with which they abound are not cut down 

 7 MI 



