CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



of wasps that can be discovered in the neighbour- 

 hood. 



' Bees are subject also to a peculiar species of 

 pediculus, called the bee-louse. Hives that have 

 swarmed more than once, and such as contain but 

 little honey, are most exposed to those troublesome 

 vermin. The hives in this case should be cleared 

 at the furthest once every week, and the stools on 

 which they stand every morning ; for the latter are 

 likely to harbour the larvae and moths, or other 

 insects, as well as the hive. But these obnoxious 

 creatures cannot be entirely extirpated without 

 taking away the infected hive, removing the bees, 

 and cleaning it, before it is restored to the former 

 station. The lice are of a slender shape, or filiform, 

 and of a ferruginous colour, and may be destroyed 

 by strewing tobacco over the bees. 



' The bees are continually fighting among them- 

 selves, and robbing each other : avarice, not 

 necessity, leads them to do so, it being almost 

 always the strongest and best provisioned hives 

 that pillage the weak ones. When once a bee 

 has been able to introduce itself into a hive, and 

 carry away a load of honey without being arrested, 

 it will return a hundred times the same day ; and, 

 making it known to its companions, they will then 

 come in hordes, nor cease their pillage until there 

 is nothing left to take. In one day, the whole of 

 the honey will be carried off, and with a determin- 

 ation Which one can scarcely have an idea of with- 

 out seeing it. This kind of pillage is most frequent 

 in the spring and autumn, and it is easier to pre- 

 vent than to stop it ; and, for this purpose, the 

 entrance of the hives ought to be straitened in 

 proportion to the population.' 



Ligurian Bee. Hives of the Ligurian bee (Apis 

 Ligusttca], already mentioned, may now be pur- 

 chased in London, but at a cost which places 

 them beyond the reach of many bee-cultivators. 

 Ligurian bee-queens may, however, be obtained at 

 a more moderate price ; and by introducing one 

 of these into a hive of common bees, it may gradu- 

 ally be converted into a hive of Ligurian bees. 

 The bees readily receive the stranger, if their own 

 queen is removed. But it does not yet appear 

 that there is any economical advantage. The 

 Banded Bee of Egypt (Apis fasciata) has not yet 

 been introduced into this country. 



BRITISH WILD BEES. 



Besides the hive-bee, already mentioned, there 

 are various species of bees, natives of Britain, 

 which have never been domesticated by man, 

 though some of them construct hives and produce 

 honey. Of these wanderers of the wilds, the most 

 common is the humble-bee (Bombus), of which 

 there are several species, the smallest of them at 

 least double the size of the hive-bee. 



On account of their peculiar habits, these wild 

 species are unfitted for domestication. Few of 

 them survive the rigours of winter; but one, a 

 female, that does escape, manages for a season the 

 resuscitation of the breed. Abroad it flies in early 



summer, and, alone and unaided, sets laboriously 

 to work in constructing its nest, piercing the earth 

 or moss, as its instinct may be, and excavating a 

 small chamber wherein to lay its eggs. It does 

 not make wax and cells for the young. These 

 come to maturity in the cocoons which they spin 

 for themselves in the larva state ; and when they 

 emerge, these cocoons form stores for food. The 

 solitary bee feeds alone its earliest progeny, but 

 these soon multiply around it, make more cells, 

 gather honey, and feed the increasing young. 

 Towards the middle or latter part of September, 

 however, the energies of the bees begin to wax 

 fainter, and little further progress is made in add- 

 ing to the colony, or in collecting honey. Cold 

 and showery days begin, even by this time, to thin 

 the number of the insect population, which are 

 now seen creeping slowly, with damp and heavy 

 wings, upon the stalks and petals of flowers, where 

 they were formerly seen actively buzzing about in 

 search of honey. The stores of the honey-cups 

 have not outlasted the wants of the young unfledged 

 bees, of which they were the proper food ; and if 

 the nests be examined now, these cups are found 

 quite empty. The surviving bees by degrees for- 

 sake the nest and its furniture, leaving the latter 

 as a prey to mice, beetles, or other animals. To 

 shelter themselves for the winter, they seek out 

 some dry bank, where they penetrate to the depth 

 of eighteen inches or two feet, pushing up the soil 

 behind them, and leaving no visible track by which 

 they have descended. In these situations they are 

 often found by labourers and others while digging ; 

 and such people are often greatly puzzled to 

 imagine how the insect can have reached such a 

 depth. Those who have attended to the habits 

 of wild bees can readily fix on the spots where 

 they take refuge. 



The experiment of domesticating wild bees has 

 been tried ; and it was found that, by removing 

 their nest cautiously in an evening, and placing it 

 in a quiet situation, in a garden or other place 

 where they could be observed, they went on with 

 their works without apparent alarm or interruption. 

 During the whole summer, they continued to prose- 

 cute their occupations with the same industry as 

 other bees ; but about September, as we have 

 mentioned, the hive began to turn languid, and 

 the numbers which appeared going and coming 

 about the entrance became daily smaller. It was 

 imagined they had taken refuge within the hive ; 

 but when this was opened, after all seemed to have 

 ceased their labours, everything was found empty 

 and deserted ; there were neither bees nor honey ;. 

 the stronger and younger insects, no doubt, having 

 gone to make burrows for themselves in the earth, 

 and the older ones having gradually fallen victims 

 to the accidents of approaching winter. Our wild 

 bees, therefore, appear to possess their brief lives 

 but for self-enjoyment, or rather to form one of 

 that order of beings created by the great Author 

 of all, as if for the purpose of leaving no corner of 

 the universe without its utmost allotment of 

 sentient and enjoying existence. 



