Insects.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



375 



tioned cells, the bees avoid the opposite part on 

 account ol' the thinness of the wax, and the size of 

 the wax-block will not admit of their being remote 

 from the fii-st. 



Supposing the parts at which the circles nearly 

 come in contact with each other to be of the thickness 

 proper for the partitions of the cells, the parts 

 marked a in the front view and section (Fii;s. 3640 

 • and 3641) being more than the necessary thickness, 

 the bees will (according to the instinctive principles 

 before mentioned) naturally remove what is there 

 superfluous, thus forming an angle, determined by 

 two intersecting vertical planes, at the bottom of 

 the cell ; inasmuch as at the same time the parts 

 marked b, in the back view and section (Fig. 3641), 

 will also be removed. The partition between these 

 two last-mentioned cells thus becomes perpendicular 

 and of equal thickness, and is exactly opposed to the 

 ansle at the bottom of the first cell. 



By this time the necessary secretion of wax has 

 taken place in all the bees composing -the festoons, 

 and they are all anxious to dispose of their scales 

 of wax. The sculpturer-bees are also active, 

 consequently more wax is added to the margins of 

 the original block, and more excavations are 

 formed. Supposing the block to have increased 

 to double its original length and width, there would 

 then be room i'or parts of four more excavations, 

 on the side on which the first was made. (See Fig. 

 3642.) 



The same operation of reducing the wax in the 

 thick parts marked c, having taken place, the sides 

 of the first cell also become straight and perpen- 

 dicular, and by reducing the wax at the parts d, to 

 the proper thickness in all the cells, the bottom 

 of the first cell, and upper parts of the two cells 

 beneath, in the diagram, become two-sided. The 

 work on the opposite side of the comb being in 

 the same state of forwardness (for after the com- 

 mencement it proceeds equally at all parts), will 

 appear as in Fig. 3643. 



Figs. 3644 and 3645 show the progress of the 

 cells from their foundation to their completion. 



In Fig. 3646 the angles at the bases of the cells 

 are cut into the partitions of the opposing cells, and 

 hence it is clearly seen that, from the position of 

 those cells, the perpendicular partitions of the cells 

 on this side must be longer than those of the other, 

 and that the cells themselves must have three quad- 

 rilateral plates from their bases. 



In carrying up the sides of the cell, the form is 

 regulated by the intersection of the surrounding 

 circles, as represented in Fig. 3646. But the circles 

 described in this figure, parts of which are shown 

 in most of the others, represent those which are 

 enclosed by the hexagons, whereas we believe the 

 natural circumference of each cell (supposing it 

 to be cylindrical) is that by which the hexagon 

 is enclosed : hence it will be necessary to imagine 

 the cij-cles partly intersecting each other. 



It has now been demonstrated that the cells 

 of the first tiers on each side are pentagonal ; that 

 the bases of those on one side are each composed of 

 two plates, while those of the other side are each 

 composed of three plates; and that, according to 

 ♦he laws laid down, they could not have been 

 otherwise : now as this accords with all the ac- 

 counts given of the proceedings in the construction 

 of the comb, it seems to prove that the laws which 

 we have laid down, as guiding their formation, are 

 correct. 



The ordinary cells of a comb are of two sizes ; 

 those designed for the male larvae being rather 

 larger than those of the ordinary size in which the 

 neuter larvse are reared. The width of the former 

 cells is about three and one-third lines, and that of 

 the latter two and two-fifths. A comb is always com- 

 menced with the small-sized cells. Hence, when 

 the larger cells are constructed, instead of being 

 opposed to three others, they encroach upon a 

 fourth, and their bases are consequently composed 

 of four plates instead of three : at first a minute 

 lozenge-shaped piece is visible at the top of the 

 ba.sal part (Fig. 3647, a) ; this gradually increases 

 in size as tne one on the opposite side, b, decreases. 

 When the full size of the cell is attained, the top 

 and bottom pieces (c, c) are equal ; but as soon as 

 a sufficient number of the larger cells is formed, the 

 lower lozenge gradually decreases, while the upper 

 one (e, e) increa.ses in size, until there are but three 

 plates again visible (d, d). 



During the progress of the comb in building, 

 various accidental occurrences may interrupt its 

 uniformity and disarrange the whole. Fig. 3648 

 «hows a sectional view of the combs of two hives, 

 which have suffered general disarrangement. 



According to Kirby the worker-bees are annual 

 insects, but the queen will live sometimes more 

 than two years : but he adds that their destruction 

 is cruel and unwise, as every hive consists of young 

 as wi-ll as old individuals. 



Fig. 3649 represents a large pyramidal hive 

 planned by Reaumur; from experiments with which 



he ascertained that want of room was not the cause 

 of the emigration of swarms ; no doubt it is the 

 mode appomted for the extension of colonies of 

 this insect, and that an instinctive feeling impels 

 to it. 



We can scarcely regard the hive-bee as at present 

 existing in a wild state in our islands, or indeed in 

 Europe ; for though swarms often escape and tenant 

 cavities in buildings, vacant spaces under the roofs 

 of buildings, and the like, yet they never appear to 

 extend their colonies, and establish themselves in 

 our woods, or among the recesses and fissures of 

 our rocks : other species however are abundant, to 

 some of which we have already alluded ; we mean 

 those that are solitary in their habits, the female 

 being the worker, as well as the parent of the 

 brood. But there are others which, like the hive- 

 bee, are social in their habits, though the numbers 

 forming a single settlement are by no means so 

 great as those of the crowded hive. The humble- 

 bees are of this description. 



All are familiar with the common humble-bee 

 (Bombus terrestris). From spring till late in sum- 

 mer we see it wandering over clover-fields and 

 through gardens, busy with every flower, and 

 assiduously probing their nectaries. If it be pa- 

 tiently watched, it may often be traced to its 

 retreat, where it has laboured in constructing cells 

 and storing up honey. The domicile of the Bom- 

 bus terrestris is a simple excavation in some bank, 

 a little chamber of about six or eight inches in 

 diameter, to which leads a long winding passage 

 li capable of admitting the ingress and egress of two 

 ] bees at a time. The population seldom exceeds 

 ' one or two hundred, and may be divided into 

 ji females, males, and workers. The females are of 

 ; two sorts — very large, and small. The large fe- 

 : males, or queens, look like giants compared to the 

 smaller females and workers or neuters ; they pro- 

 duce males, females, and workers ; but the small 

 females produce only male eggs. The large fe- 

 males therefore we may regard as the founders 

 of every colony. They emerge, in an established 

 colony, from their pupa state in the autumn, and 

 pair in that season with males, the produce of the 

 small females which have previously acquired their 

 due development. On the approach of winter 

 these large lemales (there is no queen paramount) 

 retire, each to a little snug apartment lined with 

 moss or grass, and separate from the general vault, 

 passing the cold season in a state of torpidity. 

 Early in the spring they awake, issue forth, and 

 take different directions, seeking for some con- 

 venient spot in which to begin their labours, and 

 at this time may be seen exploring every hole or 

 crevice in banks or on the ground. We will now 

 suppose one of these queens to have formed or en- 

 larged a chamber, and established herself. She be- 

 gins to collect honey and pollen, and constructs cells 

 in which her eggs are to be deposited. 



So rapidly are the latter built, that to make a cell, 

 store it with honey and pollen, the food of the 

 young, deposit one or two eggs in it, and cover it 

 up, requires little more than half an hour. Her 

 first and most numerous brood consists almost exclu- 

 sively of workers, which, as soon as excluded from the 

 pupa, assist her in all her labours. Her next brood 

 consists of large and small females, and males. 

 These appear in August or September ; but, if Huber 

 be correct (' Linn. Trans.' vi. 283), some male eggs 

 are laid in the spring, with those that have to pro- 

 duce workers. We have now, then, large and 

 small females, males, and workers, the produce of 

 the single queen who began to found this establish- 

 ment. The workers are by far the most numerous, 

 and to them is entrusted the reparation of the cells 

 and the spreading of wax over the roof. When in 

 any of the cells one of the larva; has spun its cocoon, 

 and as'umed the pupa state, it is their duty to re- 

 move all the wax away from it ; and after the pupa 

 has attained its perfect state, which takes place in 

 about five days, to cut open the cocoon, that the 

 perfect insect may emerge from its imprisonment. 

 It is theirs moreover to supply the young grubs with 

 food, after they have consumed the stock deposited 

 with each egg in the cell, and regularly feed them 

 with honey or pollen, introduced through a small 

 hole in the cover of each cell, opened as occasion 

 may require and carefully stopped up again. As 

 the grubs increase in size, the cells which respect- 

 ively contained them become too small, and split 

 by the struggles of their inmates ; the breaches 

 thus produced they repair with wax as fast as they 

 occur, attentive to see where their services are re- 

 quired ; and it is in this manner that the cells 

 gradually acquire an increase of size to accommo- 

 date the increasing larvae. Besides these duties, 

 in chilly weather and at night the workers brood 

 over the pupae shrouded in their cocoons, in order 

 to impart the necessary warmth. In some nests 

 there are from forty to sixty honey-pots, the 

 cocoons of bees recently emerged from their 

 pupa condition, and sometimes half of these are 



filled in a single day. It must not be supposed 

 that the interior of the nest presents the same 

 appearance as that of a bee-hive. Instead of ver- 

 tical combs of wax with hexagonal cells, we see 

 either a single cluster of cells, or a few irregular 

 horizontal combs placed one above another and 

 supported by pillars of wax. Each layer consists 

 of several groups of oval yellowish bodies, of three 

 different sizes, those in the middle bemg the 

 largest ; the whole slightly joined together by a 

 cement of wax. These oval bodies are the silken 

 cocoons spun by the larvae ; some are closed at the 

 upper extremity, others open : the former ate those 

 which yet contain pupae ; the latter the em])ty cases 

 from which the young bees have escaped. Besides 

 these there are the cells of wax, in which are eggs 

 and a store of pollen and honey, but from which in 

 due time the workers will remove the wax, the larvae 

 having completed their cocoon. There are moreover 

 the honey-pots, that is, the relinquished cocoons 

 patched up and strengthened with wax, sometimes 

 also vessels of pure wax filled with nectar. 



From the workers let us pass to the mother-queen, 

 and inquire into her duties and actions. We must 

 suppose her surrounded by the workers, who watch all 

 her movements. She is about to deposit in the cells 

 the eggs from which the second brood is to spring ; 

 actuated by some instinctive impulse, the workers 

 endeavour to seize the eggs as soon as laid, and 

 destroy them, perhaps in order to keep the popu- 

 lation within due bounds. Be this as it may, the 

 female has to exert herself to the utmost to prevent 

 her eggs from being all devoured, and it is only 

 after she has driven them back several times, and 

 routed their forces, that she succeeds in accomplish- 

 ing her purpose. When she has deposited her eggs 

 in the cells, with a store of food and closed them 

 up with wax, she has still to keep vigilant watch 

 over them for six or eight hours to prevent the as- 

 saults of the workers. After this period, strange to 

 say, their nature seems changed ; they no longer 

 evince any appetite for devouring the eggs, and 

 the female gives up her charge, committing all 

 to their care. From these eggs proceed a few large 

 females, to be at a future day the founders of colonies, 

 a lew males, and a few small females closely re- 

 sembling the workers, but attended by the males, 

 which form their court. And now, as Huber as- 

 sures us, the whole establishment is asc(;ne of con- 

 fusion ; for these recently perfected small females 

 begin to prepare cells for their eggs, and this pro- 

 ceeding rouses the anger of the queen-mother to 

 the highest pitch. She assaults them with fury, 

 driving them away; puts her head into the cells 

 and devours the eggs, and is in turn herself assaulter' 

 and forced to retreat. They then contend amongst 

 themselves for various cells, but after a shiirt time 

 tranquillity is again restored. Their produce con- 

 sists only of males, which pair with the large females 

 in autumn, the latter retiring to their hyberna- 

 culum and sleeping till spring. The males are rather 

 larger than the small females, and their antennae 

 are longer and more slender. They are not an idle 

 race, for Reaumur asserts that they work in concert 

 with the rest, to repair any damage that may befal 

 their common habitation. They remove every sort 

 of rubbish, and the. bodies of such individuals as 

 may chance to die : but they do not forage for pro- 

 visions. On the setting in of winter, workers, small 

 females, and males, and probably the queen-mother, 

 all perish, the continuance of the race depending 

 on the few large females reposing in their winter 

 dormitory. 



Fig. 36 JO represents the nest of Bombus terrestris, 

 laid open : a, male ; 6, large female ; c, worker. 

 Fig. 3()51, the male and female. 



There is another species of Humble-bee, the 

 Bombus Muscorum, which selects a shallow exca 

 vation in the earth about six inches in diameter, 

 over which they construct a dome of moss, or 

 withered grass, the fibres of which are intertwined, 

 and the whole as it were felted together. Internallv 

 the dome, which is five or six inches in height, is 

 lined with a coat of wax in order to render it imper- 

 vious to rain. In collecting their materials, the bees 

 form a file of several individuals, extending, at short 

 distances apart, from the nest to the spot where the 

 materials are to be obtained ; the last bee disengages 

 the moss, and having with his fore-limbs made it up 

 into a small felted bundle, she pushes it under her 

 body to the next in rotation ; this transfers it to the 

 next again, and so on till it is conducted to the nest. 

 To the interior of the dome a covered way, often ex- 

 tending for the, distance of twelve or fourteen inches, 

 always leads; its width is about half an inch, and 

 the passage is not more than sufficient to admit 

 the ingress or egress of the single bee. With regard 

 to the economy of these moss-carding humble-bees, 

 it is precisely the same as that of the common 

 species. 



Fig. 3652 represents, at A, two of the carder-bees 

 at work in the preparation of moss for their nest; B, 

 is an e.xterior view of the nest. 



