But with the workers it is different ; for the produc- 

 tion of an imperfect animal a peculiar weakened kind 

 of food is given. Here then is the great and extra- 

 ordinary economy of the hive shown. If every grub 

 were fed with the naturally strengthening food, every 

 bee would be male or female, and perfect ; but in 

 such case how would the hive be formed, the honey 

 gathered, the young bees fed? These are the pecu- 

 liar duties of those bees, which, having no sexual 

 duties to perform, are employed throughout their 

 entire lives in the duties of the hive. Hence, it is 

 far more remarkable that, for the due regulation in 

 the internal arrangements of the hive, the greater 

 portion of the inhabitants should be stinted in their 

 growth, and rendered sterile members of the com- 

 munity, than that a maggot, well supplied with 

 wholesome nutriment, should arrive at that perfect 

 development which is the characteristic of its sex. If the 

 case were reversed if, for the performance of some sin- 

 gular duty, it were requisite, that in a nest of '20,0(10 

 or 30,000 insects, some half a dozen should annually 

 be produced, which should, by the greatest care, be 

 supplied with impoverishing food, so as to become 

 unfruitful, how much more remarkable would the 

 production of the barren bee be considered than it is, 

 because nineteeu-twentieths of the community are 

 abortive. 



In this light the non-development of the worker 

 bees becomes a now matter for wonder. It may 

 be asked, Can a smaller and more moderately heated 

 house, a less stimulating kind of food, and a horizontal 

 instead of a vertical posture in the larva state, give an 

 insect a differently shaped tongue and mandible, render 

 the surface of its posterior thighs concave and Hat, 

 provide them witli a fringe of hairs, forming the basket 

 for earning pollen, furnish them with an apparatus 

 at the extremity <>f the tibia; and base of the tarsi, 

 enabling the injects to use their legs as pincers, or 

 furnish them \\i;h tlii- pollen brush which lines the 

 inside of their ba.-al tarsal joint? Can they shorten 

 its abdomen, alter its colour and clothing, straighten 

 its sting, furnish it with wax pockets and vessels 

 secreting that substance, and render its ovaries 

 abortive. Can, in the next place, the circumstances 

 above noticed, altogether alter, as Messrs. Kirby and 

 Spence observe, the instinct of these creatures ? Can 

 they give to one description of animals address and 

 industry, and to the other astonishing fecundity ? Can 

 we conceive them sufficient to change the very pas- 

 sions, tempers, and manners ? That the very same 

 fetus, if ted with more pungent food, shall become 

 a female, passing her time without labour that this 

 very same foetus, if fed with more simple food, shal 

 come forth a worker, this, and more than this, is so 

 contrary to what is known in other branches of natu- 

 ral history, that unless it were perfectly authenticated 

 we might deem it as fabulous as the stories circulated 

 amongst the ancients respecting the very same 

 insects. 



In man and the higher animals it is well known 

 that numerous differences, both as respects the form 

 and relative proportion of parts, occurs frequently 

 although their causes are difficult of explanation. In 

 many instances these may originate in the difference 

 of the nutriment which the embryo derives in the 

 womb, or from the degree of confinement or tem- 

 perature caused by that organ; a case that analogi- 

 cally would not be very wide of that of the grub or 

 embryo of the bee inclosed in its cell. These am 



359 



similar instances which have been adduced, are, how- 

 ver, of rare occurrence, and the result of accident, 

 so that they can scarcely be considered as strictly 

 uaalogousto the case of the bee. 



We are now to suppose that the period of the year 

 s arrived that the queen insects, having undergone 

 ;he change to the pupa state, are nearly ready to 

 jurst forth to life. It is now that the old queen- 

 mother, losing all her parental feelings, becomes infu- 

 riated. She rushes to the cells wherein are deposited 

 :he future queens, her offspring, and instantly begins 

 to tear them open ; the guards which surround the 

 cells make way for her approach, and suffer her to act 

 as she pleases, whereupon she slaughters the inmates 

 with her stings without remorse. As the cells, how- 

 ever, are thicker than those of the workers, she is 

 soon fatigued by her labours ; and after she has opened 

 one or two she languidly attempts to gnaw through a 

 third. The sight of these cells agitates her to such 

 a degree that she rims about the hive in a state of 

 delirium. This excitement she soon communicates to 

 the workers by touching their antenna; ; and, after 

 scampering about in all directions, a great portion of 

 them, accompanied by their old queen, rush out of the 

 hive, and seek another house. In every instance it is 

 the old queen which leads the first, swarm. Experi- 

 ence enables the apiarist to foretell this event, for 

 on the evening previous to swarming the bees sud- 

 denly leave off their labours, as if aware of the 

 approaching change, whilst a few scouts are sent out 

 in search of a new colony. Something very like 

 concerted action and foresight are evident in these 

 proceedings. It is always in calm weather, when the 

 sky is serene, between nine in the morning and four 

 in the afternoon, that they quit their habitation. If the 

 female is not found amongst the first which issue 

 forth (in general, however, the swarm drags the 

 mother-queen with them out of the hive), she is not 

 long in repairing after them, and in less than a minute 

 she is followed by all the bees which are to compose 

 the swarm. By degrees they fix themselves upon a 

 branch, form a group there, by hooking themselves 

 one to another with their feet, although they are ex- 

 posed : they remain quiet, and often, in less than a 

 quarter of an hour, we see scarcely more bees hover- 

 ing round the swarm than are to be observed around 

 a hive in fine weather. If in sallying forth they fly 

 toward some large tree, there is reason to fear that 

 they may wander beyond the limits of the hive. 

 They are easily brought down by throwing up hand- 

 fuls of dust. Although the swarm remain tranquil, 

 it must not be left long in this position without offer- 

 ing to it a lodging, especially if the sun be warm, 

 because it would speedily go else where in search of a 

 new habitation. Thus, therefore, in the swarming 

 season, it is necessary to have hives quite ready to 

 make use of as occasion requires. The interior of a 

 hive should be well cleaned before it be presented to 

 the bees, since they are fond of cleanliness. To 

 render it agreeable to them the sides are rubbed with 

 flowers of mt'lissa, bean flowers, &c., of the scent of 

 which they are fond. Some parts of it are also 

 moistened with a slight layer of honey. Thus a fresh 

 hive is established, chiefly consisting of insects lately 

 hatched, which in the course of a very fhort time 

 commence their labours with all the zeal of the inha- 

 bitants of the hive from which they have swarmed. 

 Let us return, however, to the old hive thus bereft of 

 their queen. The bees that remain take particular 



