THE BEE. 



G0.5 



shaping, finishing, and turning them neatly 

 up. The cells tor their young are most care- 

 fully formed ; those designed for lodging the 

 drones, are larger than the rest ; and that for 

 th;' queen-bee the largest of all. The cells in 

 which the young brood are lodged, serve at 

 different times for containing honey ; and this 

 proceeds fro'ii an obvious cause : every worm, 

 before it is transformed into an aurclia, bungs 

 irs old skin on the partitions of its cell ; and 

 thus, while it strengthens the wall, diminishes 

 the capacity of its late apartment. The same 

 cell, in a single summer, is often tenanted by 

 three or four worms in succession ; and the 

 next season by three or four more. Each 

 worn takes particular care to.f >rtifv the pan- 

 nels of its cell, by hanging up its spoils there : 

 thus, the partitions being lined six or eight 

 deep, hero lie at last too narrow for a new 

 brood, and are converted into store-houses for 

 honey. 



Those cells where nothing but honey is 

 deposited, are much deeper than the rest. 

 When the harvest of honey i* so plentiful that 

 they have not sufficient roo.n for it, they either 

 lengthen their combs, or build more ; which 

 are much longer titan t!i form T. Sometimes 

 they work at three combs at a time ; for when 

 there are three work-houses, more bees may 

 be thus employed, without embarrassing each 

 other. 



But honey, as was before observed, is not 

 the only food upon which these animals sub- 

 sist. The meal of flo err,, of which their wax 

 is formed, is one of their most favourite re- 

 pasts. This is a diet which they live upon 

 during the summer; and of which th y lay tip 

 a large winter provision. The wax of which 

 their combs are made, is no more than this 

 meal digested, and wrought into a paste. 

 When the flowers upon which bees generally 

 feed, are not fully blown, and this meal or 

 du*t is not offered in sufficient quantities, the 

 bees pinch the tops of the sta.nina in which it 

 is contained, with their teeth ; and thus anti- 

 cipate the progress of vegetation. In April 

 and May, tlv bees are busy, from morning to 

 evening, in gathering this meal ; but when the 

 weather becomes too hot in the midst of sum- 

 mer, they work only in the morning. 



The bee is furnished with a stomach for its 

 wax, as well as its honey. In the former of 

 the two, their powder is altered, digested, and 

 no. 67 & 68. 



concocted into re.al wax ; and is thus ejected 

 by the same passage by which it was swallow- 

 ed. Every comb, newly made, is white ; but 

 it becomes yellow as it grows old, and almost 

 black when kept too long in the hive. Beside 

 the wax thus digested, there is a large portion 

 of the powder kneaded up for food in every 

 hive, 'and kept in separate cells, for winter 

 provision. This is called by the country 

 people, bee-bread ; and contributes to the 

 health and strength of the animal during win- 

 ter. Those who rear bees, may rob them of 

 their honey, and feed them, during the winter, 

 with treacle; but no proper substitute has yet 

 been found for the bee-bread ; and, without it, 

 the animals become consumptive, and die. 



As for the honey, it is extracted from that 

 part of the flower called the nectareum. 

 From the mouth tins delicious fluid passes 

 into the gullet ; and then into the first stomach, 

 or honey-bag, which, when filled, appears 

 like an oblong bladder. Children, that live 

 in country places, are well acquainted with 

 this bladder ; and destroy many bees, to come 

 at their store of honey. When a bee has suf- 

 ficiently fiiled its first stomach, it returns back 

 to the hive, where it disgorges the honey into 

 one of the cells. It often happens that the 

 bee delivers its store to some other, at the 

 mouth of the hive, and flies off for a fresh sup- 

 ply. Some honey-combs are always left open 

 for common use ; but many others are stopped 

 up, till there is a necessity of opening them. 

 Each of these is covered carefully with wax ; 

 so close, that the covers seem to be made at 

 the very instant the fluid is deposited within 

 them. 



Having thus given a cursory description of 

 the insect, individually considered, and of the 

 habitation it forms, we next come to its social 

 habits and institutions : and, in considering 

 this little animal attentively, after the neces- 

 sary precautions for the immediate preserva- 

 tion of the community, its second care is turn- 

 ed to the continuance of posterity. How 

 numerous soever the multitude of bees may 

 appear in one swarm, yet they all owe their 

 original to a single parent, which is called the 

 Queen-See. It is indeed surprising that a 

 single insect shall, in one summer, give birth 

 to above twenty thousand young : but, upon 

 opening her body, the wonder will cease; as 

 the number of eggs appearing, at one time 



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