THE BEE. 



513 



the contemplation ; and it requires an equal 

 share of attention, to prove the error of his dis- 

 coveries. Without entering, therefore, into 

 the dispute, I will take him for my guide ; 

 and just mention, as I go along, those parti- 

 culars in which succeeding observers have be- 

 gun to think him erroneous. Which of the 

 two are right, time only can discover ; for my 

 part, I have only heard one side, for as yet 

 none have been so bold as openly to oppose 

 Reaumur's delightful researches. 



There are three different kinds of bees in 

 every hive. 1 First, the labouring bees, which 



1 Functions of the inmates of a hive. A hive consists 

 of the Queen, or mother-bee, the Workers varying m 

 numbers, from 10,000, to 20,000 or 30,000, and the 

 Males or Drones, from 700 to double that number. 



Functions of the Queen. The Queen is the parent 





of the hive, and her sole province and occupation consist 

 in laying the eggs, from which originate those prodigious 

 multitudes that people a hive, and emigrate from it in 

 the course of one summer. In the height of the season, 

 her fertility is truly astonishing, as she lays not fewer 

 than 200 eggs per day, and even more when the season 

 is particularly warm and genial, and flowers are abun- 

 dant ; and this laying continues, though at a gradually 

 diminishing rate, till the approach of cold weather in 

 October. So early as February, she resumes her labours 

 in the same department, and supplies the great blank 

 made in the population by the numerous casualties that 

 take place between the end of summer and commence- 

 ment of spring. Her great laying of the eggs of workers 

 begins generally about the fifth day of her age ; and she 

 continues to deposit eggs of the same kind for the suc- 

 ceeding eleven months ; after which she commences 

 laying those of males. It is during the depositing of 

 these last, that the Bees are led by their instinct to lay 

 the foundation of royal cells, in which, if the population 

 be abundant, the Queen deposits eggs at intervals of one 

 or two days between each. In the operation of laying, 

 which we have a thousand times witnessed, the Queen 

 puts her head into a cell, and remains in thai position 

 about a second or two, as if to ascertain whether it is 

 in a fit state to receive the deposit. She then withdraws 

 her head, curves her body downwards, inserts her ab- 

 domen into the cell, and turns half round on herself; 

 having kept this position for a few seconds, she with- 

 draws her body, having in the meantime laid an egg. 

 The egg itself, which is attached to the bottom of the 

 cell by a glutinous matter with which it is imbued, is of 

 a slender oval shape, slightly curved, rather more point- 

 ed in the lower end than in the other. She passes on 

 from cell to cell, furnishing each with the germ of a 

 future inhabitant ; and during these proceedings, she 

 receives the most marked and affectionate attention from 

 the workers. She is seen continually surrounded by a 

 circle of them, who caress her fondly with their antennae, 

 and occasionally supply her with food from their pro- 

 bosces. This appearance has given rise to the notion 

 commonly entertained, and asserted even by some Na- 



VOL. II. 



make up the far greatest number, and are 

 thought to be neither male nor female, but 

 merely born for the purposes of labour, and 

 continuing the breed, by supplying the young 

 with provision, while yet in their helpless state. 

 The second sort are the drones ; they are of a 

 darker colour, longer, and more thick by one- 

 third than the former ; they are supposed to 

 be the males ; and there is not above a hun- 

 dred of them in a hive of seven or eight thou- 

 sand bees. The third sort is much larger 

 than either of the former, and still fewer in 

 number ; some assert that there is not above 



turalists, that the Queen is followed in her progress 

 through the hive by a number of her subjects formed in 

 a circle round her, and these of course have been regard- 

 ed as the Queen's body guards. The truth is, however, 

 that her Bee-majesty has no attendants, strictly speak- 

 ing; none who follow in her train; but wherever she 

 moves, the workers whom she encounters in her progress 

 instantly and hurriedly clear the way before her, and all 

 turning their heads towards their approaching sovereign, 

 lavish their caresses upon her with much apparent 

 affection, and touch her softly with their antennae ; and 

 these circumstances, which may be observed every hour 

 in the day, in a properly constructed glass hive, have 

 given rise to the idea of guards. The moment she 

 has left the circle, the bees who had surrounded her 

 instantly resume their labours, and she passes on, receiv- 

 ing from every group in her way the homage due to a 

 Mother and a Queen 



Functions of the irorker-Bee.The workers, to the 



number of 10,000, 20,000, and even 30,000, constitute 

 the great mass of the population of a hive, and on them 

 devolve the whole labours of the establishment. Theirs 

 is the office of searching for and collecting the precious 

 fluid which not only furnishes their daily food, as well as 

 that of their young, and the surplus of which is laid up 

 for winter stores, but also the materials from which they 

 rear their beautiful combs. In the little basket-shaped 

 cavity in their hind-legs, they bring home the pollen or 

 farinaceous dust of flowers, kneaded by the help of the 

 morning dew into tiny balls, which form an important 

 ingredient in the nourishment of the brood ; and also the 

 propolis or adhesive gum extracted from willows, &c., 

 with which they attach their combs to the upper part 

 and sides of the hive, and stop every crevice that might 

 admit the winter's cold. Exploring a glass hive in a 

 soft spring morning, and following with his eye a bee 

 loaded with farina, the observer will perceive the little 

 active forager, on her arrival in the interior, hurrying 

 over the surface of the comb in search of a proper cell in 

 which to deposit her burden; and having found one, 

 fastening herself by the two fore-feet on its superior bor- 

 der, then bending her body a little forward, that her hin- 

 der feet may catch hold of the opposite edge of the cell. 

 In this position she is next seen thrusting back her se- 

 cond pair of feet, one on each side, and sweeping with 

 them from top to bottom along the two hinder legs, 

 where the farina balls are fixed, and by this means de- 

 taching them from the hairy linings of the cavities, and 

 depositing them in the cell. To the workers, also, are 

 committed the various offices of guarding the entrance 

 3 T 



