518 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



whole. These cells serve for different purpo- 

 ses ; for laying up their young ; for their wax, 

 which in winter becomes a part of their food ; 

 and for their honey, which makes their prin- 

 cipal subsistence. 



It is well known that the habitation of bees 

 ought to be very close ; and what their hives 

 want, from the negligence or unskilfulness of 

 man, these animals supply by their own in- 

 dustry: so that it is their principal care, when 

 first hived, to stop up all the crannies. For 

 this purpose they make use of a resinous gum, 

 which is more tenacious than wax, and differs 

 greatly from it. This the ancients called 

 propolis: it will grow considerably hard in 

 June ; though it will in some measure soften 

 by heat ; and is often found different in con- 

 sistence, colour, and smell. It has generally 

 an agreeable aromatic odour when it is 

 Avarmed ; and by some it is considered as a 

 most grateful perfume. When the bees be- 

 gin to work with it, it is soft, but it acquires a 

 firmer consistence every day ; till at length it 

 assumes a brown colour, and becomes much 

 harder than wax. The bees carry it on their 

 hinder legs ; and some think it is met with on 

 the birch, the willow, and poplar. However 

 it is procured, it is certain that they plaster the 

 inside of their hives with this composition. 



If examined through a glass hive, from the 

 hurry the whole swarm is in, the whole ap- 

 pears at first like anarchy and confusion ; but 

 the spectator soon finds every animal diligent- 

 ly employed, and following one pursuit, with 

 a settled purpose. Their teeth are the instru- 

 ments by which they model and fashion their 

 various buildings, and give them such sym- 

 metry and perfection. They begin at the top 

 of the hive ; and several of them work at a 

 time at the cells which have two faces. If 

 they are stinted with regard to time, they give 

 the new cells but half the depth which they 

 ought to have ; leaving them imperfect, till 

 they have sketched out the number of cells ne- 

 cessary for the present occasion. The con- 

 struction of their combs costs them a great deal 

 of labour : they are made by insensible addi- 

 tions ; and not cast at once in a mould, as some 

 are apt to imagine. There seems no end of 

 their shaping, finishing, and turning them 

 neatly up. The cells for their young are most 

 carefully formed ; those designed for lodging 

 the drones, are larger than the rest ; and that 

 for the 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 from an obvious cause : every worm, 

 before it is transformed into an aurelia, hangs 

 its 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 

 worm takes particular care to fortify the pan- 

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

 thus, the partitions being lined six or eight 

 deep, become at last too narrow for a new 

 brood, and are converted into store-houses for 

 honey. 



Those cells where nothing but honey is de- 

 posited, are much deeper than the rest. When 

 the harvest of honey is so plentiful that they 

 have not sufficient room for it, they either 

 lengthen their combs, or build more; which 

 are much longer than the former. 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 flowers, 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 they lay up 

 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 dust 

 is not offered in sufficient quantities, the bees 

 pinch the tops of the stamina in which it is 

 contained, with their teeth ; and thus antici- 

 pate the progress of vegetation. In April and 

 May, the bees are busy, from morning to even- 

 ing, 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 

 concocted into real wax, and is thus ejected 

 by the same passage by which it was swal- 

 lowed. Every comb, newly made, is white : 

 but it becomes yellow as it grows old, and al- 

 most 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 win- 

 ter 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 win- 

 ter, with treacle; but no proper substitute has 

 yet been found for the bee-bread; and, with- 

 out 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 this delicious fluid passes into the 

 gullet ; and then into the first stomach, or 

 honey-bag, which, when filled, appears like 



