520 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



she will be seen at times attended with a 

 numerous retinue, marching from cell to cell, 

 plunging the extremity of her body into many 

 of them, and leaving a small egg in each. 



The bees which generally compose her 

 train are thought to be males, which serve to 

 impregnate her by turns. These are larger 

 arid blacker than the common bees ; without 

 stings, and without, industry. They seem 

 formed only to transmit a posterity ; and to 

 attend the queen, whenever she thinks proper to 

 issue from the secret retreats of the hive, where 

 she most usually resides. Upon the union of 

 these two kinds depends all expectations of a 

 future progeny ; for the working bees are of 

 no sex, and only labour for another offspring : 

 yet such is their attention to the queen, that 

 if she happens to die, they will leave off 

 working, and take no further care of posterity. 

 If, however, another queen is, in this state of 

 universal despair, presented them, they im- 

 mediately acknowledge her for their sovereign, 

 and once more diligently apply to their labour. 

 It must be observed, however, that all this 

 fertility of the queen-bee, and the great at- 

 tentions paid to her by the rest, are contro- 

 verted by more recent observers. They assert, 

 that the common bees are parents themselves ; 

 that they deposit their eggs in the ceils which 

 they have prepared ; that the females are im- 

 pregnated by the males, and bring forth a 

 progeny, which is wholly their own. 1 



However, to go on with their history, as 

 delivered us by Mr Reaumur. When the 

 queen-bee has deposited the number of eggs 

 necessary in the cells, the working bees under- 

 take the care of the rising posterity. They 

 are seen to leave olf their usual employments ; 

 to construct proper receptacles for eggs ; or to 

 complete those that are already formed. They 

 purposely build little cells, extremely solid, 

 for the young ; in which they employ a great 

 deal of wax : those designed for lodging the 

 males, as was already observed, are larger 

 than the rest ; and those for the queen-bees 

 the largest of all. There is usually but one 

 egg deposited in every cell ; but when the 

 fecundity of the queen is such, that it exceeds 

 the number of cells already prepared, there 

 are sometimes three or four eggs crowded 

 together in the same apartment. But this is 

 an inconvenience that the working bees will 

 by no means suffer. They seem sensible that 

 two young ones, stuffed up in the same cell, 

 when they grow larger, will but embarrass 

 and at last destroy each other : they therefore 

 take care to leave a cell to every egg ; and 

 remove or destroy the rest. 



The single egg that is left remaining, is 

 xed to the bottom of the cell, and touches it 



1 See Note at the beginning of the chapter. 



but in a single point. A day or two after it 

 is deposited, the worm is excluded from the 

 shell of the egg, having the appearance of a 

 maggot rolled up in a ring, and lying softly 

 on a bed of a whitish-coloured jelly ; upon 

 which also the little animal begins to feed. 

 In the meantime, the instant it appears, the 

 working bees attend it with the most anxious 

 and parental tenderness ; they furnish it every 

 hour with a supply of this whitish substance, 

 on which it feeds and lies ; and watch the 

 cell with unremitting care. They are nurses 

 that have a greater affection for the offspring 

 of others, than many parents have for their 

 own children. They are constant in visiting 

 each cell, and seeing that nothing is wanting; 

 preparing the white mixture, which is nothing 

 but a composition of honey and wax, in their 

 own bowels, with which they feed them. 

 Thus attended, and plentifully fed, the worm, 

 in less than six days' time, comes to its full 

 growth, and no longer accepts the food offered 

 it. When the bees perceive that it has no 

 further occasion for feeding, they perform the 

 last offices of tenderness, and shut the little 

 animal up in its cell ; walling up the mouth 

 of its apartment with wax : where they leave 

 the worm to itself ; having secured it from 

 every external injury. 



The worm is no sooner left inclosed, but 

 from a state of inaction, it begins to labour, 

 extending and shortening its body ; and by 

 this means lining the walls of its apartment 

 with a silken tapestry, which it spins in the 

 manner of caterpillars, before they undergo 

 their last transformation. When their cell is 

 thus prepared, the animal is soon after trans- 

 formed into an aurelia ; but differing from 

 that of the common caterpillar, as it exhibits 

 not only the legs, but the wings of the future 

 bee, in its present state of inactivity. Thus, 

 in about twenty or one and twenty days after 

 the egg was laid, the bee is completely formed, 

 and fitted to undergo the fatigues of its state. 

 When all its parts have acquired their proper 

 strength and consistence, the young animal 

 opens its prison, by piercing with its teeth the 

 waxen door that confines it. When just 

 freed from its cell, it is as yet moist, and in- 

 commoded with the spoils of its former situa- 

 tion : but the officious bees are soon seen to flock 

 round it, and to lick it clean on all sides with 

 their trunks ; while another band, with equal 

 assiduity, are observed to feed it with honey : 

 others again begin immediately to cleanse the 

 cell that has been just left ; to carry the ordure 

 out of the hive, and to fit the place for a new 

 inhabitant. The young bee soon repays their 

 care by its industry ; for as soon as ever its 

 external parts become dry, it discovers its 

 natural appetites for labour, and industriously 

 begins the task, which it pursues unremittingly 



