24 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



temperature of the atmosphere. French honey 

 usually contains from 80 to 88 per cent, of 

 cane sugar, grape sugar, and mellose — conse- 

 quently # sorne\v hat less than refined sugar. 



Meliciier. 



[From Beechey's "Voyage to the Pacific."] 



Mexican Bees. 



SOME ACCOUNT OP THE HABITS OF THE MEXI- 

 CAN BEE, BY E. T. BENNET, ESQ. 



In the hives of the domesticated hees of Mex- 

 ico, we meet with a structure altogether pecu- 

 liar. They exhibit little of th^ regularity which 

 characterizes the bees of the old continent, and 

 far inferior in this respect to the habitation of 

 the wasps. In one particular they are approxi- 

 mate to the nests of the European humble bees ; 

 the honey which they contain is deposited in 

 large bags distinct from the common cells. It 

 is somewhat singular that so interesting a point 

 of natural history has never been particularly 

 noticed ; our previous knowledge scarcely ex- 

 tending beyond the facts, that some of the bees 

 Df America form nests, like those of wasps, at- 

 tached to or suspended from trees, and covered 

 by an outer case constructed by themselves ; 

 while others, incapable apparently of forming 

 this outer crust for their hives, seek cavities 

 ready formed for their reception, and in them 

 construct their habitations. Instances of each 

 }f these kind of hives are mentioned by Piso, in 

 Iris Natural History of both the Indies ; and 

 Eernandez, in - his History of Mexico, states 

 that the Indians keep bees analogous to ours, 

 which deposit their honey in the hollow of 

 trees. Little information beyond that furnished 

 by these older writers is contained in more 

 modern books ; and even the Baron Von Hum- 

 boldt, to whose acute observation science is in- 

 iebted for so matiy discoveries respecting the 

 New World, appears not to have noticed, with 

 bis-usual care, the peculiarities of its bees. Had 

 diat distinguished traveller directed his attention 

 to the habits of the species which he collected 

 [luring his memorable journey, M. Latreille 

 would doubtless have given to us the necessary 

 details in his excellent Monograph of the 

 American Bees, included in the Observations 

 Zoologiques of M. Humboldt. In the valuable 

 essay prefixed to his Monograph, M. Latreille 

 has collected from authors numerous statements 

 relating to the habitations of bees, and especial- 

 ly of those of America; but has added to them 

 no new facts as regards the hives of the New 

 World ; the subject may, therefore, be regard- 

 ed as altogether novel, and as requiring some 

 little detail in its explanation. 



In the domestication of the bees of Mexico, 

 but little violence is done to their natural habus. 

 Inhabitants, in their wild state, of cavities in 

 trees, a hollow tree is selected to form their 

 hive. A pordon of it, of between two and 

 three feet in length, is cut off, and a hole ia 

 bored through the sides into the hollow, at 

 about its middle. The ends of the hollow are 

 then stopped up with clay, and the future hive 



is suspended on a tree; in a horizontal position, 

 with the hole opening to the cavity, directed 

 also horizontally. Of the hive, thus prepared, 

 a swarm of bees speedily take possess'on, and 

 commence their operations by forming cells for 

 the reception of their larvoe, and sacs to contain 

 their superabundant honey collected by them 

 in their excursions. Two such hives completely 

 formed and occupied w r ere brought to England, 

 safely packed in recent hides. One of these 

 was forwarded to M Huber, eminently distin- 

 guished for his highly interesting observations 

 on the manners of bees; the other was present- 

 ed to the Linnfean Society. The latter was 

 carefully divided longitudinally, so as to ex- 

 pose its interior. 



The eye of an observer, accustomed to the 

 regular disposition of the combs in the hive of 

 the European bee, is at once struck with the 

 opposite d rections assumed by it in different 

 parts of the Mexican. Instead of the parallel 

 vertical layers of comb, we have here layers, 

 some. of which assume a vertical, while others 

 are placed in a horizontal direction ; the cells 

 of the latter being the most numerous. The 

 cells, of course, vary in their direction, in the 

 same manner as the comb which they form ; 

 those of the horizontal layers of comb being 

 vertical, with their openings upward, while the 

 cells of the vertical comb are placed in a hori- 

 zontal direction. In the horizontal cells the 

 mouths are partly directed away from the en- 

 trance to the hive, and partly towards it ; the 

 former direction being given to those cells 

 which occupy the middle layers of the comb, 

 and the latter to the cells which are placed on 

 the side of the hive opposed to the opening. 

 All the combs, both vertical and horizontal, 

 are composed of a single series of cells applied 

 laterally to each other, and not, as in the Euro- 

 pean hive bee, of two series, the one applied 

 against the extremities of the other The hori- 

 zontal combs are much more regularly formed 

 than the vertical, the latter being broken, and 

 placed at uncertain distances; while the hori- 

 zontal are perfectly parallel to each other, form- 

 ing uniform layers, and placed at equal dis- 

 tances." Between these parallel combs are pro- 

 cesses of wax, partly supporting them, aud pas- 

 sing from the base of one cell to the junction of 

 the others in the next layer. These columns 

 are considerably stronger and thicker than the 

 sides of the cells which they support. 



The cells appear to be destined solely for the 

 habitation of the young bees ; for in all that 

 have been examined bees have been found. 

 The bee is placed in the cell with its hinder 

 parts directed towards the mouth of the cell, 

 which is covered by a granular mass, probab'y 

 composed of the pollen of plants. The form 

 of the cells is hcxangular, but the angles are not 

 sharply defined, and the mouth is scarcely, if 

 at all, thicker than the sides. In their dimen- 

 sions and relative proportions they differ mate- 

 rially from those of the Europe .n, and still 

 more from those of the Indian bees, as may be 

 seen from the subjoined table. 



Mexican. European. Indian. 

 Diameter of cells, 2§. 2§, 3^. 1£, 2? 5 . 



Depth of cells, 4. 5,6. 44,6. 



