THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Oct., 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Comments on Querist No. 7. 



On page 83, Vol. V., of your most valuable 

 journal, Querist seems to be at variance with 

 our position in an article on page 5."), of the same 

 volume, where we assumed, as we yet maintain, 

 that " the tirst and highest law of nature in 

 insects is self-preservation in caring for offspring, 

 ttc. Tiie honey bee seems to be endowed with 

 this instinct for the purpose of preserving the 

 brood in the hive." Querist asks — "Now, is 

 this statement correct ? If tlie preservation of off- 

 spring is the strongest instinct tliat governs the 

 honey bee, then why does she remove unsealed 

 larviB from the cells, to make room for a rich 

 honey harvest V Mr. Otis, of Wisconsin, claims 

 tliat the strongest instinct of the working bee is 

 the love of storing liouey. So it seems the 

 position assumed by Mr. Seay, is at variance witli 

 that of INIr. Otis, and one or the other must of 

 necessity be wrong." 



As to being at variance with some eminent 

 beeo\og\sl, we have not a doubt that it is so, but 

 j-ou know, Mr. Editor, great men will differ. I 

 deny emphatically that the workers will destroy 

 the unsealed larva3 for the purpose of storing 

 honey. I have never seen any evidence of it 

 among my bees, and should be pleased if some 

 corres[)ondent (if he thinks such is the case) 

 Avould take the affirmative and give the evidence. 

 To satisfy liimself, that the first and highest 

 law of nature in the honey bee is self ]»reservation 

 and the perpetuation of the species. Querist need 

 only have a fair open contest with a hive of bees. 

 Why do they sting V For self-preservation and the 

 defence or preservation of their colony (species). 

 Injure a single bee in tiie hive, and tiie whole 

 c ilony is instantly exasperated. Cause the 

 honey to run out without injurj' to any of the 

 bees, and the effect is somewhat different. Tear 

 the comb containing sealed brood, and the bees 

 are at once enraged. And for what purpose? 

 For self-preservation as a colony, in caring for 

 the offspring. Why do they gather honey ? For 

 scdf-preservalion and perpetuation of the species. 

 Is there nothing in all this to demonstrate the 

 fact that the fiist and highest law of nature in 

 the lujney bee is self-preservation and the per- 

 petuation of the species ? 



If this principle did not pervade the universe, 

 everj'thing would be chaos and confusion. It 

 enters into and becomes the fundamental princi- 

 l>le upon which the human family, the auiunil 

 creati<ju, and the vegetable kingdom have tlieir 

 existence. AVhat causes the motlier to care for 

 her infant ? It can be nothing less than this. If 

 Querist were hemmed in some corner by an 

 assassin who sought to take his lile, and he had 

 power to save himself by killing his antagonist, 

 would he not do it ? What causes tlie animal to 

 care for its young, as the cow for her calf, or the 

 sow for her pigs, or the birds for tlieir untledged 

 young ? Wluit causes the bee to sting when the 

 hive is improperly treated, or the smallest pis- 

 mire to l»ite when its tenement is disturbed V 

 You may pass from tlie human family down 

 through the entire animal creation to the smallest 

 auimalcu'.ai, and this (as it were) immutable 



principle pervades the whole series. Every once 

 living thing that has become extinct as a species 

 upon this eartii, failed from some unknown 

 cause, to comply with this grand fundamental 

 principle — self-preservation and perpetuation of 

 species. 



Querist next says — " Again, is it not a fact 

 that the self-preservation of the matured bees, is 

 far stronger than the love of offspring ? Witness, 

 for instance, the destruction of diones during a 

 dearth in the honey harvest ? I do not know 

 whetlier I understand him here. W^iien I say, 

 honey harvest, I mean a time when there is 

 plenty of honey to be found by the bees in 

 flowers, honey dews, ifcc. W'ebster's unabridged 

 gives the meaning of dearth as "scarcity, want, 

 need, famine." These two terms then stiind in 

 direct opjxisition to each other. A honey dearth 

 within a honey harvest is an utter impossibility. 

 It implies two distinct terms, not both existing at 

 one time, as a man Avithin a man, or a horse 

 within a horse. Language seems here to have be- 

 trayed Querist over to my side of the argument. 

 It is true that the workeis do destroy the 

 unhatched drone brood in time of dearth. But 

 why do they do it ? It is in s-t let obedience and 

 conformity to this alleged first law of nature. 



Does Querist not know why his bees are so 

 slow about entering their honey boxes, for the 

 purpose of building combs ? It is simply this 

 grand fundamental principle that prompts. It is 

 only because there are supernumeiary bees in the 

 hive that a portion of the woikers leave the brood 

 and enter the out of-the-way receptacle. The 

 tempei'ature required to produce brood is 10" to 

 80" Fahrenheit ; and the amount of brood pro- 

 duced is governed by the number of mature bees 

 in the hive. If the greatest instinct in workers 

 be to gather honey, why do they not abandon 

 the brood en masse, go into the honey boxes, and 

 begin comb-breeding, when the grand flow of 

 honey is to be found in the fiowers ? Jiecause 

 they Avould thereb\' doom the colony to inevi- 

 table destruction. W^hy do n(.t bees enter honey 

 boxes of their own accord, without waiting to be 

 coaxed (as is generally the case) by placing there- 

 in small pieces of empty comb ? Because their 

 numbers will not permit them to leave the brood. 

 And the same law of instinct, steps in and tells 

 them that the brooding department must be run, 

 whether combs are built and honey collected, or 

 not. Why do tliey not build combs as readily in 

 honey boxes above the combs containing brood, 

 as they will in an open siiace below ? Because 

 they can thus produce the required temperature 

 of vO° to SO", and the heat generated below will 

 ascend through the brood combs and bring about 

 the same temperature above also (among the 

 brood), thus accomplishing a double purpose, by 

 virtue of the natural tendency of heat to ascend. 

 Querist says—" Mr. Seay has much to say 

 about brood chilling." This is true, and I have 

 still more to say about it. It is this — it is brood 

 just hatched, or not more than four days old, that 

 is so easily chilled. This brood is very hard to 

 see in the cells, and beekeepers are not looking 

 for it to be chilled ; but when it becomes so and 

 is lost, without having been seen in that state by 

 the inattentive observer, its destruction is not the 



