116 SUBSTANCES IN A HIVE. 



gorge it into the cells prepared for its reception. The 

 quantity which each bee deposits at one time is very 

 small, the honey-bag when full not exceeding the 

 size of a pea ; but the aggregate quantity collected 

 by the whole population is prodigious. We have, in 

 a fine summer day, repeatedly counted the bees of a 

 hive as they return from the fields laden with sweets, 

 and found the number to be between sixty and seventy 

 in a minute. When the cell is full, it is carefully 

 sealed with a waxen cover, and reserved for use in 

 winter and spring, particularly in the latter season ; 

 for more honey is consumed in the months of March 

 and April, when breeding goes on actively, than dur- 

 ing the four preceding months. At the same time, 

 many cells are left open and half-filled only, for daily 

 consumption. It has been a subject of discussion 

 among Naturalists, whether the honey, after being 

 extracted from the flowers, undergoes any change in 

 the stomach of the insect before being deposited in 

 the cell. Feburier is of opinion that it is subjected 

 to the digestive process. The celebrated John Hun- 

 ter thought it remained pure, and in no respect what- 

 ever altered, however long it had been retained in 

 the stomach of the bee ; and he is followed in this 

 conclusion by his countryman, Bonner. Kirby and 

 Spence, entomologists of no mean fame, have adopted 

 the opposite opinion ; but it does not appear that 

 they had been led to this conclusion by the result of 

 any experiment instituted for the purpose of deciding 

 the matter. Reaumur, however, tells us, that from 

 his experiments, he was satisfied that a process of 



