THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



45 



toms, and from them continue their work as 

 usual. These cells ^rith a flat bottom, or rather 

 with the wood for their bottom, arc more irre- 

 gular than the common ones; some of their ori- 

 fices are not angular; and their dimensions are 

 not exact, but all are more or less hexagonal. 

 Once when disturbed, Huber observed them to 

 begin their combs on one of the vertical sides 

 of the hive instead of on the roof. When par- 

 ticular circumstances caused it, as, for instance, 

 when glass was introduced, to wliich they do 

 not like to fix their combs, he remarked that 

 they constantly varied their direction; and by 

 repeating the attempt, he forced them to form 

 their combs in the most fantastic manner. Yet 

 glass is an artificial substance, against which 

 instinct merely cannot have provided them ; 

 there is nothing in hollow trees, their natural 

 habitation, resembling it. When they change 

 the direction of their combs, they enlarge the 

 cells on one side to two or three times the di- 

 ameter of those of the other, which gives the 

 requisite curve. 



To complete the detail of these interesting 

 discoveries of the elder Huber, I must lay be- 

 fore you the following additional observations 

 of his son. ^ 



The first base of the combs upon which the 

 bees work holds three or four cells, sometimes 

 more. The comb continues of the same width 

 for thi'ee or four inches, and then begins to 

 widen for three quarters of its length. The 

 bees engaged at the bottom lengthen it down- 

 wards; those on the sides widen it to right and 

 left; and those which are employed above the 

 thickest part extend its dimensions upwards. 

 The more a comb is enlarged below, the more it 

 is necessary that it should be enlarged upwards 

 to the top of the hive. The bees that are en- 

 gaged in lengthening the comb work with more 

 celerity than those which increase its Avidth; 

 and those that ascend or increase its width up- 

 wards, more slowly than the rest. Hence it 

 arises that it is longer than wide, and narrower 

 towards the top than towards the middle. The 

 first formed cells are usually not so deep as those 

 in the middle; but when the comb is of a certain 

 height, they are in haste to lengthen these cells 

 so essential to the solidity of the whole, some- 

 times even making them longer than the rest. 

 The cells are not perfectly horizontal; they are 

 almost always a little higher towards their 

 month than at their -base, so that their axis is 

 not perpendicular to the partition that separ- 

 ates the two assemblages. They sometimes vary 

 from the horizontal line more than 20°, usually 

 4° or 5"". When the bees enlarge the diameter 

 of the cells preparatory to the formation of 

 viaU cells, the bottoms often consist of two 

 rhomboids and two hexagons, the size and form 

 of which vary, and they correspond with four 

 instead of three opposite' cells. The works of 

 bees are sj-mmetrical less perhaps in minute de- 

 tails than considered as a whole. Sometimes, 

 indeed, their combs have a fantastic form; but 

 this, if traced, will be found to be caused by 

 circumstances; one irregularity occasions an- 

 other, and both usually have their origin in the 

 dispositions which we make them adopt. The 



inconstancy of climate, too, occasions frequent 

 interruptions, and injures the symmetry of the 

 combs; for a Avork resumed is always less per- 

 fect than one followed u]) until completed. - 



At first the substance of the cells is of a dead 

 white, semi-transparent, soft, and though even, 

 not smooth ; but in a few days it loses most of 

 these qualities, or rather acquires new ones; a 

 yellow tint spreads over the cells, particularly 

 their interior surface; their edges become thick- 

 er, and they have acquired a consistence, which 

 at first they did not possess. The combs, also, 

 when finished are heavier than the unfinished 

 ones; these last are broken by the. slightest 

 tovich, whereas the former will bend sooner 

 than break. Their orifices also have something 

 adhesive, and they melt less readily; whence it 

 is evident that the finished combs contain some- 

 thing not present in the unfinished ones. In 

 examining the orifice of the yellow cells, their 

 contour appeared to the younger Huber to be 

 besmeared with a reddish varnish, unctions, 

 strong-scented, and similar to, if not the same 

 as, propolis. Sometimes there were red threads 

 in the interior, which were also applied round 

 the sides, rhombs, or trapeziums. This solder, 

 as it may be called, placed at the point of con- 

 tact of the different parts, and at the summit 

 of the angles formed by their meeting, seemed 

 to give solidity to the cells, round the axis of 

 the longest of which there were sometimes one 

 or two red zones. From subsequent experi- 

 ments, M. Huber ascertained that this substance 

 was actually propolis., collected from tlie buds 

 of the poplar. He saw them with their mandi- 

 bles draw a thread from the mass of propolis 

 that was most conveniently situated, and break 

 ing it by a sudden jerk of the head, take it with 

 the claws of their fore-legs, and then, entering 

 the cell, place it at the angles and sides, &c., 

 which they had previously planished. The 

 yellow color, however, is not given by the pro- 

 polis, and it is not certain to what it is owing. 

 The bees sometimes mix wax and propolis and 

 make an amalgam, known to the ancients, and 

 called by them onitys and jnssoceros, which they 

 use .in rebuilding cells that have been destroyed, 

 in order to strengthen and support the edifice. 



We know but little of the proceedings of 

 the species of bees not indigenous to Europe, 

 which live in societies and construct combs like 

 that cultivated by us. A traveler in Brazil 

 mentions one there which builds a kind of na- 

 tural hive: "On an excursion towards upper 

 Tapagippe," says he, "and skirting the dreary 

 woods which extend to the interior, I observed 

 the trees more loaded with bees' ne.sts than even 

 in the neighborhood of Porto Seguro. They 

 consist of a ponderous shell of clay, cemented 

 similarly to martins' nests, swelling from high 

 trees about a foot thick, and forming an oval 

 mass full two feet in diameter. When broken, 

 the wax is arranged as in our hives, and the 

 honey abundant. — Kirhy and Spence. 



Costly experiments must ever prove an insu- 

 perable barrier to bee improvement among tho 

 poor. 



