American Bee Journal 



A.lsrD GAZETTE. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Vol. II. 



JUNE, iser. 



No. 12. 



Variations of Ins'inct. 



It is into the history of the liive-bee that we 

 must look for the most striking examples of va- 

 riation of instinct; and here, as in every thing 

 relating to this insect, the work of the elder 

 Huber is an unfailing source of the most novel 

 and interesting facts. 



It is the ordinary instinct of bees to lay the 

 foundation of their combs at the top of the hive, 

 building them perpendicularly (i!6«wM^/iar(f.« ; and 

 they pursue this plan so constantly, that you 

 might examine a thoiisand (probably tea thou- 

 sand) liives without finding any material devia- 

 tion from it. Yet Huber iu the course of his 

 experiments forced them to build their combs 

 perpendicularljmpward ; and, what seems even 

 more remarkable, iu an horizontal direction. 



The combs of bees are always at an uniform 

 distance from each other, namely, about one 

 t'liird of an inch, which is just wide enough to 

 allow them to pass easily and have access to the 

 young l)rood. On the approach of winter, when 

 llieir honey-cells are not sufficient iu number to 

 contain all the stock, they elongate them con- 

 siderabl3% aud thus increase their capacity. 

 By this extension the intervals between the 

 combs are unavoidably contracted • but iu win- 

 ter well-stored magazines are essential, while 

 from their state of comparative iuactivity spa- 

 cious communications are less necessary. On 

 the return of spring, however, when the cells 

 are wanted for the. reception of eggs, the bees 

 contract the elongated cells to their former di- 

 mensions, and thus re-establish the just disliinces 

 between the combs which the care of their 

 brood requires*. But this is not all. Not only 

 do they elongate the cells of the old combs wheu 

 there is an extraordinary harvest of honey, but 

 they actually give to the new cells which they 

 construct on this emergencj'- a much greater di- 

 ameter as well as a greater depth. 



The queen-bee in ordinary circumstances 

 places each egg in the centre of the pyramidal 

 bottom of the cell, where it remains fixed by its 

 natural gluten ; but iu an experiment of Huber, 

 one whose fecundation had been retarded had 

 the first segments of her abdomen so swelled 

 that she was unable to reach the bottom of the 



cells. She therefore attached her eggs (which 

 were those of males) to their lower side, two 

 lines from the mouth. As the larvre always 

 pass that state iu the place where they are de- 

 posited, those hatched from the eggs in question 

 remained in the situation assigned them. But 

 the working-bees, as if aware that in these cir- 

 cumstances the «ells would be too short to con- 

 Uiin the larvse when fully grown, added to their 

 length, even before the eggs were hatched. 



Bees close up the cells of the grubs, previous 

 to their transformation, with a'cover or lid of 

 wax ; and in hanging its abode with a silken 

 tapestry before it assumes the pupa state, the 

 grub requires that the cell should not be too 

 short for its movemeuts. Bonnet having placed 

 a swarm in a very fiat glass hive, the bees con- 

 structed one of the combs parallel to one of 

 the principal sides, where it was so straight 

 that they could not give to the cells their ordi- 

 nary depth. The queen, however, lakl eggs in 

 them, and the workers daily nourished the grubs, 

 and_ closed the cells at the period of transfor- 

 mation. A few days afterwards he was surpri- 

 sed to perceive in the lid holes more or less 

 large, out of which the grubs partly projected, 

 the cells having been too short to admit of their 

 usual movemeuts. He was curious to know 

 how the bees would proceed. He expected 

 that they would pull all the grubs out of the 

 cells, as they commonly do when great disor- 

 ders in the combs take place. But he did not 

 sufficiently give credit to the resources of their 

 instinct. They did not displace a single grub — 

 they left them in their cells ; but as they saw 

 that these cells were not deep enough, they 

 closed them afresh with lids much more convex 

 tlian ordinary, so as to give them a sufficient 

 depth ; and Irom that time no more holes were 

 made iu the lids. 



The working bees, in closing up the cells 

 containing larvse, invariably give a convey lid 

 to the large cells of drones, and one nearly flat 

 to the smaller cells of workers; but iu an ex- 

 periment instituted by Huber to ascertain the 

 influence of the size of the cells on that of the 

 included larva?, he transferred the larvse of wor- 

 kers to the cells of drones. VVhatwastheresult? 

 Did the bees still continue blindly to exercise 



