478 



V A R M E R 8 ' K E G S S 1' E fl , 



[No. 8 



structirig the new part, which they app[^Iy at rijrht 

 angles lo the firsi, and work downwards. The 

 cell is then of a pyramidal figure, usually near the 

 edges oC the connbs; it insensibly decreases Croni 

 the base, and is closed at the top when the inclu- 

 ded worm is ready to undergo its transformation to 

 a nymph. V/hcn reaching maturity, the seal is 

 broken, and a queen comes Ibrlh qualified to fulfil 

 every indispensible function on which the preser- 

 vation of so many thousand lives depends. 

 Working bees have therefore the power of ef- 

 fecting the metamorphosis of one of their own 

 species, to avert the effects o( a loss which would 

 prove the utter ruin of the whole colony. 



A question extreaiely abstruse, and difficult in 

 the physiology of animated existence, liere pre- 

 sents itself Whence does it hi'.ppen that bees 

 are susceptible of so great a change ? atid that an 

 animal naturally steril, and possessing certain de- 

 finite habits and properties, which it is death to in- 

 terrupt or alter, should be converted into a crea- 

 ture of different figure, uncommon lertility, and 

 endowed with instincts bearing little or no resem- 

 blance in the one state compared with the other? 

 Some naturalists have endeavored to seek the 

 cause of this singular fact in the food with which 

 the larva is sup[)lied in its cell. That food, they 

 affirm, is not the same as what is given to the 

 young of common bees, as may easily be disco- 

 vered by its taste and consistency. It possesses a 

 certain quality which aflects the organization of 

 the insect, it enlarixes the size, expands the ova- 

 ries, and operates the whole alteration. By simi- 

 lar reasoning they endeavor to explain the cause 

 of that ft;rtiiity, which is at times, though rarely, 

 seen in workers. These workers they suppose to 

 have inhabited cells in the immediate vicinity of 

 royal cells, during the earlier part of their own ex- 

 istence. Particles of the food appropriated for 

 queens having accidentally fallen among what 

 was destined for the common worms, produces a 

 partial change in particular organs ; though under 

 its influence the ovaries are bin imperfectly ex- 

 panded, and also labor under a vicious conforma- 

 tion, which unfits them from propagating any eggs 

 excepting those transforming lo drones. We can- 

 not subscribe to these doctrines, which proceed 

 from the most intelligent noturalisis of the present 

 age, because they are unsupported by experiment. 

 The subject is to us still tvrapt in mystery ; nor is 

 it to be aided by any fact with which we are ac- 

 quainted in the generation of animals. Perhaps 

 it affords some reason for believing, that the germs 

 of all animals are of one sex only, it may be of no 

 sex, but possessing organs susceptible, in certain 

 cases, of a different kind of evolution. We are 

 indebted to Schirach for the original discovery of 

 this propertj- enjoyed by bees, which has subse- 

 quently been confirmed by other observers. 



These being the imperfect stages which bees 

 undergo, and their ultimate transformation being 

 completed, three different kinds, females, niaie.s^ 

 and workers, whose offices, nature, and properties, 

 are also different from those of each other, inha- 

 bit the same swarm. In common vviih other in- 

 eects, they are of a lighter color at the moment of 

 issuing from the cells, and totally covered with 

 hair, which is less abundant on the queen. The 

 quantity of it seems to diminish with their age : 

 it is not known how long they survive, but most 

 probably abo?e one or two years, or considerably 



more. The queens and drones of smaller size, 

 sometimes found in hives, are regarded as aberra- 

 tions fi'om the general race. Their nature has not 

 hitherto been fully illustrated ; but naturalisis have 

 ascribed this diminution to the eggs producing 

 them having accidentally been laid in wrong cells : 

 that their organs are there cramped and confined, 

 and prevented Irom attaining their due expansion 

 from the smaliness of the ceil. At the same time, 

 though the eggs producing workers are laid in 

 cells of greater than ordinary size, the reverse 

 does not ensue, and the body is still restrained to 

 its natural dimensions. Schirach obscurely hints 

 his opinion, that the greater length ol" the queen 

 is owing to the greater length of her cell. 



We shall next explain the peculiar office and 

 functions of each species of bees, the queens, 

 drones, and workers, in their perlijct state, and 

 show the mutual relation that must subsist among 

 tbem, in order lo ensure the welfare of the com- 

 munity. In the history of other insects nothing 

 more is taken into consideration than a general 

 view of the structure, habits, and perpetuation of 

 the race. But in treating of bees, we have not 

 only to enter oti the origin of each variety in a 

 hive, to follow it through its successive stages 

 until gaining perfection, to examine that internal 

 OBConomy which the instinct of many thousand 

 individuals regulates; but we have to show the 

 cultivator, who designs converting tlieir labors to 

 advantage, how their nature operates separately 

 as well as combined. 



The sole functions of the queen bee are to per- 

 petuate her species ; but single and unassisted by 

 the workers, herself and her offspring would 

 perish. Her fecunility is surprising. Swammer- 

 dam aflirms, that she contains 50,000 eggs ; and 

 some authors advance, that she may be the mother 

 o(" 100,000 bees in one season. In addition to the 

 peculiarities exhibited in her propagating young, 

 she is marked by others of the most conspicuous 

 description. She is watched and attended to; 

 and, to judge from appearances, sheltered and re- 

 spected by the workers. Groups of ihem con- 

 stantly encircle her ; they supply her with honey, 

 brush and lick her limbs; whenever she moves, 

 they rrcede before her; and, according to the 

 united sentiments of all who have studied the na- 

 ture of bees, pay her what would be called real 

 homage, could we allow them the prerogative of 

 understanding. She is an object of the greatest 

 attachment ; her presence inspires them with new 

 instincts, and anitnates them to labor: the perma- 

 nent existence of a queen, in short, is the only se- 

 curity of the workers. Excepting when she leaves 

 the hive for fecundation, they cluster around her; 

 and lience some persons have endeavored to im- 

 pose on the credulous, as having a command or 

 power over bees. It is true that such persons 

 could make a whole swarm follow them irom place 

 to place without injury to liiennselves or the spec- 

 tator; but the sole secret consisted in their having 

 obtained possession of the queen. The natives of 

 foreign countries are acquainted with this atlach- 

 n)ent of the workers to their queen, which some 

 years since was exhibited in Britain under myste- 

 rious disguise, as Labat, lona ago, relates in his 

 Travels. He received a visit from a man who 

 called him.?elf masler nf the bees. "It is certain 

 they followed him as sheep do their shepherd, and 

 even more closely. His cap in particular was co- 



