1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



483 



a hive are immediate!}' sfiing to death, and then 

 (hagged by the bees to the outside: Uiere are few 

 persons who have not seen that a dead fly, or bee 

 laid on their board, is quickly carried away and 

 dropped at a distance : it seems the nature oftiieee 

 insects not to endure any filth or corruption in their 

 iiabitation. Should a larger animal, such as a 

 f?nai!, make its way into the hive, it does not es- 

 cape ; it is put to death, but the bees are unable to 

 divest themselves o!' its body. Maraldi relates, 

 that he saw the dead body of a snail totally cover- 

 ed with propolis, and thus prevented from spread- 

 ing infection in the hive; and Reaumur tells us, 

 that a shell snail having fixed itself on the pane 

 of a glass hive, waiting until the moistncss of 

 weather should be an inducement lor it to move, 

 the bees encircled the mouth of the shell with so 

 thick a bed of propolis, that the animal, unable to 

 moisten it as it moistens its own gluten, was ar- 

 rested on the spot. The original source of the 

 l)ropolis is not yet perfectly understood : it is much 

 more tenacious, and attains a greater degree of 

 hardness than wax : tiiose bees that return laden 

 with it, owing to its tenacity, experience considera- 

 ble difficulty, even with the aid of their compan- 

 ions, in divesting themselves of the load. M. 

 Ducarne observes, "several times I have seen 

 bees occupied in collecting, or rather in tearing 

 away with their teeth, the propolis of old hives 

 which I had exposed to the sun ; and this appeared 

 eo ^laborious, and the animals pulled so forcibly, 

 that I thought their heads would have been sepa- 

 rated from their bodies." 



The structure of the cells, which are exclusively 

 the production of the workers, has excited admi- 

 ration in every contemplative mind ; and it is de- 

 monstrable, that their figure is the best adapted 

 for containing the greatest possible quantity in the 

 least possible space. A number of cells united 

 constitute the comb, between twelve and thirteen 

 inches square of which, Reaumur calculated, 

 would contain 9000. The primary object ol' the 

 cells seems to be for propagating the young ; after 

 these have gained maturity, they are cleaned out 

 and filled with lione}" ; but there are cells also des- 

 tined for this purpose from the beginning. The 

 same cells may be employed for several successive 

 broods, and when the whole have come to perfec- 

 tion, they are appropriated lor the winter stores : 

 those at the top of a comb are neatest and best 

 made, as well as of better materials, compared 

 with those at the bottom. In the shape and size 

 of the comb, bees are guided by circumstances ; a 

 smallcavity is totally filled with equal combs, wliile 

 in one of greater dimensions there may be some 

 large, and others not one-iburth of the size. By 

 a law of nature, from which they seldom deviate, 

 the fecundation of the second comb is laid parallel 

 to that of the first, and the successive ccmijs are 

 generally parallel to each other. Som.etimes they 

 are seen at right angles, or apparently misplaced, 

 which probably results from accidents liaving an 

 influence on the earlier part of their construction. 

 There is usually the distance of four lines between 

 each; and should the comb, in its construction, 

 have taken an oblique direction, it is afterwards 

 brought into a more perpendicular line by the bees, 

 which diminishes the vacancy intervening. Combs 

 originate in the top or arch of a hive, and are 

 worked downwards; but should the upper part be 

 removed, it is said the bees will work upwards to 



fill the cavity. In order to shorten the courses 

 which they would necesBarily liave to make round 

 the surface of large combs, they open various com- 

 munications through them, and also open passa- 

 ges between their edges and the side of the hive; 

 at least we are not acquainted with any other 

 purposes of such perforations found in them. The 

 cells composing a comb are of three kinds, cor- 

 responding to the three species of bees; but there 

 are considerable irregularities in the structure of 

 all; neither do those of the workers invariably ex- 

 hibit that perfect hexagonal figure which many 

 persons expect to find. It may appear singular 

 how beea can fill horizontal cells quite full of ho- 

 ney, and yet prevent it from escaping. Perhaps 

 it is partly retained by its own viscosity, and from 

 adhesion to the sides of a tube of such small dia- 

 meter. Each cell is sealed with a flat covering 

 most ingeniously devised : it is nature, however, 

 that must have done so. A circle is formed around 

 the mouth of the cell, which is gradually dimin- 

 ished by other concentric circles, until the aperture 

 remains a point capable of being closed by a single 

 grain of wax. 



Though the hive be amply stored with honey 

 and wax, and the young brood gradually approach- 

 ing to maturity seems to leave nothing to be de- 

 sired by the bees, they all of a sudden desert their 

 habitation to go in quest of another. For this in- 

 cident, which is called swarming, there is no os- 

 tensible cause, nor do the reasons assigned for it 

 by difierent observers prove satisfactory in our es- 

 timation; for its occurrence is irregular, and its fre- 

 quency is uncertain. According to common ap- 

 prehension, swarming ensues li'om a hive being 

 overstocked with bees, and especially from a 

 young queen seeking a new dwelling. It never 

 takes place, we acknowledge, unless the bees be 

 numerous; but there are so many exceptions, that 

 we cannot say it is from wanting room: and in- 

 stead of the 3'oung queen, it is always the old one 

 that leadf= out the swarm: nay, should an old 

 queen have conducted a swarm of this year, she 

 will also be found at the head of the first which 

 next year leaves the hive. Each subsequent co- 

 lony departing is led by a young queen. An old 

 queen never leaves her hive until she has deposit- 

 ed eggs which will become future queens, nor un- 

 til her principal laying of the eggs producing 

 drones is over; the common bees construct royal 

 cells only, while she lays those eggs which will be 

 transformed to drones; and after this laying ter- 

 minatf.^, her belly being more slender, she is bet- 

 ter able to fly; whereas it is previously so heavy 

 and surcharged with eggs, that she can hardly 

 drag herself along. Oii^i chief cause or concomi- 

 tant of swarming appareniTy consists in tlie agita- 

 tion of the queen. She is suddenly aifecled, has- 

 tily traverses the combs, abandoning that slow 

 and stead}^ progresoion which she ordinarily ex- 

 hibits: her agitation is communicated to the bees; 

 they crowd To the outlets of the hive, and the 

 queen escaping first, they hasten to Ibllovv her. 

 Commonly the whole take but a short flight, and 

 the queen having alighted, the bees cluster around 

 her. I'his constitues the new sivarm. With re- 

 gard to the precursoi's of swarming, there is no in- 

 fallible guide: those on v/hich observers are ac- 

 customed to rely, the most frequently prove falla- 

 cious. The general indications given by Reau- 

 mur, a naturalist of the first eminence, who drawB 



