BED 



404 



BED 



Bedouins, in the course of the day. To the very moment when 

 *"" ~~y ' they perceived us, they had heen concerting the man- 

 lier in which they might attack us with least risk ; 

 for they were not without apprehensions, as they 

 knew that we were well armed." See Souini's 



vcls in Egypt, c. xxvii. Sec also VolneyVs Travels Bedouiiu. 

 M Egypt and Svria ; Savary's Letters on Egypt ; * v ' 

 Neibuhr's Travel* through Arabia, Sfc. ; and Jack- 

 son's Account oj'the Empire of Morocco. (i) 



BEE. 



t liiis is a very numerous genus of insects, on which 



v we have already made some general remarks under 



the article Apis, the generic name. Here we shall 

 confine our observations chiefly to the honey bee, 

 (Apis Mcllijica,) treating, in the first place, of its na- 

 ture and properties ; and, secondly, laying down those 

 rules which must guide the cultivator in his views to 

 convert the labours of the animal to his own advan- 

 tage. It is indispensable, however, that he should 

 previously become acquainted with the natural histo- 

 ry of the bee, otherwise he will often find his object 

 fail without being able to assign a reason ; and if he 

 does render himself master of it, he will remedy many 

 unexpected disasters by simple and unerring expe- 

 dients. 



Bees have attracted an uncommon share of atten- 

 tion in all countries, and in every age. Their mi- 

 nuteness, numbers, habits, and the luxuries we derive 

 from their united industry, have, from periods of the 

 most remote antiquity, been the fertile source of ad- 

 miration. Hence have resulted innumerable inquiries, 

 as well for the elucidation of science, as for personal 

 gratification and pecuniary advantage. But, unlike 

 those subjects on which long and patient investigation 

 are bestowed, the obscurities attending the nature 

 of bees seemed to increase in proportion to the ob- 

 server's anxiety to unveil them, and, at the end of 

 many years, few indisputable facts have been ascer- 

 tained by individuals. Errors have thence accumula- 

 ted on errors ; imagination has magnified deceitful 

 appearances into certainties, by which even expe- 

 rienced naturalists have been deluded; and most of 

 the treatises published, under the pretence of instruct- 

 ing, serve only to lead the unskilful into the belief of 

 absurd and fallacious doctrines. Nevertheless there 

 are some good authors, who have seen without preju- 

 dice, and have related without exaggeration, such as 

 Swammerdam, Maraldi, Reaumur, Bonnet, Schirach, 

 and Huber. We shall avail ourselves of their obser- 

 vations, and endeavour, from these, and our own 

 practical remarks, to select what has been fixed by 

 experiments, rejecting the fabulous accounts of others. 



History of L NATURAL Hl.sTOllY AND ECONOMY OF THE 

 the honey Honey Bee. The honey bee is either wild or do- 

 ^ Ke ' mesticated, and consists of numerous societies, com- 



posed of from 10,000 to 30,000, perhaps 40,000 or 

 50,000 individuals. In the former state, it inhabits 

 the woods, in clefts of trees, and, it may be, the ca- 

 vities of rocks also : in the latter, it is kept by us in 

 wooden boxes, or coverings of straw or osiers, com- 

 monly called hives in English, but more definitely 

 .ikeps in the Scottish language, or old English : for, 



strictly speaking, hive signifies the covering and its Bee. 

 colony ; and swarm, that portion of the bees which ^^^mmi 

 leaves the parent stock at a certain season of the 

 year, before it is lodged under our care. Each hive, 

 by which we understand the whole colony, Contains 

 three different kinds of bees ; females, males, and 

 workers. The females, of which not more than, 

 one can ever live in all the great population of a 

 hive, are called queens ; the males, of which there 

 are hundreds, and sometimes thousands, are called 

 drones ; and the remainder are denominated Worker/, 

 or neuters, from being supposed to belong to neither 

 sex. They are the operative part of the communi- 

 ty ; for, while the female gives birth to the whole 

 young, and the males perform no functions but per- 

 petuating their race, the workers collect the honey, 

 form the wax, build the combs, watch over the 

 growth of the young, and supply their necessities. 



We shall not dwell on the anatomy of the bee, con- Organs, 

 cerning which Swammerdam and Reaumur have so 

 largely written ; but the use to which the animal can 

 convert some of its organs, requires a brief explana- 

 tion of their structure. A bee has four wings and 

 six legs : its abdomen consists of several scaly circu- 

 lar rings, connected by membranes ; the last is armed 

 with a sting : and the head is provided with a pro- 

 boscis, and two mandibles, in addition to a real mouth, 

 which the animal has likewise. The body is totally 

 covered with hair, which is not to be considered an 

 indifferent character ; for each separate hair, viewed 

 with the microscope, appears a plant in miniature, 

 with a stem and branches ; and the small particles of 

 pollen, shaken off by the motion of a bee in a flower, 

 are arrested by the hairs, and then collected into pel- 

 lets with its limbs. In the third pair of these limbs 

 is a small hollow, to which the pellets are fixed ; and 

 part of the second pair is provided with what re- 

 semble brushes, for brushing off the pollen. The Proboscis., 

 proboscis is the principal organ employed in collect- 

 ing the honey ; when inactive, it is folded under the 

 head, and defended by a scaly sheath, or covering. 

 When employed, it is extended, and the animal ap- 

 parently licks the honey from the flower into its 

 mouth, which is of considerable size, and thence 

 transmits it to the stomach. All the honey which 

 we see in combs is a vegetable product. After being 

 swallowed by the bees, it is disgorged into their cells ; 

 but its scanty quantities in the natural state prevent 

 us from ascertaining what change is undergone in the 

 stomach. Until very lately, it was believed that the 

 bees also swallowed the wax, and disgorged it to 

 construct the cells ; and, when so dicgorged, that it 

 had the property of indurating, like the substance 



