BEE. 



405 



Bee. 



Sting. 



forming silk, immediately on exposure to the air; 

 and that the .. indibles were used in moulding the 

 parts to their proper size and thickness. It is now 

 proved, that wax is made out of honey, which is 

 swallowed by the bees indeed, but there is great rea- 

 son to believe that it then transudes through the 

 membranes connecting the rings of the body in the 

 form of wax. The females and workers have a sting, 

 of which the males are destitute. This is not a simple 

 sharp-pointed weapon, as apparent to the eye of a 

 superficial observer ; it consists of two separate por- 

 tions, applied longitudinally against each other. The 

 external side of each is provided with several barbs, 

 like those of a dart, which prevents the retraction of 

 the sting from the wound it has inflicted, until the pur- 

 pose of its penetration, the discharge of poison, be 

 fulfilled. These barbs, it is said, may be elevated and 

 depressed at the will of the animal. Having satisfied 

 its vengeance, the sting is withdrawn ; but if the bee is 

 suddenly forced away, the barbs remain elevated, and 

 retain the sting in the wound. The extraordinary 

 pain attending so small a puncture, arises from a 

 liquid, which is genuine poison, flowing into the 

 wound from an oval bag, or reservoir, in the body of 

 the animal, connected with the sting ; and its viru- 

 lence is such, as even to occasion death, if the stings 

 be numerous. In experiments where a small portion 

 of the poison was introduced into a slight puncture 

 with the point of a pin, acute pain followed ; and, on 

 laying the smallest quantity on the tongue, a sweet- 

 ish taste first was sensible, which became burning 

 and acrid, and continued so several hours. The 

 effect of the poison is various on different people ; in 

 some, a single sting occasions violent swelling and in- 

 flammation ; others suffer little inconvenience from it. 

 If the sting be left in the wound, its vital powers 

 will force it still deeper ; therefore it is cautiously to 

 be extracted, and the part sucked and washed with 

 vinegar, or some liquid fit to allay inflammation, that 

 being probably the only effectual mode of cure. We 

 cannot readily ascertain the real use of the sting to 

 bees. It is vain to affirm, that it is an organ of de- 

 fence against enemies ; that the treasures of a hive 

 are particularly exposed to depredation, and require 

 great protection. Many other insects, in similar cir- 

 cumstances, have no defensive weapon ; many possess 

 it which we can hardly say have any thing to guard ; 

 and some, exposed to numerous accident*, are entire- 

 ly unprovided with the means of averting them. 

 The sole purposes to which we see the sting applied, 

 independent of the resistance of injury, are massacring 

 the drones of the hive ; and by queens, to effect their 

 mutual destruction. Queens are more pacific than 

 the common bees, and less inclined to sting the per- 

 son that handles them. 



The three kinds of bees inhabiting a hive are all of 

 kinds inha- different size and appearance, and may easily be re- 

 biting a cognised. The common bees and males are familiar 

 to every one ; the latter being much larger, and of 

 duller flight. But the queen resembles neither in 

 structure ; she is about eight lines and a half in length, 

 while the males are seven, and the workers six. Her 

 abdomen is greatly longer in proportion, and increases 

 much when filled with eggs ; her wings are so short 

 as scarcely to reach past the third ring, and her co- 



Three 



hive. 



lour tends to a deeper yellow. Queens, and also males, Bee. 

 are occasionally seen of smaller size than usual ; which <f~ 



naturalists have supposed is owing to accidental cir- 

 cumstances. It is not yet known, however, whether 

 all the bees preserved in hives, in different countries, 

 are exactly of the same species ; or, whether there are 

 varieties preserving their peculiar characteristics of 

 size and colour. 



Long ago it wa6 ascertained, that the welfare of the p r0 pa^a- 

 queen is indispensible to the welfare of the hive, and tion. 

 that any accident befalling her is fatal to the whole 

 colony. As she is the parent of the hive, it is from 

 her alone that a complete swarm, composed of queens, 

 drones, and workers, can proceed ; and without all 

 these different members of the community, it cannot 

 either lay up stores, or be preserved in existence. 

 That bees are propagated by means of eggs, which 

 are hatched into worms, could not be unknown from 

 times of the most remote antiquity ; but no point in 

 the natural history of animals has been more keenly 

 contested, than their precise mode of generation. It 

 was concluded, from finding males and females toge- 

 ther in the same hive, that their sexual union gave 

 birth to the young ; yet no one had beheld their con- 

 course. Those provided with the means best adapt- 

 ed for observation, could only assert, that some- 

 thing like an indistinct and transient junction had 

 taken place before them. Others, again, with all the 

 assiduity, care, and attention they were able to com- 

 mand, could see nothing of the kind ; and thence in- 

 ferred, that the queen was a real hermaphrodite, 

 which in itself possessed the generative powers of 

 both sexes combined. A third class, where we are 

 surprised the name of Swammerdam should appear, 

 ascribed the impregnation of the queen to a certain 

 aura emanating from the bodies of the males, which 

 must necessarily be numerous, in order that it may 

 have sufficient power ; and a few observers conceived, 

 that external fecundation of the eggs took place af- 

 ter being deposited in the cell, in the same way as 

 the generation of frogs and fishes is effected. But, on 

 the other hand, young were found in hives provided 

 with queens, though entirely destitute of males. 

 They were seen in spring long before males begin to 

 exist, and in winter after the whole are destroyed ; 

 and an experiment by Hattorf evinced the aversion 

 of queens to drones, rather than an affection for them. 

 He took two virgin queens from their cells, and con- 

 fined each, along with two droues taken from the 

 same hive, under a glass vessel. One of the drones 

 having approached a queen, was seized by her, and 

 killed on the spot ; and the other did exactly the like 

 with one of her companions ; the two remaining 

 drones escaped.. This experiment, on frequent repe- 

 tition, presented similar results ; and the variety of 

 devices to ascertain the fact were attended with con- 

 sequences which served still more and more to per- 

 plex the observer. At length, however, the truth 

 seems to be disclosed, and we shall briefly advert to 

 the methods adopted for the purpose of discovering 

 it. 



M. Huber of Geneva, one of the most intelligent 

 authors who have written on this subject, finding the 

 experiments of all former naturalists unsatisfactory, 

 removed the whole reigning females from a number of 



