BEE. 



413 



Bee. 



Structure 

 of the 

 tomb. 



from spreading 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 moistness of 

 weather should be an inducement for 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 arrested on the spot. 

 The original source of the propolis is not yet per- 

 fectly understood : it is much more tenacious, and 

 attains a greater degree of hardness than wax : those 

 bees that return laden with it, owing to its tenacity, 

 experience considerable difficulty, even with the aid of 

 their companions, 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 so labo- 

 rious, and the animals pulled so forcibly, that I 

 thought their heads would have been separated from 

 their bodies." 



The structure of the cells, which are exclusively 

 the production of the workers, has excited admiration 

 in every contemplative mind ; and it is demonstrable, 

 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, be- 

 tween twelve and thirteen inches square of which, 

 Reaumur calculated, would contain 9000. The pri- 

 mary object of the cells seems to be for propagating 

 the young ; after these have gained maturity, they 

 tre cleaned out and filled with honey ; but there are 

 celb also destined for this purpose from the beginning. 

 The same cells may be employed for several succes- 

 sive broods, and when the whole have come to per- 

 fection, they are appropriated for 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 small ca- 

 vity is totally filled with equal combs, while in one 

 of greater dimensions there may be some large, and 

 others not one-fourth of the size. By a law of na- 

 ture, from which they seldom deviate, the foundation 

 of the second comb is laid parallel to that of the first, 

 and the successive combs are generally parallel to 

 each other. Sometimes they are seen at nght angles, 

 or apparently misplaced, which probably results from 

 accidents having 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 inter- 

 vening. 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 necessarily have to make 

 round the surface of large combs, they open various 

 communications through them, and also open pas- 

 sages between their edges and the side of the hive ; 

 at least we are not acquainted with any other pur- 

 pose* of such perforarons found in them. The cells 

 ;omposing a comb arc of three kinds, corresponding 



I>'( P. 



to the three species of bees ; but there are consider- 

 able irregularities in the structure of all : neither do 

 those of the workers invariably exhibit that perfect 

 hexagonal figure which many persons expect to find. 

 It may appear singular how bees can fill horizontal 

 cells quite full of honey, and yet prevent it from esca- 

 ping. Perhaps it is partly retained by its own viscosity, 

 and from adhesion to the sides of a tube of such small 

 diameter. 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 diminished 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 approaching to Swarming, 

 maturity stems to leave nothing to be desired by 

 the bees, they all of a sudden desert their ha- 

 bitation to go in quest of another. For this inci- 

 dent, which is called sivarming, there is no ostensible 

 cause, nor do the reasons assigned for it by different 

 observers prove satisfactory in our estimation ; for its 

 occurrence is irregular, and its frequency is uncertain. 

 According to common apprehension, swarming en- 

 sues from a hive being overstocked with bees, and 

 especially from a young queen seeking a new dwel- 

 ling. It never takes place, we acknowledge, unless 

 the bees be numerous; but there are so many excep- 

 tions, that we cannot say it is from wanting room : 

 and instead of the young queen, it is always the old 

 one that leads 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 colony departing 

 is led by a young queen. An old queen never leaves 

 her hive until she has deposited eggs which will be- 

 come future queens, nor until 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 terminates, her belly being more slender, she 

 is better able to fly ; whereas it is previously so 

 heavy and surcharged with eggs, that she can hardly 

 drag herself along. One chief cause or concomitant 

 of swarming apparently consists in the agitation of 

 the queen. She is suddenly affected, hastily traverses 

 the combs, abandoning that slow and steady progres- 

 sion which she ordinarily exhibits : her agitat ion is 

 communicated to the bees; they crowd to the outlets 

 ot the hive, and the queen escaping first, they hasten 

 to follow her. Commonly the whole take but a short 

 flight, and the queen having alighted, the bees 'lus- 

 ter around her. This constitutes the new swarm. 

 With regard to the precursors of swarming, there is 

 no infallible guide : those on which observers are ac- 

 customed to rely, the most frequently prove falla- 

 cious. The general indications given by Reaumur, 

 a naturalist of the first eminence, who draws his con- 

 clusions from facts, and baa fallen into lew errors, 

 are, first, the appearance ot drones in a hive ; for no 

 swarm will proceed from one where there are none: 

 secondly, when the bees are so numerous, that part 

 crowd about the outside of the hive, or lodge on the 

 board in clusters of thousands : and thirdly, which if 



