BEE. 



419 



Bee. nutmeg, a singular remedy : and a third class con- 

 ceive a mixture f two pounds of clarified honey and 

 as much sugar, with a pound of white wine, beneficial. 

 Bees are likewise subject to a disease of the antennce, 

 which, though not dangerous, renders them dull and 

 languid. It appears by discoloration like moulding, 

 and is said to be curable by the preceding prepara- 

 tion. Toads, frogs, and mice, are reputed great ene- 

 mies to bees : but we doubt whether it be truly so 

 with regard to the two former, in this country at 

 least ; and the ravages of the latter are certainly not 

 general. Perhaps, while the bees cluster together in 

 rigorous winters, they may penetrate the hive and 

 devour the combs, at other times it would be too dan- 

 gerous an attempt even for animals better protected. 

 Birds of several species, particularly swallows, spar- 

 rows, and red-breasts, are also ranked among the ene- 

 mies of these insects : with respect to which, like- 

 wise, we should wish to see the facts better ascertain- 

 ed before giving them credit. Spiders and snails, 

 which are considered noxious, can do little harm ; for 

 in this island there are very few, if any, of the former 

 capable of contending with a bee, and the only da- 

 mage done by the latter is soiling the hive. More dan- 

 gerous are the larvae of a small moth, hatching from 

 eggs deposited within the hive, as they are destruc- 

 tive of the comb, and likewise the sphynx atropos in 

 its perfect state ; but most formidable of all are wasps- 

 and hornets, and plunderers of their own species. 

 The first two being strong and vivacious animals, are 

 able to destroy living bees, and suck the honey from 

 the abdomen ; or they may penetrate the hive, and 

 consume the comb. When a wasp tries to enter, it is 

 resisted, but having made good its way, we believe it 

 is then little regarded, and may leisurely satiate itself 

 with honey. The nests of wasps ought to be care- 

 fully traced out and destroyed ; if in the earth, by 

 pouring boiling water down their hole, or kindling a 

 quantity of straw where they are less accessible. Ob- 

 servers confidently affirm, that a whole swarm of 

 bees, from defect of food and other causes, sometimes 

 interrupt their natural collection, and becoming a 

 band of plunderers, rob the stores of their neighbours. 

 In this case, which will appear from the contests per- 

 petually taking place on the boards and about the en- 

 trances of other hives, it i3 necessary to ascertain 

 whence the depredators come, whether from neigh- 

 bouring hives or from those at a distance. If their 

 plundering seems to arise from want of food, as those 

 scanty provisioned are more apt to follow this me- 

 thod of supplying themselves, they must be fed at 

 night when the sun is down, and while all the bees 

 have returned. It is reported not to be an uncommon 

 incident for a swarm to abandon their own hive, and 

 take possession of another to relieve their necessities. 

 Bees, on losing the queen, having no interest to pro- 

 secute their labours, if brood be wanting in their 

 combs, sometimes begin to pillage the hives in the 

 neighbourhood. The obvious remedy is here to pro- 

 vide them with a queen, whereby all their faculties 

 being aroused, they will be reclaimed to their usual 

 nature. Schirach warns us, on removing comb from 

 a hive, to beware of scattering or dropping it, and 

 to replace the hive exactly in the same position as 

 before, otherwise the inhabitants of stronger colo- 



Bee. 



nies will obtain more ready access to attack the honey 

 in the combs, or to collect what has fallen from them. 

 The weakness of a hive is one great inducement for 

 its neighbours to pillage ; and as cleanliness, and be- 

 ing kept free of vermin, preserve the vigour and ac- 

 tivity of its inmates, due attention to them should not 

 be neglected. Removing the hive, which is the ob- 

 ject ot plunder, and covering it with branches, has 

 been recommended ; and such an expedient will cer- 

 tainly present a good chance of escape. 



But all the devices adopted by us are poor and in- Precau- 

 significant, when compared with those resorted to ' lons * 

 by the bees themselves to provide against danger. P te<1 ,v 

 Here we have an opportunity of admiring that ; n (i an e r. 

 wonderful instinct, which animals, standing so low 

 in the scale of creation, exhibit. Even suppo- 

 sing them to possess nothing analagous to reason j 

 that the regard for their queen, and the watchful care 

 cf their young, result from some pleasurable sensa- 

 tion j that the massacre of the drones originates from 

 some sudden principle of aversion, we cannot refer 

 their precautions to avoid danger to any relative 

 source. It is evident that they labour in concert; 

 that their operations tend to one general object ; and 

 that they are aware of it being fulfilled. Surely all 

 this cannot be done without some mode of commu- 

 nication with each other: but considering that every 

 thing they perform is in the dark ; nay, that the per- 

 fection of their work is partly proportioned to the pri- 

 vation of light, the difficulty of conceiving how they 

 can know each others proceedings is greatly increased. 

 It has been warmly contested, whether bees are capa- 

 ble of imparting what we should call thought in beings 

 higher in the chain of animated existence, and espe- 

 cially, whether there be any thing resembling voice 

 among them ? We have already remarked, that the 

 workers can retain young queens in their cells after at- 

 taining complete maturity, which they are capable of 

 doing by strengthening the seal or covering with addi- 

 tional wax : and that they regularly liberate the old- 

 est of those of different ages. A sound, which we 

 cannot compare to the buzzing of insects, by the ba- 

 lancers beating on their wings, is heard from the 

 young queens. No researches, however, have yet de- 

 tected the organ, if it is an external one, from which 

 the sound proceeds. When a queen is hatched, she 

 seeks the cells of those that will become her rivals, 

 and uses every possible exertion to destroy them ; but 

 the workers, to which other queens, even in their im- 

 perfect state, are precious, generally present the most 

 decided opposition, and render her attempts abortive. 

 Yet, from the property which the queen possesses of 

 emitting that certain sound before heard from her 

 cell, their resistance becomes vain ; it paralyses all 

 their faculties ; and she proceeds to operate destruc- 

 tion. The following observations, by a distinguish- 

 ed naturalist, on this head, lead to an illustration of 

 the peculiarities among bees when exposed to danger, 

 though they more immediately relate to another 

 branch of our subject. " The first of a number of 

 cells containing females, opened on the ninth of June, . 

 and a young queen, lively, slender, and of a brown 

 colour, escaped from it. Now we understood why 

 bees retain the females captive in their cells so long 

 after the period of transformation has elapsed ; it is 



