BEE. 



427 



Eee. stow on the eggs of their queen that are to preserve 

 v ' the colony, eage r-'y endeavour to devour them. The 

 moment that the eggs are deposited, and the female 

 is about to close the cell with a waxeu covering, they 

 rush upon it, and are repulsed only by her defence ; 

 or, if she removes during an instant, they steal thi- 

 ther, and surreptitiously carry off the eggs. The fe- 

 male is, therefore, under the necessity of keeping in- 

 cessant watch during several hours, after which she 

 may leave the cell ; for it is only in their first stage 

 that the eggs are sought for with avidity by the com- 

 mon bees. Sometimes twenty eggs are deposited by 

 a female in a single cell, which is then closed ; but it 

 does not appear that the bees are careful to provide 

 the young with a sufficient store to serve them until 

 their ultimate metamorphosis ; for the mother supplies 

 a thick layer of pollen whereon her eggs are deposit- 

 ed, which is soon consumed by the larva;. After be- 

 ing hatched, the common bees make a small hole in 

 the top of the cell, and then go in quest of honey or 

 pollen. This they obtain from the rest of their 

 combs, and seem to introduce it by the opening to 

 feed the young ; they then withdraw, and close the 

 cell. Some cells acquire perceptible increment ; from 

 being very small they become as large as a nut ; 

 which results from the included worms, perhaps six. 

 or seven in number, successively bursting the cell, 

 and the cleft being as often covered over with wax 

 by the bees. When the young bee has attained its 

 perfect state, the workers gradually contract the 

 mouth of the cell it has left, and lay up their honey 

 in it. Other cells are also constructed of pure wax, 

 which are so many reservoirs of honey from the be- 

 ginning, and have never contained young. 



Humble bees form a very considerable quantity of 

 wax ; and the observations of naturalists regarding 

 them has thrown some light on the production of 

 this substance. Several species, both of those that 

 dwell in cavities of the earth, land those that in- 

 habit nests covered with moss on the surface, invest 

 their whole combs with a waxen envelope, so as to 

 serve for a protection. It rises around their combs 

 like a kind of wall, and constitutes both a floor and 

 a roof, at such distance from the cells as to admit of 

 the bees passing. When their envelope is destroyed, 

 the bees restore it with wonderful assiduity. An ob- 

 server by removing it four times in nine days, obtain- 

 ed as many new coverings, which formed eight inches 



square ; and in four or five days more they made a Bee. 

 new one, which, along with the others, weighed 365 



grains. Instead of this covering, however, they are 

 frequently obliged to be content with moss or leaves. i 



Females produce a greater quantity of wax than any 

 of the other individuals in a nest ; but the males pro- 

 duce it also, though they cannot, like the females 

 and workers, convert it to use. The wax of humble 

 bees is an immediate production from the honey on 

 which they feed. M. P. Huber, the son of the emi- 

 nent naturalist of that name, inclosed a certain num- 

 ber of humble bees under a glass receiver. They 

 ranged themselves in a circle around some honey 

 which they were supplied with, and, extending their 

 trunks, fed during ten or fifteen minutes. Then they 

 brushed themselves with their feet, to be freed of the 

 particles of wax which transuded between the rings 

 of the body. Repeated experiments proved, that it 

 was instantaneously produced, and the same bees af- 

 forded a quantity daily. 



Humble bees are remarkably subject to torpidity, 

 and perhaps might be the means of illustrating the 

 difficulties attending all investigations into its opera- 

 tion on insects. Towards the end of autumn they 

 are seen languid and inactive on the few remaining 

 flowers, incapable of defending themselves from in- 

 jury. The life of the whole apparently terminates 

 with the season, unless it be from some accidental 

 circumstance, as we have already observed, that a few 

 of the females are preserved. How they survive the 

 winter we know not ; possibly it may be in the earth, 

 or in the holes of walls ; but the number must be 

 very small. Were they not in torpidity they would 

 fly.about during the winter, which is never seen ; and 

 the same degree of heat would awaken the whole, or 

 there- would be no considerable difference, unless by 

 their being farther withdrawn from the influence of 

 the atmosphere. Very few, however, appear in spring ; 

 and it is not until the heats of summer, or rather later, 

 that they become numerous. The casualties to which 

 these and many insects are exposed, render it far from 

 improbable, that various species gradually become 

 extinct. See Goedartius De Insectis. Swammer- 

 dam, Biblia Nalura. Geoffroy, Hisloire Abregee 

 des Insectes. Reaumur, Memoires, torn. vi. P. Hu- 

 ber On Humble Bees ; Transactions of the Linncean 

 Society, vol. vi. (c) 



Jken 



Bcering. 



BEE 



BEEN, the name of a musical instrument used in 

 India, resembling the guitar. See Asiatic Researches, 

 vol. i. p. 295. (ju) 



BEER. See Brewing. 



BEERING, Bkhring, or Bering's Island, lies 

 in the North Pacific Ocean, in 55 North Lat. and 

 about 167 of East Long. : the southern extremity 

 bearing north G7-from the harbour of St Peter and 

 St Paul, 192 miles distant. It is 104 miles in length, 

 and 15 in breadth : the west side mountainous, but 

 the northern point low land : the mountains are of 

 granite and sandstone, and in their recesses contain 

 rr.any caverns. There are two bays in the island, 



BEE 



whither merchantmen engaged in the fur trade arc 

 wont to winter ; but they are shallow, of dangerous 

 access, and exposed to the north winds. Minerals of 

 value have been said to exist here ; and sometimes after 

 violent storms, pieces of native copper are cast ashore. 

 This island, which some geographers incline t 

 unite to the Aleutian isles, while others detach it from 

 them, was discovered by Commodore Behring, a Dane, 

 who is mentioned in the subsequent article. He and 

 Captain Tschirikow left Kamtschatka on a voyage of 

 discovery, in 1740, and sailing northward, made the 

 coast of America, in 6"0 of North Lat. They after- 

 wards encountered continued tempests, in which thev 



Beering. 



