404 



Ni:W E.\(a.\iM) FARMER, 



July 9, 1830 



I'ronillio Family Liliiarj— N 



NATURAL HISTORY OF INSECTS. 

 TuE IIivj; Bkk. — Tlic scene presonied by 

 terior of a bee hive, has seldom tailed to iiitcre 



est notice of the others, tliougli as dead as this sole lure, ulien arrived at the highest pilch of carlii, , 

 object of their care. Reaumer watched willi aii.xie- perfection, seem to be the ordinary springs of acliou 



til ■ 1 '^^ ''"^ '''^ signs of reluming life in the queen ; ' at in the ant. The instincts of this insect are indisput- 



,. ,'?' I fi''^'>' s")'"* ''C. 'one limb (luivered, and after a short ably more extraordinary than those of any other in 



., _ , • , II -.CM . ,^' '^^'''" I interval this motion was reiterated. No sooner was the whole range of animated nature. The ancients 



Lh^n r , ?n tZ": y U f" V'"' r'°"; ""'' ^^■i'''^"'^'^ °'" lif« Kivcn, than a humming was in- ' magnified then, into fabulous miracles, "p^ii^"'""*^ 



rm. •v\i °V"^ '^"''S''"^."«f "":' l'r°<'»"'J stantly heard in the bo.x ^here previously" all had of an Indian ant, as big as an Egyptian wolf, 



^ nrJino,,. v'rkfr "TnnT.h " ' ''"'"''"''.' ^een silence. Many persons who were will, me, and the color of a cat! [Query, what fs" ."^^.at color 



ol industrious workers— some on the wiii'r III search ,.,i,^ ,.,„,oi,o.i ...„ .'.r.,.,. „«• .. .'..... 'p..„ „. .u .i.. __..V. <• 



iny talks 

 and of 



of sustenance: others returnin^^ 



with food — some earnestly engaged in building 



some in tending the young — others employed in 



""f ."/""c'Vi^f?'^'^ 1^^'''° "'"'"^''^'^ "'6 revival of the queen, were struck I The strength and perseverance of ants are perfect- 

 g Irom the tield laden «,|ti, i|,e sound as being more acute than usual, and ly wonderful - ■ 



all named it the song of rejoicing. 



Kirby stales, that he once saw two 

 or three horse ants, hauling along a young snake, not 



Like every other animal living in society, bees dead, which was of the "thickness "of a'goose-quill 



Saint Pierre relates, that he .saw a number of ants 



sien,Tra^. M, n ,? H n ~' !• ""' " "''' '"7 ^^ ' ^avo a medium of communication: At first, when a 



ft wo l,l"i^nn^„r ^1, 1 ' 1 " '=''"'f""°"' «"'^' "^ quccn bee has been abstracted, everything goes on carrying off a Patagonian centipede ; they had sei.- 



o l?e dead'^ M ono'^mn±t''o^o"! , '' '' f'T . "■'^" '''" '^''°"' ''» ''°"^ > »•■'" "'''. «°"'e 'ew of the ed it b/all its legsrand bore it along as workmen do 

 to the dead. At one moment the entrances of the ) ,„„,t„„ „.„„„ ;„ „ „,„.„ „,- ;.„.:„„. .,.„.. ^ ,, ' ^^^^^ of timber. In warm climates, they 



may be frequently seen marching in columns which i 

 e.xceed all poiver of enumeration ; always pursuing al 

 straight course, from which nothing can cause ihemi 

 to deviate ; if they come to a house, or other build- 

 ing, they storm or undermine it; if a river cross their 

 „i:nMtn= :.. ,.,i,i..i. T r.,11, ...„ i i „ -.i r 1 "'^ ="" iicira lu ui3 iifiynoor uy giving ii a guniit: path they will efideavor to swim over it, though mil-j 



e ted to brl eve ?ho 7.f ' ^ ''"! '"P "■'''' ">ese organs. This one in'its turn becomes j lions perish in the attempt. ^ 1 



oaid her hv M,i o hnr hi M ! '^"''' ^ ^"""i •'? P^'.'^N ^ffitated, runs over the cells, crossing and striking The Jesuit DobrizhofTer, gives the following acJ 

 Ta's aUon'/erute"iX^'inaV"bles^ah^^^^^ '"- '"e whole hive is in confu" ! count, of the ravages of ai^a known in Para|uay;l 



hive that had jusl been disturbed. ' For the first few ' .1 '1 . i- • lu ■ ■• ■» 1 



.„; „, : , i"^,. , c^^ ' . i '•., . 1 "ic sad news to his neighbor by giving it a gentle 



she'' mo.m.nrtnll'''! Zf.^hf"f,il'!.,u'I!v"L'l'l'!'.i I gotlier,"ll>e bee, though at a great distance.'first rises i Meantime an Indian, (the church warden)"arr,%..- 



she mounted to join a group of her subjects perched 

 at the top. In a little time she reappeared at the bot- 

 tom but still sadly neglected. Soon, however, twelve 

 or fifteen bees ranged around her and seemed to form 

 her train. In the first moments of trouble and con- 

 fusion we tliink only of ourselves. Thus it was with 

 these bees, for being huddled into the little glass 

 hive ; turned topsy turvy, the first impulse of each 

 seemed self-preservation, and it was only when they 

 had recovered composure that they began to recol- 

 lect the mother, which in tiieir fright tliey had for- 

 gotten and neglected. In a short time a dozen others 

 hastened to join the train. A row flankeil her on 

 each side as she walked, others met her before, and 

 made way as she advanced, and in a very short tin)C 

 she was surrounded by a circle of upwarJsof ;iO bees. 

 Some of these approaching nearer than others, lick- 

 ed her with their trunks; others extended this organ 

 filled with honey for her to sip: sometimes I saw her 

 stop and partake of the food; at other tin.es she 

 sucked while in motion. For several hours consecu- 

 tively I observed this insect, and always saw her sur- 



in the air and then with almost the swiftness of a announcing that the floor of the church was bcgin- 

 bullct proceeds in a straight line to the entrance of its I ning to gape and the wall to open and be inclined, 

 own habitation. If the eyes be varnished, they rise, I snatched up a lamp and ran to the place, but had 

 up in the air or fly at random. This capacity of the' hardly quitted the threshold of my door, when I pcr- 

 bee to make its way directly to its nest, has been | ceived a gap in the earth, and before I was aware 

 made use of as a guide. In New England the honey- of any danger, sunk up to the shoulders in a pit, in 



hunters set a plate of honey or sugar on the ground 

 and in a short time this is discovered by the wild 

 bees. Having caught two or three of those that have 

 taken their fill, the hunter first releases one, which 

 rising into the air, flies to the nest. He now walk" 

 at right angles to the course of the bte for a few 

 hundred yards, and then lets another go, which also, 

 after rising, flies to the nest. Observing with his 



the very place of the chief altar, but scrambled out of 

 it, by the help of the church warden, asquickly as I 

 had got in ; for under that altar the ants seemed to 

 have made their metropolis ; the cavern was many 

 feet long and wide, so that it had the appearance of 

 a wino cellar. As often as the earth was thrown in 

 by the Indians to fill it, so often was it dug out by 

 the ants. In the plains I have seen ant hills l.ke stone 



view ol the bees which at this hour he knows are 

 unuiv 1 uuouivtu mis ii;3uci, unu anvavssaw iicr sur- i.„..„ i .„ il, ■ . l .1 -.i 1 r n 



rr„in.ln,l Im hr^oa ...i.^ «■^.i«„ „i j.= =•»" '"-1 aui bound to thcir ncst and thil.er ic fo ows 

 roundoo uy bees who appeared an.xious to render ti „ .,.„ , , ■ u- r . 

 her rrood offirps ' >cuci J he most astonishing fact coniiectet 



her good offices ' " I ■""' ™"^^ asionisning met connected with the 



Reaumer also shut up a queen taken from one r'°"T^,r*"''''''' '' u"" ""'""" 'r"''!'"''' '^''^" ^''^ 

 hive with some workers taken from another so that '"""•"' ""^ "''; ''""""' ""-^y/^""- ^''^ '««« ! taking a 



pocket compass the angle where the two lines formed pyramids, three or more ells high, composed of a solid 

 by the two courses of the bees meet, there he knows I material as hard as stone : the Spaniards hollow them 

 will bo the spot at which the nest is placed. The | out and use them for ovens. In the plains you may 

 honey-rattcl, a quadruped, is equally sagacious with i often behold a broad path through which you would 

 this biped honey-seeker. Near sunset he will sit and j swear the legions of Xerxes might have passed. The 

 hold one of his paws over his eyes to get a distinct i Portuguese have an old saying, that the ants ar© 



queens of Brazil ; certainly we have found them the 



sovereigns of Paraguay.' 



both were strangers to each other 



' 1 was curious,' 

 oivc 

 lueeii." Bees to the 



; common worker-worm out of the ordinary cells, they 



saw she was received like a "queen." Bees to the j '"'^ ^'^1: ' l? 1 ,^ i '''^'*""'^'' f<"- ""^ <" 

 number of a dozen, or more, surrounded her and ' rj,X;;"ff hi fl^M^^'''^ ' f ''"r'r' ^ '" 

 treated her with great honor. It happened that the ''"^'"'S'' "' this fact s in many parts of Germany 



box in which she^had been one . seTwas fil cd w "h ' T f 'if T^'T f ."""'"'^'^h';^ '"■"'"^'' ^^ ''!""'"= 

 dust, in consequence of which, when introduced "P"k'"^ ''""''"^'^ bees with the common grubs in a 

 imong the workers she was literally gray with that r>.,'.i„„„r i i ■ i .. • i .-.• i 



which stuck about her. The first caTe of the bees ?" """^ ^^^ '^°^%"' '^''"^'' ""= '"", '" '^eai'tilul 

 was to unpowder their future sovereLn' For more Vlr^' -'Y .';'"{ °^T^ ''" '"""r" '"''" ''''" ''" 

 than two hours she remained at the^botto.n of the '"'^'^" '"° ">l'abitants of the same hive 



In some ca- 



T^A YELLING, 

 Its liberalizing influence has been always felt am 

 acknowledged. Foreign travel is the school in whic 

 men, the most useful in their generation, have a. 

 quired vigor of thought and variety of knouledgcTj' 

 and accumulated intellectual stores, which have 

 been subsequently diffused among their countrymen 

 at home, in the shape of useful laws, philosophy 

 history, descriptive and heroic poetry, and the emi 

 lishuients of the fine arts. Solon, Lycurgus, Iloni' 

 Herodotus, were all great travellers, ^ifechyl 

 Sophocles, Thucydides, Xcnophon, travelled wl. 

 they fought, and studied when thus soldiers and t 



I position, they turn ' pirouette' and throttle each other. 

 list, the victor, watchiiiy 



fashionable lour through Greece and \sm.. He w 

 in that situation in which, notwithstanding his wi 



' I cMiilil rif.i l,r.lr> .,,1. .;.; , .!„ ■ . 1 -i I'osiiion, iiiov 111111 ' piroucllc i 

 itv of- t e r I e u LJ T = ^'"^.''"■^f'y "pJ-'f^''^- After rolling about in the .lu; 



PtLk-tl.oVrervodlJML[^^^ T ""'?!■'" H'c time when its enemy uncovers his body, by elo.."-:!"-"!!!'. "".V "four modern gentlemen would I 



thetask-thoyrimovedhcrtoanothersnot more than „uii„g R i„ the attempt to ^ling, thrusts its weapon H'Oi'sl'l il liUle belter than sell-immolat.on, a tr. 



between the scales,and the next instant its antagonist kM° '^' "'' 'o abandon the theatre of his opening fan 



stretches out its (piivoring wings and expires. A bee I '"■' ''"^ purposes of gaini.ig boilily vigor and inrrcii- 



annot he killed so suddenly except by crushing, os of nccomplisliments. But I'iccro thought nud re: 



-tlioy removed her to another spot more than 

 an inch distant. For more l!:un two hours I witnes- 

 sed this interesting scene.' Reaumer also found a 

 queen and some workers apparctly dead from cold. 

 Putting them all into a box he gradunlly warmed it in 

 the hnpe „t' reviving the whole. As soon as some 

 ol the ilead workers came to life li.ey ranged them- 

 oelves round the dead mother, bul look not the slight- 



by the sling of another bee 



Ants. — Love and courage, patience and perse- 

 verance, almost all iho.highcr virtues of human iia- 



snned very dilVerently. 



When in the eager chase after pleasure, sntie', 

 succeeds to enjoyment, and languor to conliniieil e.\i ; 

 tation; when Uic scenes before us arc looked ui>i.'ii 



