NEW ENCH-AMB FARMEM. 



P0BLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL, AT NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warehouse.)— T, G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. IX. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 188 1. 



NO. ae. 



sjiiisiffsiia. maa^cDSJ^o 



THE HONEY BEE. 



Concluded from page 195. 



lM)moull],Dei:. 30, K30. 

 .V. C. Smith, M. D.— 



Dkar Sir — Tlie perusal of your interesting 

 bscrvatious lias aftbrded me the greatest degree 

 jf satisfaction, and for which I beg you will accept 

 f my respectfid acknowledgments. The sub 

 ict of bees has for several years occupied a con 

 iderahle share of my attention, but for want of a 

 lass hive and a miscroscope I have been unable to 

 lake any particular theoretical discovery or any 

 ew observations respecting tlieir internal economy 

 am indeed greatly disappointed, and surprised to 

 am tliat with your excellent hive you have not 

 ad tlie pleasure of recognising the queen ; such 

 egctive evidence however will not shake the 

 eneral faith so firmly established in her majesty's 

 "cistence and sovereign dominion. Your queen 

 as undoubtedly in her dignified retirement in 

 le interior of the original hive, while her subjects 

 ere in the exercise of their functions in the glass 

 ive. 



Some polite ladies have complimented me with 

 i suggestion that the bee fraternity ought to 

 ect a monument of wax to my memory ; but I 

 ill cheerfully resign my claim to that honor in 

 vor of your superior merit. I am exceedingly 

 atified with your history of your ' philosophical 

 iary,' and hope you will continue to pursue your 

 vestigations until you add to our common sll-; ^ 

 me important improvement in the history and 

 aracter of our favorite little insects. Your expe- 

 ent of marking the bees, has, it seems, satisfied you 

 lat there is a class which are employed as archi- 

 rcts exclusively. But still it may be inquired 

 iiether they are preferred, as we prefer the most 

 ilful artists, because they are enabled by supe- 

 ir ingenuity or by long experience to execute the 

 )rk in a manner more advantageous than their 

 tnpeers in common ? I have no idea that insects 

 3 endowed with the faculty of improving by ex- 

 Tience, or deviating from the routine prescribed 

 them by their Creator. In regard to your 

 eervation that bees are sometimes remiss in their 

 »ors, or that coercion is resorted to for the pur- 

 ee of exciting industry, it is highly probable that 

 pital punishments are inflicted, and that the dead 

 dies you have seen thrust out of the hive occa- 

 nally are those of the executed criminals. I 

 Tret that you were deprived of the pleasure of 

 tnessing the exit of the spider that so auda- 

 lusly intruded himself into your hive. It may 

 pear strange that bees do not on such occasions 

 .ke use of their wings which enable them to 

 rtupon an object with great rapidity. But in the 

 ; of war it is prudent to attack an enemy by regular 

 prottches, and thus acted the bees towards the 

 .der's fortress. Are then these little insect 

 dies inspired by a soul, or can matter think ? 

 ely your account of bees' elevating pieces of 

 tab by building pillars under them, and their art- 

 conduct towards the spider, similar to the human 

 irrior, are precisely analogous to human intelli- 

 nce. 

 J cannot concede to your position that an 'egg 



is deposited in every cell of honey throughout the 

 hive.' There appears full evidence on examina- 

 tion, and all authorities agree, tliat specific cells are 

 assigned for the reception of honey, and for the 

 eggs which produce the young brood. But, my 

 friend, you must no longer be sceptical as to the 

 existence of a ruling queen. 



I am yours in all sincerity, 



James Thacher. 



Doctor Thacher having presented Doctor 

 Smith's letter to Mrs Mart Griffith of Cliar- 

 liesliope, New Jersey, was favored with tlie fol- 

 lowing observations from tliat accomplished lady. 

 Dr Thacher — 



Dear Sir — Many are the fables about bees, 

 but the fact of the existence of tlie one denom- 

 inated queen bee is a reality. If anything can be 

 relied on as a certainty in the history of this. curi- 

 ous insect — the bee — it is that there is never more 

 than one female in the hive, excepting when a new 

 swarm goes from the hive. One other fact I must 

 mention, which is, that bees do not sfing one another. 

 Their mode of wag-fare is to gnaw or bite each 

 other under the wings. This they do either when 

 engaged in a regular battle in the air, which some- 

 times occurs, or when they act on the defensive 

 at the door of their hives. I never saw one bee 

 sting another, but I have known them to thrust out 

 tlieir sting when in the agonies of death by smoth- 

 ering ; their sting, thus thrown out in madness, 

 will sometimes.lodge in the body of another bee, 

 but I am sure that they do not inflict wounds with 

 their sting. By gnawing their enemy under the 

 wing, they disable him from fighting and from en- 

 tering the hive. They destroy all the drones in 

 tJiis way. I have seen two and three bees at a 

 time gnawing under the wings of one drone ; hun- 

 dreds of drones may be seen crawling on the 

 ground unable to fly ; of course they soon perish. 

 I shall send you by the first opportunity a queen 

 bee, and will send one to your friend Dr Smith 

 also, as I have four of them in good preservation. 



(Mrs Griffith's second letter.) 

 Dr Thacher — 



Dear Sir — You tell me to answer your ques- 

 tions at my leisure ; nothing but very pressing busi- 

 ness, which I cannot plead at present, ought to 

 prevent me from replying to your letter immediately. 

 It would not be becoming in me, to show less zeal 

 in a pursuit which is as interesting to me as to you. 

 The four queen bees, were obtained, when dead, 

 from four smothered swarms. If any of your 

 neighbors smother their bees, you can gather up 

 all the dead bodies carefully, and spread them out 

 on a large table, and on close search you will 

 find the queen ; she is the largest and lightest col- 

 ored bee in the swarm, with shorter wings and pro- 

 boscis than the rest. She can never be mistaken 

 in summer for a drone, for he is a larger, heavy 

 made, thick insect, even darker than a working 

 bee, with wings covering its whole body ; and she 

 cannot be taken for a drone in winter, for not a 

 single drone escapes the general massacre of 

 August and September. Many are the swarms 

 that I have examined, but I never yet saw a drone 

 after September. They are not suflTered to live 



an instant after the vivification of the last deposi- 

 tion of eggs, and they only make their appearance 

 in the spring, at the precise time when they are 

 wanted to hatch the newly laid eggs. You say 

 that I have suggested a new idea respecting the 

 mode of warfare among bees, and you add that if 

 my suggestions bo true, what becomes ofHnsER's 

 testimony to the contrary ?* 



My dear sir, how frequently must you have 

 seen theory after theory crumble away, and others 

 of dissimilar character occupy their place. In 

 medicine — you are a medical man — from Hippo- 

 crates down to our Dr Rush, who was the last 

 system-monger, how has each tlieory prevailed for 

 a time I Huber was undoubtedly an honest man, 

 but he was nearly blind, and when we know how 

 much depends on clear vision, we cannot, or rather 

 ought, not to receive all that he says as correct 

 truth. It is true that his secretary, Francis Bur- 

 men, acted for him, but it would indeed be mar- 

 vellous if this assistant were as deeply interested, of 

 as strict integrity, and as well qualified by genius 

 and talent to investigate so minute, perplexing and 

 difficult a history as Ruber was himself. No stain 

 therefore should rest on the fame of a naturalist 

 so deserving of our respect and admiration. As 

 to Frakcis Burmen, I would not accuse him of 

 wilful misrepresentation ; he only reported to 

 Huber what he thought he saw. He had some 

 knowledge of the ' doctrine of consequences.' 

 Bees have stings ; when annoyed by an animal, 

 they sting it ; consequently when enraged by one 

 another they revenge themselves by inflicting a 

 mortal wound with their slings ; so reasoned Fran- 

 CIS Burmen and a host of others. This admitted 

 of further proof, if the shadow of doubt ever pass- 

 ed over their minds, by the circumstance of the 

 curving of the body of the bee when engaged in 

 fight. The fact is, when we consider the length 

 and weight of the lower part of the body compar- 

 ed with the upper part, we shall perceive that this 

 curve is unavoidable ; it is a natural contraction of 

 muscles and it occurs whenever the mind is agitated. 

 I have an excellent microscope, and from long prac- 

 tice I can manage it adroitly, but on the closest 

 examination, I have never yet seen a hole in the 

 dead body of a vanquished bee. If bees sting 

 one another, why do they not sting the drones ? 

 I have sat for hours during their massacre, for the 

 purpose of ascertaining this fact ; but although my 

 eye was within two feet of the platform, I am cer- 

 tain that no sling ever ivas protruded. It was 

 really an arduous task to kill a large drone. It 

 sometimes requir'ed two or three bees to disable 

 him. The drones have no sting, there was no fear 

 therefore of their acting offensively, and their death 

 would only occupy a moment of time, by means of 



* Huber asserts, that being desirous of witnessing the 

 scene of carnage, he placed six hives on a fjlass table and 

 placed himself and assistant beneath it. On the 4th ot 

 July, the working bees actually massacred the males in 

 the whole six hives, at the same hour and with the saine 

 peculiarities. The glass table was covered with bees 

 full of animation, which flew on the drones, seized 

 them by the antenniE, the wings and limbs, and after 

 having dragged them about, they killed the uiifortunate 

 victims by repeated stings directed between the rings 

 of the belly. The moment that their formidable weapon 

 touched them, was the last of their existence ; they 

 stretched themselves out and expired. J. T. 



