448 INSECTS. 



ployed with advantage by practical men. It is well calculated, for 

 example, for producing artificial swarms, on the principle of Schi- 

 rach's discovery. " In the leaf-hive," says he, " we can see whe- 

 ther the population be sufficient to admit of division, if the brood 

 be of proper age, if males exist, or be ready to be produced for 

 impregnating the young queen." By means of it, also, bees may 

 be induced to work much more in wax than they would naturally 

 do. 6i Here,*' continues M. Huber, u I am led to what I believe 

 is a new observation. While naturalists have directed our admira- 

 tion to the parallel position of the combs, they have overlooked an- 

 other trait in the industry of bees, namely, the equal distance 

 uniformly between them. On measuring the interval separating 

 the combs, it will generally be found about four lines. Were they 

 too distant, it is very evident the bees would be much dispersed, 

 and unable to communicate their heat reciprocally; whence the 

 brood would not be exposed to sufficient warmth. Were the combs 

 too close, on the contrary, the bees could not freely traverse the in- 

 tervals, and the work of the hive would suffer*." This instinct being 

 admitted, it is evident that bees may be induced to construct new 

 combs, by merely separating those already built so far asunder that 

 they may have room to build others in the interval. 



The cause of the bees, which has been so eloquently and pathe- 

 tically pleaded by the Poet of the Seasons, is supported by M. Hu- 

 ber on a principle more intelligible perhaps, and more persuasive, 

 to most country bee-masters, viz. interest. He deprecates the de- 

 struction of bees, and recommends to the cultivator to be content 

 with a reasonable share of the wealth of the hive; arguing very 

 Justly, we believe, that a little taken from each of a number of hives, 

 is ultimately much more profitable than a greater quantity obtained 

 by the total destruction of a few. 



[Phil. Trans. J. Hunter. Shaw. Bonner. Huber. Pan- 

 toloaia. Edin. Rev. 



* Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles, par Francois Huber. Manuel- 

 pratique de la Culture des Abeilles. Histoire Naturelle de la Reine des 

 Abeilles. New Plan for speedily increasing the number of Bees, &c. by James 

 Bonner. Edinburgh Review, No. xxii. p. 319* 



