APIS MELLIFICA. 



the hive be not sufficiently enlarged. Each swarm contains, 

 not only the recently hatched young bees, but also a portion 

 of the old inhabitants. Some assert that the queen which 

 leads each swarm is impregnated soon after the new colony 

 is settled ; and as this may take place early in the summer, 

 she begins to oviposit the same year. The number of ova 

 which are fertilized by a single coupling is prodigious. Hu- 

 ber calculates that the queen lays twelve thousand eggs in 

 two months, while, according to Reaumur, she oviposits at 

 the rate of two hundred a day. The duration of life of the 

 different individuals of the hive varies ; that of the male bee 

 is not more than two or three months ; there is more doubt 

 respecting the longevity of the workers, but it is probable 

 that it does not extend much beyond a year. The term of 

 the queen's existence has been stated to have been prolonged 

 for five years ; but this is rendered improbable by the fact, that 

 all insects of the same species have nearly the same duration 

 of existence allotted to them. 



APIS MELLIFICA, the true honey-bee, was originally limited 

 in its geographical range to the Old World, whence it has 

 been transported to America, and other countries where 

 European colonies have been established, and where it is 

 now acclimated. The distinguished entomologist, Latreille, 

 on whose authority it is stated, is even of opinion that the 

 honey-bee of the South and East of Europe, as well as that 

 of Egypt, differs specifically from the Apis mellifica of West- 

 ern Europe. 



CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES. 



HONEY has a peculiar saccharine aromatic odor, and a sweet 

 acidulous, sharp taste. In color, it varies from white or yel- 

 lowish-white to a pretty deep shade of amber or golden- 

 yellow. In consistence, it varies from the fluidity of limpid 

 oil to the stiffness of soft suet, and when the more limpid 

 kind is kept, partly crystallizes into little irregular concretions. 

 It evidently contains sugar, mucilage, wax, and an acid, 

 and occasionally some essential oil, as in the perfumed honey 

 of the Crimea. Honey is soluble in water, and partially in 

 alcohol, and, like sugar, passes into the vinous and acetous 

 fermentation. When heated over a slow fire, it throws up a 

 scum, and if the heat be continued, so as to produce evapo- 



15 



