78 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1750. 



On Bees, and their Method of Gathering IVax and Honey. By Arthur Dobbs, 



Esq. N° 496, p. 536. 



The only 2 things in which Mr. Dobbs differs from M. Reaumur, are, thpt he 

 apprehends Mr. R. says, the bees range from flowers of one species to those of 

 another, while they are gathering one load ; so that the farina, or crude wax, 

 loaded on their legs, is from different species of flowers ; which is contrary to 

 what Mr. D. observed. The other thing that he differed from him in is, that 

 he says the wax is formed in the bee, from the crude wax, or farina (so far Mr. 

 D. agrees with him :) but by his observations, he says, after digestion it is dis- 

 charged upwards by the mouth ; whereas, by Mr. D.'s observations, it is the 

 faeces, husks, or shells of the farina or crude wax, after digestion, discharged 

 by the anus. 



As to the first, says Mr. Dobbs, I have frequently followed a bee loading the 

 farina, bee-bread, or crude wax, on its legs, through part of a gr^at field in 

 flower ; and on whatever flower it first alighted and gathered the farina, it con- 

 tinued gathering from that kind of flower ; and passed over many other species 

 of flowers, though very numerous in the field, without alighting on, or loading 

 from them ; though the flower it chose was much scarcer in the field than the 

 others : so that if it began to load from a daisy, it continued loading from the 

 same, neglecting clover, honeysuckles, violets, &c. ; and if it began with any 

 of the others, it continued loading from the same kind, passing over the daisy. 

 So in a garden, on the wall-trees, I have seen it load from a peach, and pass 

 over apricots, plumbs, cherries, &c. yet made no distinction between a peach 

 and an almond. 



Now M. Reaumur, in his memoir on the bee's making honey, mentions 

 Aristotle's observation of the bee's loading or gathering from one species of flower 

 without changing; not quitting a violet to gather fi-om a cowslip ; which he 

 says is not justly founded; for he has observed frequently a bee on a large border 

 gathering from flowers of different species. If M. Reaumur only means that, 

 when the bee gathers honey, it takes it indifferently from any flower, I can say 

 nothing against it; but, if he intends it to mean the bee's loading the farina on 

 its legs, then my observation directly contradicts it. 



What further confirms my observation is this, that each load on the legs of a 

 bee, is of one uniform colour throughout, as a light red, an orange, a yellow, a 

 white, or a green, and is not on different parts of the load of a different colour ; 

 so that as the farina of each species of flowers, when collected together, is of one 

 uniform colour, the presumption is, that it is gathered from one species. For, 

 if from different kinds, part of the load might be of one colour, and part of 

 another. 



