igO PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 17Q2. 



cessity of being so provided. Probably its having a sting to use, was sufficient 

 for nature to defend the bee, without using it liberally ; and the loss of a bee or 

 two, when they did sting, was of no consequence ; for it is seldom that more 

 die. 



I have now carried the operations of a hive, or the economy of the bee, 

 completely round the year ; in which time they revolve to the first point we set 

 out at, and the continuance is only a repetition of the same revolutions as I have 

 now desciibed : but those revolutions occasion a series of effects in the comb, 

 which effects in time produce variations in the life of the hive. Besides, there 

 are observations that have little to do with the economy of a year, but include 

 the whole of the life of this insect, or at least its hive. 



Of the life of the tee. — I have observed that the life of the male is only one 

 summer, or rather a month or two; and this we know from there being none 

 in the winter, otherwise their age could not be ascertained, as it is impossible 

 to learn the age of either the queen or labourers. Some suppose that it is the 

 young bees whicli swarm ; and most probably it is so : but I think it is probable 

 also, that a certain number of young ones may be retained to keep up the 

 stock, as we must suppose that many of the old ones are, from accidents of 

 various kinds, lost to the hive ; and we could conceive, that a hive 3 or 4 years 

 old might not have an original bee in it, though a bee might live twice that 

 time. But there must be a period for a bee to live; and if I were to judge 

 from analogy, I should say, that a bee's natural life is limited to a certain number 

 of seasons ; viz. one bee does not live 1 year, another 2, another 3, &c. I 

 even conceive that no individual insect of any species lives 1 month longer than 

 the others of the same species. I believe this is the case with all insects ; but 

 the age of either a labourer or a queen may never be discovered. One might 

 suppose that the life of a bee, and the time a hive can possibly last, would be 

 nearly equal : though this is not absolutely necessary, because they can produce 

 a succession, which they probably do ; for I am very ready to imagine, that 

 after the first brood in the season, all the last winter bees die, and the hive is 

 occupied with this first brood ; and that they breed the first swarm, or that the 

 old breed the whole of this season's breeding, and then die, and those that con- 

 tinue through the winter are the young ; and if so, then they follow the same 

 course with their progenitors. 



The comb of a hive may be said to be the furniture and store-house of the 

 bees, which by use wear out ; and from the description I have given, it will ap- 

 pear that the comb in time will be rendered unfit for use. I observed, that they 

 did not clean out the excrement of the maggot, and that tlie maggot, before it 

 moved into the chrysalis state, lined the cell with a silk, similar to manv other, 

 insects. It lines the whole cell, top, sides, and bottom ; the last 2 are perma- 



