February 7, 1865. ] 



JOITElsrAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE aAEDENEK. 



123 



depriving it of its own, and this, too, strange to say, without 

 even an encasement. I shall narrate a case in point. 



I deprived an observatory-hive of its queen to substitute 

 a more youthful and prolific one. The substitution of the 

 one was simultaneous with the deprivation of the other. I 

 watched through the glass as a stranger queen ascended 

 the comb, to see what was to be nature of her reception. 

 She extended her proboscis to the first bee that encountered 

 her, and was liberally fed by it. Her reception by others as 

 they gathered around, though somewhat equivocal at first, 

 was, on the whole, deferential and kind. Being struck with 

 this indifference on the part of the bees, as to a change of 

 queen, I thought of introducing a second queen, in order to 

 test still further that indifference. This I did in about 

 half an hour after, but this queen, was immediately attacked 

 in the usual way, and speedily surrounded by a dense cluster 

 of ferocious enemies. I noticed a little commotion occurring 

 m consequence of this encasement, and the first queen in- 

 troduced also got a little excited, so that her timidity in 

 traversing the comb caused some of the bees in her path to 

 attempt to stop her progress. Seeing this I witlidrew the 

 encased queen, and the whole hive immediately became 

 quiescent. I should mention that both these queens were 

 resei've queens kept over with some few bees for experi- 

 mental purposes. This case is, no doubt, an exceptional 

 one; but it is on that very account I mention it. When in 

 ordinary cases I have introduced a queen in such circum- 

 stajiees, a speedy encasement was the sure consequence. 

 This does not always result, however, in the destruction of 

 the queen. I have frequently succeeded in such eases without 

 the aid, even, of any of those appliances generally resorted 

 to. 1 shaU give one instance in point out of many. 



In the month of May last, the surviving Ligurian queen 

 ot two* I had received fi-om Mr. Woodbury (neither, I am 

 ?°+^j *? ^^y- prospered), was at the head of a thinly-popu- 

 lated hive. I took away this queen with the view of pre- 

 senting her to one of the most thriving and populous stocks 

 m my apiary. I first expelled the whole bees from this hive 

 and deprived it of its black queen. After this I beat out 

 the whole swarm upon a sheet, and allowed the bees to 

 enter first an empty skep and afterwards their own hive 

 again, which they did wit!i a joyful hum. At this moment 

 when all was jubilee, I placed the Ligurian queen in the 

 madst, and she entered in the throng unmolested. When 

 aU was housed and had settled down, however, the stranger 

 queen did not escape observation. She was encased, but her 

 captivity was neither severe nor protracted. She was very 

 soon atterwai'ds restored to liberty and honour. On a former 

 occasion, and for a like object, I caused this same queen to 

 pass through a similar ordeal, but aUowed her workers to 

 accompany her. All these were kUled, and she alone escaped 

 after a protracted encasement. 



Of course, I have frequently introduced stranger queens 

 hepi" w't ' ^T! '^'?°''* ^^y opposition on the part of the 

 ei™,«i.«i^'^'\V° «5°^.tl^^t bees are sometimes so capri- 

 cious m all matters of this kind, that what suits to-day may 

 not answer to-morrow. "^ ^ 



ml-^^J^'^V^ *V*J ^^''^ Si-eat faith in Wildman's 

 foni T 1 °®' 1^^ bees-namely, by operating on their 

 leais. 1 have in this way converted the most infuriated 

 hive I ever witnessed, by a few manipulations, into the most 

 submissive and docile, metamorphosed the most irascible 



the ri[; Tf'^l ^^^^'''^ ^"^^^y to ^^ unsheathed, into 



^ae most peaceful of subjects, which I could cause to march 



who^ri^'"'^^'''' without onerebeUious murmur, andamono- 



without sTf? """'ff ^ '=°"1'^ t"^™^* "^y uncovered hand 

 witnout sustammg the smallest injury. 



GermL"°ai>SiHr.''^''* ^'^°"''* of knowledge is possessed by 

 XnoZniri^:T.Z%nt%^f' "1"°"^ and^nterestin^ 



endeavouring to solve but lZ%,^- f^^^^'T^^'^^' ''''^ 

 onimon tlinf- " fi,l ' , ^^^ ^* '^ stated to be Dzierzon's 

 oftte^ brood .if'^"'^'' bee cannot pass beyond the limits 

 a most pXn,^ ' '^'?P.* ^* ^^^ "«I^ °f her life." This is 

 auTwitl • ^^'^''^ °^''''°'^ *° emanate fi-om such a high 

 authority m apiarian science as the distinguished SUesiln 



summer. In tL wC" ™ w?f f.M*,; 'l*'- "■" °° ''™=^'' '^ ="' *" 

 breeder, and perished. TUe o?w „r"rt.-»^ ^ "^ "" confirmed drone- 



l'«4,«nddiedmjWar^,1866fa^?™i"'fX*f?rh'° '"63, very few in I 

 J. , o .err iiays sfter ttte above was written. 1 



bee-master. I am certainly at a loss to account for it. It 

 seems to me to be on a par with the opinion ascribed to 

 Sohirach in regard to foul brood, that an abnormal deposition 

 of the eggs by the queen might originate it. In other words, 

 that the reversed position of the eggs in the cells might 

 give rise to a reversed position of the pupaj, " so that the 

 young bees, unable to extricate themselves from their prison, 

 die and putrefy." Every apiarian who studies the internal 

 economy of the bee by the aid of his unicomb can disprove 

 both these mistaken theories. Fancy may suggest one 

 thing or another — an abnormal arrangement of eggs in the 

 ovaries, or an erroneous oviposition; but it is quite clear 

 that in whatever way the egg may be placed in the bottom 

 of the cell originally, on its head or the reverse, granted 

 only that it hatches and becomes a larva, and that that 

 larva is found to assume an annular or curved position in 

 tlie cell and retains that normal position till sealed — what 

 influence, let me ask, could the original position of the egg 

 in the cell have in such circumstances on the subsequent 

 position of the pupa? Then, again, as to Dzierzon's theory 

 of the queen being in danger when out of the " brood nest," 

 how often may the queen be seen in the unicomb hive, as I 

 have often watched her through the glass, in the remotest 

 corner of it, away from the so-called " brood nest," as if on 

 purpose to enjoy undisturbed, and with greater freedom, 

 those intervals of repose which from time to time intervene, 

 and which nature seems to require in the arduous work of 

 oviposition ? Often in such circumstances when the queen 

 was enjoying her otium aim dignitate have I roused her from 

 her royal slumbers by a tap on the glass to a resumption 

 of her maternal duties. 



But I must conclude. I know I have not exhausted this 

 interesting subject, nor alluded to all its varied phases and 

 aspects. I have, however, out of a great mass of materials, 

 selected what I conceived to be most to the point. The 

 question is, as I have already stated, intensely interesting. 

 I have prosecuted it with great keenness. I do not profess 

 to be confident in all the conclusions come to with respect 

 to these curious phenomena in all their different aspects ; 

 but i have stated my views such as they are, and shall be 

 ready to alter or abandon them when additional light shall 

 make it manifest I have erred. It may be difScult, perhaps 

 impossible, for us to get at the motives of the bees in every 

 case when surrounding their sovereign. Perhaps this, like 

 some other subjects of physical inquiry, will afford materials 

 for new observations which will never be completely ex- 

 hausted. But be this as it may, I agree with the following 

 remark made by Professor Owen in his treatise on a more 

 mysterious subject still — namely, parthenogenesis : — "The 

 true and rational explanation of natural phenomena is usually 

 the result of the exercise of common sense and careful 

 observation." 



One remark, in connection with this subject, I must be 

 allowed to make before closing. We must not, I think, look 

 to the conduct of the bee as being in aU cases of this kind 

 guided by unerring wisdom, more especially in circumstances 

 where external influences of an artificial character are 

 brought to bear upon it. The intuitive principle of instinct 

 is no doubt sufficient to direct it in all ordinary emer- 

 gencies ; but when we see it in some abnormal instances or 

 conditions depart from what we know to be for its true 

 good, it is unfair in us to measure its doings by a higher 

 principle of action which it does not possess. Reason, it 

 must be remembered, is above instinct, and we are not to 

 expect that the bee will, in all possible eases in which it may 

 be placed, act up to the mark by which we would gauge its 

 wisdom. The bee is confessedly a very irascible creature 

 when provoked, and in such circumstances I have often 

 witnessed it do many things exceedingly foolish, just as 

 its master may, in similar circumstances, be seen doing 

 things exceedingly foolish ; but aside fi-om provocation and 

 artificial appliances, the instinctive wisdom of the bee as 

 displayed in all its varied aspects is such as to draw forth 

 our wonder and excite our praise, and thus to lead our 

 minds to the contemplation of that Great and Wise Being 

 who hath implanted in this tiny creature such wonderful 

 instincts and dispositions. I say this in exculpation jf the 

 conduct of our little favourites where, in so=i« such 

 instances as those occupjdng our attention in mese pages, 

 they have, in my opinion, been visited "ith unmerited 



