BEE 



till tlic whole fting is buried in the wound, and the poifon 

 iiijeded. When once the bee' has completely transfixed its 

 lling into the flelh, the acrid caullic liquor, called the poi- 

 fon, h prcfTed from the ghnds in which it is fecrcted, and 

 pafiing down the channels of the darts, difcharges its malig- 

 nant contents into the wound, occalioning an acute pain and 

 fwcUinjr of the part, the inflammation of which continues 

 not unfrtquently for fevcral days after. Dr. Hunter, bemg 

 dtfiroui of afcertaining the force of this poifonous fluid, 

 dipped needles into it, with which he pricked the back of 

 his hand ; the liico experiment he tried on the fame part 

 with needles that were not dipped into it, and found that 

 the punclures occafioncd by the former grew fore and in- 

 flamed, while the others did not. 



But if the wound «hic!i thj bee inflifts bepair/ul to thofe 

 who receive it, to the bee it is attended often with more fc- 

 rious harm, for it inevitably proves fatal, if by any acci- 

 dent the fting is broken off in the ad of inflifting it. When 

 the creature ftrikes its fting deep into the flefli, and the per- 

 fon ftarts, and difconipofes the bee before it can difengage 

 itfelf, the fting is almoft certain of being broken off, and 

 left (licking in the wound. On the contrary, if he has pa- 

 tience to ftand qui't, the bee will bring the twoflender darts 

 clofe together, and withdraw the whole, in which cafe the 

 wound is always lefs painful. A wafp is not fo liable to 

 leave its fting in the wound as a bee ; the beards of the 

 darts being (hortcr, and the infeft more nimble and vigo- 

 rous in its operations. When the bee means to fting, it 

 flies about the object of its anger very quickly, and by the 

 Telocity of its motion?, feems to evade being ftruck or at- 

 tacked to advantage, while preparing for the affault. The 

 found emitted at this time is alfo peculiar, and to thofe ac- 

 cuftomed to bees is perfettly well underftood. " The dan- 

 ger of being ftung by bees (it has been faid^, may be in a 

 great meafure prevented by a quiet compofed behaviour. A 

 thoufand bees will fly and buzz about a perfon without 

 hurting him, if he will but ftand ftill and forbear difturbing 

 them, even when near his face ; in which cafe he may ob- 

 ferve them for hours together without danger ; but if he 

 molcfts or beats them away, he ufually fuffcrs for it. In the 

 " Edinburgh Medical Commentaries" it has been affirmed, 

 that a perfon is in perfeit fafety in the midft of myriads of 

 bees, if he were to keep his mouth carefully fliut, and 

 breathe gently through the noftrils only ; the human breath, 

 it would fcem, being peculiarly ofPenfive to their delicate 

 organs : and merely with this precaution, it is faid, tlie hives 

 may be turned up, and even part of the comb cut out, 

 while the bees are at work. 



Reaumur made ufe of no other remedy for the fting of 

 the bee than to bathe the part affected with cold water, a 

 remedy which in moft cafes will allay the pain and inflamma- 

 tion only during the time of its application. Oil of olives, 

 or fwrcet almonds, applied to it alleviates the pain. Lom- 

 bard, a late French writer, in his " Manuel ncceffaire au 

 ▼illagcois pour foigner les abeiiles," prefcribes a better re- 

 medy. He recommends that the wound be preffcd, to cleanfe 

 k as much as polfible from the venomous flnid, and then 

 rubbed with alkali, or with a little diluted quick li;ne, by 

 means of which the properties of the poifon will be neutra- 

 lized ; the wounded part, after the apphcation of this re- 

 medy, muft be well wathed with cold water, when both the 

 pain and fwcUing will be found to have received confiderablc 

 relief. 



Bees, Voice of . The bee is capable of emitting either 

 by the mouth or motion of the wings, a variety of founds, 

 exprelTive of its anger, fear, contentment, and other paffions ; 

 a cifcumftaacc hitherto but very flightly regarded by thofe 



BEE 



writers who have, in other rcfpefls, entered moft minutely 

 into the hiftory of tins animal. Mr. Hunter, in his paper 

 on the honey-bee, inferted in the Philofophical Tranfadions, 

 fays a few words on this fubjeft. Bees, lie tells us, may be 

 faid to have a voice ; or at leaft, that they are able to form 

 feveral dillinft founds. They give a found when flying, 

 which they can vary according to cireumttnnccs. One ac- 

 culloMicd to bees can immediately tell when a bee intends 

 to make au attack by the found, moft likely of th.e wings, 

 but that is not certain ; it may iffue from the mouth. The 

 bees may be feen ftanding at the door of their hive, with 

 the belly rather raifcd, and moving their wings, by which 

 means a noife is occafioncd. But they produce a noife in- 

 dependent of that made by the wings ; for if a bee be 

 fmeared all over with honey, fo as to caufe the wings to 

 adhere together, the bee will ,bc perceived to make a fhrill 

 and peevifti found while the wings remain motionlefs. To 

 afcertain this matter with a ftill greater degree of accuracy, 

 Mr. Hunter held a bee by the leg with a pair of pincers, 

 and very clearly obfcrved that the creature made the fame 

 peevifli noife while the winijs were perfectly ftill. After 

 tliis, he even cut the wings off, wher^the poor bee continued 

 to make t!ie fame noife as before. He immerfcd the bee in 

 water, but it did not then produce any noife, till it was 

 much teafed, when the fame found was heard as in the former 

 inftance : during this experiment, he could obferve the 

 water, or rather the furface of contact of the water with 

 the air, vibrating at the orifice of an air-hole fituatcd at the 

 root of the wing. The fame writer remarks, that the bees, 

 or foine kinds of them at leaft, make a noife the evening 

 before they fwarm, which is a kind of ring or found refem- 

 bling that of a fmall trumpet ; and by comparing it with 

 the notes of the piano -forte, it feemed to be the fame with 

 the lower ^of the treble. — When the bees return from their 

 daily excurfions in the fields, to their hives at evening, 

 loaded with farina and honey, they are well known to fing 

 or hum a foft melodious tone cxpreflive of their content- 

 ment. Entomologifts are well aware that the found emit- 

 ted by the bee is fufceptible of certain modulations. Some 

 of thefe proceed undoubtedly from the motion of the wings, 

 and vai-y in tone as they are moved with greater or lefs 

 velocity, juft as we obferve in other infcfts furnifhed with 

 tranfparent v.'ings ; and in fome degree throughout the 

 whole of the infeft race, with the exception of thofe which 

 have very fmall v.ings, or are entirely dtftitute of them. 

 From the obfervation of Mr. Hunter on the emilfion of air 

 from the lateral trachea, or air veffel in the fide, it would 

 fecm, that a certain found may be caufed by means of thefe 

 little organs : the remark of this anatomift defervcs more 

 confideration than he appeared to be himfelf perfuadcd of, 

 Cnce we knov/ that the fmging of the c'tcads, a noify tribe 

 of infe£ls, proceeds not from the mouth, but from two 

 lateral openings, one en each fide of the abdomen ; ihe 

 found being produced by means cf a moft fingular internal 

 organization, and tranfmitted through thofe openings at 

 the pleafurc of the creature. It is not unlikely, that many 

 infects may be furniftied with lateral organs for the purpofe 

 of making a certain noife, although not exaftly of the fame 

 ftrulture in the cicada, and certainly upon a much fmaller 

 fcale. That a bee emits a found from the mouth, is alfo 

 believed. A gentleman within our knowledge, who has 

 made the manners of bees his particular ftudy, can with the 

 utmoft facility declare the fex of any bee that may chance 

 to pafs near him, by attending only to the motion and found 

 emitted by it vvhilil in flight. 



Bees, yige of. Writers are not agreed as to the duration 

 of the term of life in the honey-bee. Among the ancients 



it 



