B E E 



and comers ; and the fourth in coUefting and briiHring food 

 for the fupport of the reft, or in relig/ing thofc wlio return 

 heavily laden. Neither of thefe four companies is kept 

 conilantly to one employment ; they often change the 

 talks affigned them : thofe that have been at work, tor ex- 

 ample, in the conf'ruflion of the cells, are permitted to go 

 abroad, and thoft- which have been in the fields already, 

 are allowed to take their places in the hive. Tiiey are 

 believed, and not without reafon, to have certain figns, by 

 means of wliicli they underiland each other, and one Itriking 

 inllance is adduced in proof of this : when any one of the 

 bees is in want of food, the creature bends down its trimk 

 to the bee from whom it is expefted, the latter immediptely 

 opens its ho'KV-bag, and lets fome drops of honey fall into 

 the mouth of the other, which is at that time obferved open 

 to receive it. Many other circumftances miijht be likewife 

 mentioned, were they neci.(rary to confirm this idea. Tlicfe 

 particulars relate ahiioft exclufively to the operations of the 

 neuter, or laboming bee ; the males anfwering no other 

 pnrpofe than finiply that of males in their fexual capacity ; 

 and the queen or female breeder only attending to the dif- 

 charge of her more important duties, the laying of eggs, 

 and influencing, by her prefcnce, the working bees, to per- 

 levere in their rcfpeflive labours. 



Bee, Geiicrahon of. Thefe infects begin to breed in the 

 upper part of the hive, in the cells adjoining to thofe which 

 are filled with honey, and they defcend gradually into the 

 lower parts, as the flowers which furnidi them with wax 

 increafe in plenty. The cells defigned for the working 

 bees, are commonly half an inch deep ; thofe for the drones, 

 three quarters of an inch ; and thofe intended to contain 

 the honey only, ilill deeper. The queen bee is generally 

 concealed in the moft fecret part of the hive, and is never 

 vifible, except when (lie happens to lay her eggs in fuch 

 combs as are cxpofed to fight. \Vlien fhe does appear, 

 Ihe is always attended by ten or a dozen of the common 

 fort, who form a kind of retinue, to follow and guard her 

 wherever (lie goes. Before (he lays her eggs, fhe examines 

 the cells where file dcfigns to lay tliem ; and if (he finds 

 they contain neither honey, wax, nor embi-)-o, file introduces 

 the poll erior part of her body into the cell, and fixes to the 

 bottom of it a fniall white egg, which is compofed of a thm 

 membrane, filled with a whiti(h liquor. In this manner 

 (he proceeds on, t:ll ihe fills as many cells as fhe has eggs 

 to lay, which aie generally many thoufands. Sometimes 

 more than one egg has been dtpofited in the fame cell ; 

 when this is the cafe, the working bees remove the fuper- 

 numerary eggs, and leave only one in each cell. On the 

 lirll or fecond day after the eggs are lodged in the cells, 

 the drone bee is fuppofed by many to injedt a fmall quan- 

 tity of whitidi liquid, which in about the courfc of a day is 

 abforbed by the egg. On the third or fourth day is pro- 

 duced a maggot, v.hicli, when it is grown fo as to touch 

 the oppofite angle of the cell, coils iticlf up in the (hape 

 of a femicirele, and floats in a certain liquid whereby it is 

 nouriflied, and enlarged in its dimenfions : this liquid is of 

 a whitifli colour, of the thicknefs of cream, and of an in- 

 fipid talle, like flour and water. The origin and qualities 

 of this Uquid, are not correiStly explained : fome have fup- 

 pofed that it confifts of fome generative matter injefted by 

 the male or drone bee into each cell, in order to give fecun- 

 dity to the egg : a more probable opinion is, that it is the 

 fame with what feveral writers call the bee-bread ; and that 

 it is a mixture of water with the juices of plants and flow- 

 ers, collected merely for the nutrition of the young while 

 they are in a weak and helplefs Hate. Whatever may be 

 the nature of this aliment, it is certain the bees are very 

 iaduilrious in fupplying the worms with it. The larva, or 



BEE 



mat:got, is fed by the working bees for about eight or ten 

 days, till one end touches the other in the form of a ring, 

 and when it begins to find iticlf uneafy in its lirll poft\n-e, it 

 ceafes to eat, and begins to unroll itfclf, thrulling the head 

 forwards towards the mouth of the cell, 'i he attendant bets, 

 ob(ervin:r thefe fvmptoms of approaching traiisformalioii, 

 defill from their labours in carrying food, and employ thcrr.- 

 felves in falUning U])thetop of thecell witli a lid ofwaxfi;rmid 

 ill concentric circles, and by their natuial heat affift in 

 cherifliiiig the brood, andhallening the birth. In this (late, 

 the larva extends itfelf at full length, and prepares a kind 

 of (ilky covering, %vhich forms a complete lining for the 

 cell, and affords a convenient receptacle for the transform- 

 ation of the larva to the pi:pa Hate. Some naturaliils fup- 

 pofe, that as each cell is dtllined to the fncctflive breeding 

 of feveral larvx, the whole wcb, which is compofed of many 

 ctufts or doubles, is, in reality, a colteclion of as many 

 webs as there have been larvre. M. Maraldi apprehends, 

 that this lining is formed of the (kin of the larva, tlirown 

 oft at its entrance into the nymph or pupa Rate ; but it is 

 urged by othei's, that if the cells are opened when recently 

 covered by the bees, the larva within «ill be found in its 

 own form, and detefted in the aft of fpinning its wcb ; and 

 by means of glafles, it will be found compofed of fine threads, 

 regularly woven together, like thole of other (pinning animals. 

 In the fpace of eighteen or twenty days, the whol- pro- 

 cefs of transformation is finilhed, and tlic bee endeavours to 

 difcharge itfelt from confinement, by forcing an aperture 

 with its jaws through the covering of the cell ; the pad'ag'- 

 is gradually dilated ; io that one of the maxills or jawo 

 appears firll ; then the head, and afterwards the whole 

 body ; this is ufually the work ot three hours, and fome- 

 times of half a day. The bee, aiter it has difengaged it- 

 ftlf, (lands on the iurface of the comb, till it has acquired 

 its natural complexion, and full maturity and flrength, fo as 

 to become fit for labour. The reft of the bees gather 

 round it in this (late, congratulate its birth, and otfer it 

 honey out of their own mouths. The exuvix, and fcat- 

 tered pieces of wax which are left in the cell, are removed by 

 the working bees ; and the cavity is no fooner cleanfcd, and 

 fit for new fecundation, but the queen dtpofits another egg 

 in it ; infomuch, that M. Maraldi fays, he has ften five bees 

 produced in the fame cdl, in the fpace of three months. The 

 young btes, it is (aid, are eafily diftiiiguiftied from the 

 others by their colour : they are grey, inftcad of the yellow 

 brown of the common bees, the reafon of which is, that 

 tluir body is black, and the hairs that grow upon it are white ; 

 from the mixture of thefe that are feen together, refults a 

 grey ; but this colour forms itfclf into brov.'ni(h by de- 

 grees ; the rings of the body becoming more brown, and 

 the hairs yellower. 



Reaumur fuppofed, before the time of Linnaeus, the queen 

 bee to be the only female in the hive, and confequently, the 

 mother of the next generation : that the drones are the 

 malts by which (he is fecundated ; and that the working 

 bees, or thofe which colleit wax on the flowers, that 

 knead it, and form the combs and cells, and afterwards fill 

 them with honey, are the neuters. 



Kchirach, in his " Killoire Naturelle de la Reine dcs 

 Abeilles, &c" publiihed m 1772, has advanced a different 

 opinion upon this fubjeft. He fuppofes, that all the com- 

 mon, or honey bees, arc females in difguife, in which the 

 organs that ditUnguiih the lex, and particularly the ovaria, 

 are obhteratcd, or at leaft from their extreme minutenefs, 

 have efcaped the obfervcr's eye ; that cvei-y one of thefe 

 bees, in the earlier period of cxiftence, is capable of becom- 

 ing a queen bee, if the whole community (hould think pro- 

 per to uurl'e it in a particular manner, and raife it to that 



rank j 



