KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



145 



MORE ABOUT INSTINCT. 



THE "BUSY BEE." 



Say,— where full instinct is the unerring guide, 

 What hope or council can they want beside ? 



Pope. 



E HAVE RECENTLY GIVEN 

 SOME MOST INTERESTING 

 PROOFS OF THE INSTINCT 



IN plants from the pages 

 of Dr. Kemp. We are so 

 very much pleased with 

 the same author's remarks 

 on Bees, that, as those little 

 winged messengers of active industry are 

 just now peeping out to reconnoitre, we will 

 borrow a few more interesting particulars 

 about the Queen -bee and the instinct per- 

 ceivable in the working-bees. 



INSTINCT OF HONEY BEE9. 



The instinctive movements of bees, in relation 

 to one another and to their posterity, are almost 

 incredible ; but the evidence of such is un- 

 questionable. Foremost amongst them, are the 

 proceedings of the queen-mother. Two queens 

 cannot exist in the same hive; and if a couple of 

 them chance to do so, either from a stranger 

 queen coming in, or a young one being hatched, 

 a battle is immediately fought; in which one is 

 sure to perish. In the former case, i.e., when a 

 stranger queen is introduced into a hive that 

 already contains one, an extraordinary scene takes 

 place. A circle of bees instinctly crowd around 

 the invader, not, however, to attack her — for a 

 worker never assaults a queen — but to respectfully 

 prevent her escape, in order that a combat may 

 take place between her and their reigning 

 monarch ! The lawful possessor then advances 

 towards the part of the comb where the invader 

 has established herself, the attendant workers 

 clear a space for the encounter, and, without inter- 

 fering, wait the result. A fearful encounter then 

 ensues, in which one is stung to death ; the survivor 

 mounting the throne. Although the workers of 

 a de facto monarch will not fight for her defence, 

 yet, if they perceive a strange queen attempting to 

 enter the hive, they will surround her, and hold her 

 until she is starved to death ; but such is their 

 respect for royalty that they never attempt to 

 sting her ! 



If the hive lose their queen, strange proceedings 

 take place as the young queen assumes the perfect 

 or imago state. The first one that becomes thus 

 developed almost immediately proceeds to the royal 

 cells, and darts upon the first that she espies. 

 She gnaws a hole in it, through which she inserts 

 her sting, and thereby destroys her embryo rivals. 

 A number of workers accompany her, but do not 

 venture to offer any opposition to her violence ; and 

 indeed, after the murder is committed, they 

 enlarge the breach and extract the dead body. 



It sometimes happens that two young queens 

 attain perfection at the same time; and in such 

 a case, they afford indication of another and 

 very peculiar instinct. At first the instinct of 

 fighting prevails, and they dart upon one another 

 with a fury that seems to threaten death to 

 both ; and head is opposed to head, and sting to 



sting. But the moment that they come into 

 this position, a sudden panic seizes them, and 

 both fly. They soon return, and the same scene 

 is repeated over and over again ; until one young 

 queen in the advance seizes the other by the 

 wing, and then inflicts a mortal wound. By 

 this instinct the two do not perish ; and thus 

 the hive is prevented from wanting a queen. 

 All this is performed before they are perhaps five 

 minutes old ! 



The workers, however, do often prevent the 

 queen from attacking and destroying the royal 

 grubs; but this is only before she has come out 

 of her cell and assumed authority. They keep 

 her confined until she is perfectly able to lead a 

 swarm ; and even when they do let her out, they 

 hinder her from destroying her immature royal 

 sister, a proceeding she is much bent upon. She 

 then becomes violently agitated, and inclined to 

 lead a swarm, the members of which follow her. 

 This proceeding only takes place in full hives ; 

 and when the hive is thin in numbers, and it is 

 not desirable to send out new colonies, the workers 

 let the queens destroy one another, as before 

 mentioned. 



If the queen die, or be removed from a hive, the 

 population do not appear to discern their loss for 

 about an hour. At the expiration of this time, a 

 degree of restlessness begins to manifest itself; 

 the bees run to and fro, and those that first begin 

 to do so, strike the others with their antennae, 

 and apparently communicate the news and dis- 

 order. All soon becomes in a very confused state, 

 work is neglected, and the bees continually pass 

 in and out of the hive. The tumult lasts for some 

 hours, after which the bees become quiet, and 

 proceed to fill some of the cells with jelly, and, as 

 before mentioned, rear up neuter larva? into 

 queens. If, however, the queen be restored to 

 them, their joy is excessive, and manifested, 



Another remarkable fact connected with the 

 instincts of the bees is, that the queen some 

 times, apparently from disease, becomes incapable 

 of laying eggs that will turn out workers; all the 

 eggs that she does lay hatching into drones. 

 When this is the case, she loses the propensity to 

 attack other queens : in this manner the com- 

 munity is not suffered to die out, for want of new 

 laborers ; and yet her subjects in no degree 

 diminish their respect to her. 



The drones are, in ordinary cases, put to death 

 by the workers when they are about two months 

 old. This they do by stinging them ; but in the 

 case just mentioned, where the queen lays male 

 eggs only, their instincts teach the workers to let 

 the drones live — and they do not attack them. 



As soon as a working bee has attained its perfec 

 or imago state, it seeks for the door of the hive 

 and instantly sets out, quite capable of fulfilling 

 all its destinies ! The hum made by its wings 

 ceases at the first flower it arrives at, into which it 

 enters; and, rubbing its tongue between the petals 

 and stamens, sweeps out all the nectar, which it 

 deposits in its honey-bag. When, having passed 

 from flower to flower, this honey-bag is full, it takes 

 from the anther the pollen necessary to make the 

 bread for the pupse, and it also gathers propolis. 

 It will have flown, perhaps, a mile before it has 

 got laden, It then returns uniformly in a straight 

 line to its hive. Arrived there, it imparts to its 



Vol. V.— 10. 



