Insects. 



7973 



Volucella, which were obtained last summer from wasps' nests. They have been hyber- 

 nating throughout the winter, and are now just beginning to assume the pupa state. 

 The change is taking place inside the larva-skin, the only external evidence of the change 

 being a decrease in the length and an increase in girth, with a slight hardening of 

 the larva-skin : and, moreover, one larva from the above number, which was separated 

 from the rest and kept during winter in a very cold situation, is also, I perceive, 

 undergoing its change into a pupa. The larvae have been identified as those of 

 Volucella by Professor Westwood, by whom a specimen was exhibited at the October 

 meeting of the Entomological Society. They have been kept through the winter in 

 the same recess as the pupa of Acronycta Alni, but the temperature does not appear 

 to have had much effect upon them, for, if I am not mistaken, I have seen a species 

 of Volucella upon wing in March. — S. Stone. 



" Bees and the Art of Queen making " (Zool. 7907). — I was pleased to see that my 

 friend Mr. Woodbury had answered Dr. Leitch's new theory of excess of temperature 

 having an effect on the royal cells in hives, and agree most thoroughly with what that 

 accomplished apiarian advances. It is quite true that it is too much the fashion to 

 find fault with the great Huber's well-authenticated observations on the subject. 

 What could induce Dr. Leiich to suppose that in the upper edges of the combs in a 

 hive the temperature was higher than in the centre, I cannot conceive. In numerous 

 observations in my uuicomb hives, a few years ago, the queen was less frequently near 

 the edges of the comb than in any other place, generally traversing near the centre, 

 and laying her eggs there first, and, when one side was finished, passing through an 

 aperture made by the bees to save time to go from one side to the other: this aperture, 

 all observers know, is situated near the centre towards the top of the comb, and is 

 another instance of the wonderful and Divine guidance of the bees in economizing 

 time and distance. In these observations I do not allude to the time of swarming, as 

 in that case there is an increased heat, from the number of bees collected. Although 

 M. Huber is right in all his great discoveries, yet he is now and then careless 

 (" Aliquando dormitat bonus Homerus ") : where he should say, " With now and then 

 an exception," in his zeal he says, " After the old queen has conducted the first swarm 

 from the hive the remaining bees take particular care of the royal cells, and prevent 

 the young queens successively hatched from leaving them, unless at an interval of 

 several days between each." In ninety-nine cases in a hundred this is the fact; but 

 even to this there is sometimes an exception. In the year 1836 I had a second swarm 

 about to go off from one of my hives, and as they came out more slowly than usual 

 I went within half a yard of the hive, and observed no less than three queens at one 

 moment on the alighting-board. The swarm went off and divided, and settled on 

 three different bushes and trees; the whole were united and did not form a quantity 

 of more than a quarter of a peck: they were very unsettled all the day of swarming 

 after being hived, but next morning I found. two dead queens under the hive: the 

 hive worked well afterwards. It is right to mention that the weather had been very 

 showery and unsettled: it must also be mentioned that the last batch of young bees 

 which left the hive were scarcely able to fly with their juvenile queen; they were of a 

 different colour, nearly a leaden colour, and upwards of two hundred of those- which 

 issued from the hive fell within three or four yards, unable to fly ; they appeared to me 

 to have been hatched not more than an hour previously. I picked nearly the whole of 

 these bees up, and they entered the new hive with the rest, by creeping up the sides. 

 It seems that for a few hours a plurality of queens will sometimes be allowed. 



