APIS. 
125 
of a Spanish olive. They hang together in 
clusters, almost tike a bunch of grnpes, and 
are so contrived that each of them lias its 
aperture, white the bees are at work upon it; 
but as soon as it is tilled with honey, this 
aperture is closed, and the bees leave it and 
go to work upon another vessel. Their 
lodgings are usually taken up in the hollow of 
an old tree, or in some cavity of a rock by 
the sea-side. They are sagacious in choosing 
the most secure retreats, because their honey 
is so delicious a bait that they are hunted 
after by many animals; and they have no 
power of defending themselves, having no 
stings as our bees have. The combs are 
brittle, and the honey is clear and liquid like 
rock water. It is used by the natives rather 
as a drink with their food than as honey. They 
use it also in medicine as a purge, drinking 
half a pint of it in the morning fasting. 
With regard to the age of bees, the drones 
live but a little while, being destroyed with- 
out mercy by the working bees, probably 
to save honey. As to the age of the working 
bees, writers arc not agreed. Some maintain 
that they are annual, and others suppose that 
they live many years. Many of them, it is 
well known, die annually of hard labour; and 
though they may be preserved by succession 
in hives or colonies for several years, the 
most accurate observers are of opinion that 
their age is but a year, or no more than two 
summers at the utmost. 
These, industrious insects, Mr. Bonner 
remarks, “ have their vices as well as their 
virtues.” The most savage Indian tribes 
do not wage more deadly wars, than the 
bees of different hives, and sometimes of 
the same hive, occasionally do. Their light- 
ing and plundering one another ought chiefly 
to be imputed, as Mr. Thorley observes, to 
their perfect abhorrence of sloth and idle- 
ness, or to their insatiable thirst for honey ; 
for when, in spring or autumn, the weather 
is fair, but no honey can be collected from 
plants, and is to be found only in the hives 
of other bees, they will venture' their lives 
to get it there. Sometimes one of the 
queens is killed in battle. In this case the 
bees of both hives unite as soon as her death 
is generally known among them. 
The command which some persons have 
obtained over bees is very extraordinary. 
Mr. Wildman, some years ago, surprised 
the whole kingdom. He caused swarms to 
light where he p’eased almost instantane- 
ously: he ordered them to settle on his 
head, then removed them to his hand, and 
commanded them to depart and settle on 
a window, table, &c. at pleasure. We sub- 
join this method of performing these feats, in 
ills own words : ‘ Long experience has taught 
me, that as soon as I turn up a hive, and 
give it some taps on the sides and bottom, the 
queen immediately appears to know the cause 
of this alarm ; but soon retires again among 
her people. Being accustomed to see her 
so often, I readily perceive her at first 
glance ; and long practice has enabled me 
to seize her instantly, with a tenderness that 
does not in the least endanger her person. 
When possessed of her, I can without injury 
to her, or exciting that degree of resentment 
that may tempt her to sting me, slip her 
into my other hand, and, returning the hive 
to its place, hold her there, till the bees 
missing her, are a’l on wing, and in the 
utmost confusion. When the bees are thus 
distressed, I place the queen wherever I 
would have the bees to settle. The moment 
a few of them discover her, they give notice 
to those near them, and those to the rest ; 
the knowledge of which soon becomes so 
general, that in a few minutes they all col- 
lect themselves round her ; and are so happy 
in having recovered this sole support of their 
state, that they will long remain quiet in 
their situation. ' Nay, the scent of her body 
is so attractive of them, that the slightest 
touch of her, along any place or substance,, 
will attach the bees to it, and induce them 
to pursue any path she takes.” 
When the bees begin to work in their 
hives, they are said to divide themselves into 
four companies ; one of which roves in the 
fields in search of materials; another em- 
ploys itself in laying out the bottom and par- 
titions of their cells ; a third is employed in 
making the inside smooth from the corners 
and angles; and the fourth company brings 
food for the rest, or relieves those who return 
with their respective burdens. But they are 
not kept constant to one employment; they 
often change the tasks assigned them; those 
that have been at work being permitted to go 
abroad, and those that have been in the fields 
already take their places. They seem even 
to have signs by which they understand each 
other; for when any one of them wants food, 
ib-bends down its trunk to the bee from whom 
it is expected, which then opens its honev- 
bag, and lets some drops fall into the other’s 
mouth, which is at that time opened to re- 
ceive it. Their diligence and labour are so 
great, that, in a day’s time, they are able to 
make celis, which lie upon each other, nu- 
merous enough to contain 3000 bees. 
As the combs would be apt, when full, to 
overcome by their weight all the security 
which the bees can give them against falling, 
those who prepare hives set in them cross- 
wise, sticks, which serve as props to the 
combs, and save the bees great labour. 
The habitations of bees ought to be very 
close ; and what their hives want from the neg- 
ligence or unskiifulness of man, these animals 
supply by their own industry. For this pur- 
pose they make use of a resinous gum, which 
is more tenacious than wax, and differs great- 
ly from it. This the ancients called propolis. 
It will grow considerably hard in the hive, 
though it will in some measure soften by 
heat, and is often found different in consist- 
ence, colour, and smell. It has generally an 
agreeable aromatic odour when it is wanned ; 
and by some it is considered as a most grate- 
ful perfume. When the bees begin to work 
with it, it is soft ; but it acquires a firmer 
consistence every day, till at length it as- 
sumes a brown colour, and becomes much 
harder than wax. The bees carry it on their 
hinder legs ; and some think it is met with on 
the birch, tire willow, and poplar. 
Bees anxiously provide against the en- 
trance of insects into the hive, by gluing up 
with wax or propolis the smallest holes in it. 
Some stand as sentinels at the mouth of the 
hive, to prevent insects of any kind from get- 
ting in. But if a snail or other large insect 
should get in, notwithstanding all resistance, 
they sting it to death ; and then cover it over j 
with a coat of propolis, to prevent the bad 
smell or maggots which might proceed from j 
the putrefaction of such a large animal. 
Bees seem to be warned of the appearance 
of bad weather by seme particular feeling. 
It sometimes happens, even when they are 
very assiduous and busy, that they on a sud- 
den cease from their work; not a single bee 
stirs out ; and those that are abroad hurry 
home in such prodigious crowds, that (he 
doors of their habitations are too small to ad- 
mit them. On such occasions, if we look up 
to the sky, we shall soon discover some of 
those black clouds which denote impending 
rain. So correct is their instinct, that it ex- 
ceeds the sagacity of the philosopher. 
When a hive of bees is become too much 
crowded by the addition of the young brood, 
a part of the bees think of finding themselves 
a more commodious habitation, and with 
that view single out the most forward of the 
young queens. A new swarm is therefore 
constantly composed of one queen at lca-t, 
and of several thousand working bees, as well 
as of some hundreds of drones. The work- 
ing bees are some old, some young. Scarce- 
ly has the colony arrived at its new habita- 
tion, when the working bees labour with the 
utmost diligence to procure materials for 
food and building. They make more wax 
during the first fortnight, if the season is fa- 
vourable, than they do all the rest of the 
year. Other bees are at the same time busy 
in stopping all the holes and crevices they 
find in the new hive, in order to guard against 
the entrance of insects which covet their 
honey, their wax, or themselves; and also 
to exclude the cold air, for it is indispensably 
necessary that they be lodged warm. W hen 
the bees first settle in swarming, indeed when 
they at any time rest themselves, there is 
something very particular in the method of 
taking their repose. It is done by collect- 
ing themselves in a heap, and hanging to 
each other by their feet. 
W hen a swarm divides into two or more 
bands, which settle separately, this division 
is a sure sign that there are two or more 
queens among them. One of these clusters 
is generally larger than the other. The bees 
of the smaller cluster or clusters detach 
themselves by little and little, till at last the 
whole, together with the queen, unite with 
the larger cluster. As ScOn as the bees are 
settled, the supernumerary queen or queens 
must be sacrificed to the peace and tranquil- 
lity of the hive. This execution generally 
raises a considerable commotion in the hive ; 
and several other bees, as well as the queen, 
lose their lives. Their bodies may be ob- 
served on the ground near the hive. The 
queen that is chosen is of a more reddish 
colour than those which are destroyed: so 
that fruitfulness seems to be a great motive 
of preference in bees ; for the nearer they 
are to the time of laying their eggs, the 
bigger, redder, and more shining are their 
bodies. 
The balls which v r e see attached to the 
legs of bees returning to the hives, are not 
wax, but a powder collected from the stamina 
of flowers, not yet brought to the state of 
wax. The substance of these balls, heated 
in any vessel, does not melt as wax would, 
but becomes dry, and hardens: it may 
even be reduced to a coal. If thrown into 
water it will sink; whereas rvax swims. To 
reduce this crude substance into wax, it must 
first be digested in the body of the bee. 
Every bee, when it leaves the hive to collect 
