204 
THE IIIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
If, when two colonies are put together, the bees in the 
one on the old stand are not gorged with honey, they will 
oft en attack the others, which are loaded, and speedily sting 
them to death, in spite of all their attempts to purchase 
immunity, by offering their honey. Mr. Wm. W. Cary, 
of Coleraine, Massachusetts, who has long been an accurate 
observer of the habits of bees, unites colonies very suc- 
cessfully, by alarming those that are on the old stand ; as 
soon as they show, by their notes, that they are subdued, 
he gives them the new comers. The alarm which causes 
them to gorge themselves with honey (p. 27), puts them, 
doubtless, upon their good behavior, long enough to give 
the others a fair chance. 
It has been stated already, that a queen-bee cannot bo 
induced to sting, by any kind of treatment, however 
severe. The reason of this strange unwillingness will be 
obvious, when we consider that the preservation of her 
life is indispensable to the existence of the colony, and 
that, although the loss of her sting would be fatal to her- 
self, it could avail no more for their defense, in case of an 
attack, than the single sword of a Washington or a Wel- 
lington could decide a great battle. While the common 
bees are ready to sally forth and sacrifice their lives on 
the slightest provocation, a queen-bee only buries herself 
Of all the old writors, Wildman appears to have made the nearest approaches to 
the modern methods of taming and handling bees. Twenty-five years beforo 
Huber’s investigations on the origin of wax, this acute observer had noticed the 
scales of wax on the abdomen of the workers; and ho was so thoroughly convinced 
that wax was secreted from honey, that ho recommcndod feeding now swarms, 
when the weather is stormy, that they may sooner build comb for the eggs of the 
queen. 
Mr. Wagner refers mo to “Orerbrck’s Glonsarium JUeUiturgium ’’—Bremen, 
1765, p. 89— in whieh the origin of wax is claimed, more then 20 years before the 
date of that work— say 1745— for a Ilanoveriun Pastor, named Herman C. llorn- 
bostel. lie gavo his discoveries to the world in the so-callod “IIamuuruu 
Library,” vol. 2, p. 45; and they aro so particularly-described as to leave no doub* 
of their correctness. 
