AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
9 
Wonders of the Bee-Hive. 
Number VII. 
It is a wonder that the bee, always true to the 
instincts given it by God, should be able to con¬ 
struct its comb with such perfect reg¬ 
ularity and beauty. But it is no less 
a wonder that it should adapt itself | 
also to special circumstances, and 
vary the form and size of its cells 
when occasion demands it. We have 
already described the two kinds of 
cells that are most commonly found in 
a hive,—the worker cell of unvarying 
size and depth, designed for the rais¬ 
ing of brood as well as for the storing 
of honey and bee-bread, and the drone 
cell, which is the same thing on a 
somewhat larger scale. The eye 
soon becomes accustomed to these 
different cells, and easily distinguishes 
them from each other, and from those 
used exclusively for storing honey, 
which are sometimes an inch and a 
half deep. 
The accompanying illustration, (fig 
1), gives an accurate representation of both the 
worker and drone comb, of the natural size. On 
the right are seen the large six-sided cells for 
drones ; on the left the smaller ones for common 
bees. But how can the two kinds be connected 1 
Not without some irregularity, and so the bees, 
with stiange forethought, in passing from one to 
the other, have built some five-sided and. mis¬ 
shapen cells. The queen refuses to lay 
eggs in such cells, but they answer just as 
well for other purposes. 
Many persons have never seen the egg 
from which the bee is produced, and we are 
happy to show them an engraving that will 
give them some idea of its appearance, and 
all the better for being somewhat magnified. 
The mother bee, responsible for the con¬ 
stant supply of eggs, from which a new 
generation is to spring, travels very dili¬ 
gently over the combs, selecting appropri¬ 
ate cells for the reception of her eggs, and 
as often as one is found to be in order, she 
thrusts in her ovi-posilor, and after a few 
seconds withdraws it, leaving a tiny white 
egg, attached by one end to the bottom of 
the cell, (fig. 2). And with such wonder¬ 
ful instinct does a fertile queen act, as nev¬ 
er to lay worker eggs in the drone combs, 
or drone eggs in the worker 
cells. 
The fertility of the mother- 
bee is remarkable, and it is well 
for her and for her young that 
she has no responsibility for the 
large household that owe their 
existence to her. She lays the 
Fig. 2.* eggs, leaving it to others to rock 
the cradles, feed the brood, and keep the 
house warm and clean. But what shall we 
say to her laying three thousand eggs a 
day 1 This would be about two a minute, 
but Mr. Langstroth says that in his ob- 
* For several of the illustrations in this series 
oi articles we are indebted to Langstroth’s “ Prac¬ 
tical Treatise on the Hive and Honey Bee”—a 
vorkwehave heretofore, (Vol. XVI, page 141), 
.ecommended as of great value to every one in¬ 
terested in Bee Culture. 
N. B —Publishers will please understand that these 
cuts are copyrighted by Mr. Langstroth, and they can not 
be copied by others without purchasing from him the right 
to use them, as we have done. 
serving-hive he has seen her lay at the rate of six 
a minute. 
The illustration below, (fig. 3), throws some 
light upon this subject. It is a representation, of 
course very highly magnified, of what are called 
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■ mmm 1 1 Ml ■ 
®si 
Fig. 1. 
the ovaries of the qeeen, where the eggs are 
formed and kept until they are forced out into the 
cells. In these ovaries, (a, h, fig. 3), are many 
thousands of eggs, and as they pass out through the 
j common passage way or oviduct e, they come in 
contact with the mouth of the general reservoir 
d, where they are fully impregnated, and then 
descend to the tip of the body. The sting is also 
It 
Fig. 3. 
represented in the figure; a being the poison-bag, 
and r the rectum 
The eggs are not thrown together at random in 
these ovaries, but are arranged with as much reg¬ 
ularity as peas in a pod. In fact, we may con¬ 
sider the ovaries as made up of a bundle of tubes, 
or oviducts, down which the eggs pass freely, but 
never across from tube to tube. And 
in these ovaries the egg receives its 
perfect form. It is not so with the 
eggs of birds. In a lien, for exam¬ 
ple, the yolk is formed in the ovary, 
but the white and the shell are added 
afterwards in the oviduct. Swam¬ 
merdam, a careful and patient writer 
of the last century, from whose 
drawing our engraving was taken, 
counted at least seventeen large and 
small eggs distinctly visible in one of 
these ducts, and as the result partly 
of observation and partly of compu¬ 
tation, he supposed there were no 
less than 300 of the ducts. At this 
rate there would he at least 5100 
visible eggs at the same time in one 
mother-bee. Those that are to be 
laid last are less in size, and at the 
extremities of the tubes the rudi¬ 
ments are so small as to defy our powers of vis 
ion, and they ‘ can be numbered by Him alone 
who formed them ” 
Our engraving represents a double ovary. It 
will be noticed that the two parts are represented 
as differing from each other. This is nol exactly 
according to truth, though copied from nature 
The ovary g is represented in a condition some 
what more advanced than the other. The 
extremities of the tubes are better filled, 
and lose the thread-like appearance that 
they have at an earlier period, as shown at 
k in the ovary h. 
The reader will notice an oblong bladder, 
f, between the ovaries, with a few branches 
extending out among tiie eggs towards h. 
This is an air vessel, and its ramifications 
really cover the whole surface of both ova¬ 
ries, reaching indeed every egg. The bees 
do not breathe, as we do, through mouth 
and nostrils, but through holes in the sides 
of the abdomen, and the apparatus of which 
we are speaking, is in some way connected 
with the function of breathing, and with 
the conveyance of air to every part of the 
frame. The lines seen when we hold a 
bee’s wing up to the light, are also air tubes. 
The ovi-positor itself does not appear ir. 
the engraving, being covered by c, themus 
cles that move the sting. 
The history of the egg from the moment 
it is laid until its transformation into a per 
feet bee is completed, has been carefully 
studied with the aid of the microscope, and 
is very curious. The observing-hive gives 
every facility for observation and experi 
ment. The egg remains unchanged appa 
rently for about three days ; and sometimes 
for a longer period, if the temperature oi 
the hive is low. It is then hatched, and a 
careful observer, watching at the right mo¬ 
ment, would see the process as distinctly 
as the hatching of a heu’s egg. The living 
worm that issues from the egg, remains at 
the bottom of the cell, a small white object, 
curled up like a lap-dog. It grows rapidly 
6 e 2 > G © <g§ 
Fig. 4. 
being fed by the bees, and from day to day as> 
sumes the different forms represented in fig. 4. 
