The Honey-Bee: Its Natural History, Physiology and Management

PART I.

Chap. Page.

I. The History and Physiology of the Bee 1

II. The Apiary 47

III. The Bee-house 52

IV. Pasturage 55

V. Honey-dew 71

VI. The Purchase of Bees 80

VII. Bee-boxes 83

VIII. Bee-hives 95

IX. Comparative Advantages of Wooden Boxes and Straw Hives 100

X. Leaf Hives 102

XI. Dividers 107

XII. Storifying 109

XIII. Swarming 115

XIV. Comparative Advantages of Storifying and Single-hiving 122

XV. Symptoms which precede Swarming 127

XVI. Hiving of Swarms 136

XVII. On removing Bees from common Straw Hives to Storifying Hives or Boxes 148

XVIII. Super- and Nadir-hiving by means of Binders 151

XIX. Uniting Swarms or Stocks 154

XX. Proper Periods of Deprivation 162

XXI. Taking Money by means of Dividers 167

XXII. The Bee-dress 176

XXIII. Feeding 179

XXIV. Diseases of Bees 184

XXV. Enemies of Bees 199

XXVI. Exotic Bees 210

XXVII. Separation of Wax and Honey 216

XXVIII. Wax 220

XXIX. Honey 226

XXX. Mead 236

PART II.

XXXI. The Anatomy of Bees 249

XXXII. Senses of Bees 302

XXXIII. Instincts of Bees 318

XXXIV. On the Architecture of Bees 339

XXXV. An Inquiry into the Source and Nature of Bees-wax 356

XXXVI. Pollen 370

XXXVII. Propolis 375

XXXVIII. Importance of Bees to the Fructification of Flowers 380

A GENERAL VIEW

OF THE

HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY

THE BEE.

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PART I.. --<>--

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CHAPTER I.

HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY.

+The Bee+ is considered by Naturalists as belonging; to what are called perfect societies of insects, and, in entomological arrangements, is placed in the order Hymenoptera, genus Apis. Of this genus there are many species; Linnæus has enumerated 55; in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles 70 species are characterized; and Mr. Kirby, in his Monographia Apum Angliæ, has described above 220, natives of England. The species to which I shall principally call the attention of my readers is the domestic +honey-bee+.

Every association of bees comprises three descriptions of individuals; and each description is distinguished by an appearance and cast of character peculiar to itself.

"First of the throng and foremost of the whole, One 'stands confest the sovereign and the soul.'"

This couplet may, to a limited extent, be applied to other kinds of bees; but it is more peculiarly applicable to hive-bees, as amongst them there has never been found, in any single family, more than one acknowledged regnant chief, usually designated by the name of Queen; of whom, as having the highest claim to our attention, I shall first proceed to speak.

The +queen+, who is at once the mother and the mistress of the hive, differs, as Mr. Hunter has observed, from the royal chiefs of other insects, such as hornets, wasps and humble-bees; for the chiefs of these latter societies seem to work themselves into royalty, whereas the queen of the hive-bees reigns from her very birth. She is distinguishable from the rest of the society by her majestic movements, by the great length of her body, the proportional shortness of her wings, and her bent sting. Her body tapers gradually to a point, her fangs are shorter, her head is rounder, and her trunk not half so long as that of the working bee. Her wings extend only half the length of her body, but are strong and sinewy. Her colours also distinguish her as much as her shape; they are much more distinct; the back is of a much brighter black; the concentric rings on the under side of her body are darker, and the lighter interstitial part of the same region appears of a brighter and more lively hue. The legs also are of a deep golden yellow colour.

Next in order come the +working bees+: these are, by some, called neuters or mules; by others, female non-breeders. From what will be said hereafter, I think that my readers will consider the latter as the more appropriate title, the workers being sterile females with undeveloped ovaries. In a single hive the number of these varies from 12,000 to 20,000: they are the smallest members of the community, are furnished with a long flexible proboscis, have a peculiar structure of the legs and thighs, on the latter of which are small hollows or baskets, adapted to the reception of the propolis and farina which they collect, and they are armed with a straight sting. Upon them devolves the whole labour of the colony; they rear the young, guard the entrances, elaborate the wax, collect and store the provision, and build the cells in which it is warehoused, as well as those that contain the brood.

Thirdly, there are the +drones+ or +males+, to the number of perhaps 1500 or 2000. These make their appearance about the end of April, and are never to be seen after the middle of August, excepting under very peculiar circumstances which will be stated hereafter. They are one-third larger than the workers, somewhat thicker and of a darker colour; they have a shorter proboscis and are more blunt at the tail than either the queen or the workers; the last ring of the body is fringed with hairs, extending over the tail and visible to the naked eye. They make a greater noise in flying and have no sting; are rather shorter than the queen but much larger. Underneath the tail two small protuberances of a yellowish colour may be seen, which are regarded as the distinctive marks of their sex. In some swarms no drones are observable: probably these are first swarms, which, being always led off by old queens, have no occasion for drones, if there be any truth in the theory to be hereafter stated.

Queen.

Drone. Worker. ]

Contrary to what occurs in the human species and in other parts of the animal creation, among bees, the females alone exhibit activity, skill, diligence and courage, whilst the males take no part whatever in the labours of the community, but are idle, cowardly and inactive, and possess not the usual offensive weapon of their species. The only way in which the drones promote the welfare of the society is a sexual one; and I shall endeavour to show, in the course of this chapter, that they serve no other purpose than that of impregnating such of the young queens as may lead forth swarms in the season, or be raised to the sovereignty of the parent hive. As the drones are "never seen settling on any kind of flowers, nor laying up honey in the cells, they most probably feed at home, and fully answer the description given of them by the poet:"

"Immunisque sedens aliena ad pabula fucus."

+Virgil.+

"Their short proboscis sips No luscious nectar from the wild thyme's lips, From the lime's leaf no amber drops they steal, Nor bear their grooveless thighs the foodful meal: On others toils, in pamper'd leisure thrive The lazy fathers of th' industrious hive." "Yet oft, we're told, these seeming idlers share The pleasing duties of parental care. With fond attention guard each genial cell, And watch the embryo bursting from its shell."

+Evans.+

Mr. Morris of Isleworth, in the Transactions of the Society for the encouragement of Arts, &c. for 1791, gives it as his opinion that the drones "sit upon the eggs, as the mother lays them;" and says that he has "often seen them sit in a formal manner on the combs, when the brood is hatching, while the other bees were very busy at work." I suspect that Mr. Morris mistook sleeping for brooding, and that the drones were only taking a nap. Fabricius says that insects never sit on their eggs. Messrs. Kirby and Spence, however, have observed that the female ear-wig does: they also make one other exception in favour of the field bug (Cimex griseus), but add that these are the only ones. De Geer has given a very interesting account of both these insects, particularly of the strength of parental affection exhibited by the females. The female of the former assiduously sits upon her eggs, as if to hatch them, and after they are hatched, broods over the young as a hen over young chickens. And when the eggs of the latter are hatched, she also, after the manner of a hen, goes about with the brood, consisting of thirty or forty in number and never leaves them: they cluster round her when she is still, and follow her closely wherever she moves.

Besides the three essential members of the bee community, which I have just described, Huber has called the attention of the Apiarian to a fourth kind, which appear to be only casual inmates of the hive, from which however they are soon expelled by the workers. He has called them black bees, and says he first noticed them in two of his hives, in the year 1809, and on several other occasions from that time to the year 1813. They present a perfect resemblance to the working bees, excepting in their colour, which, in consequence of their being less downy, appears darker. On dissection, their internal structure also appears to be the same. Huber regards them as imperfect bees, but leaves to future naturalists an inquiry into their nature and origin. Messrs. Kirby and Spence have thrown out a conjecture that these black bees may be superannuated bees, that being no longer capable of contributing towards the labours of the community, are banished or destroyed by its younger members. They found their conjecture upon the usual effect of superannuation in rubbing off the hair of insects and thereby giving them a darker hue.

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