THE HIVE BEE. GRAND DIVISION-Articulated. CLASS-Insecta. ORDER-Hymenoptera. GENUS-Apis. SPECIES-Mellifica. 'The bee observe, She too an artist is, and laughs at man, Who calls on rules the sightly hexagon to form; A cunning architect, that at the roof Begins her golden work, and builds without foundation. How she toils! and still from bud to bud, from flower to flower Travels the livelong day. Ye idle drones That rather pilfer than your bread obtain By honest means like these, look here and learn How good, how fair, how honorable 'tis To live by industry. The busy tribes of bees, So emulous, are daily fed with heaven's peculiar manna. "Tis for them, unwearied alchymists, the blooming world Nectareous gold distils; and bounteous heaven, Still to the diligent and active good, their very labor makes THE natural history of the bee has, from remote antiquity, attracted the attention of philosophers, divines, moralists, and the inquisitive mind of all denominations of men. The native instinct of these insects, their uniform habits of industry and economy, their wisdom and sagacity, and the peaceful regularity which prevails in their communities, afford a subject most truly sublime and instructive, and which has in all ages been deemed a fertile source of admiration. In their native undomesticated state, they resort for residence to cavities in hollow trees, and to the clifts of rocks in the mountains, where they congregate in communities, propagate and rear their progeny, and store up the produce of their labor as stock in common for winter subsistence. But mankind, coveting the produce of their labors, have reduced them to the condition of domesticated animals, and share with them in the luxury which could not be obtained from any other source. An immense multitude of these animals are made subservient to the convenience of man, and are by him provided with tenements suited to their condition. History does not inform us how nor when these interesting insects were first brought into a domesticated state. Pliny informs us that Aristomachus, of Soles, in Cilicia, devoted fifty-eight years to the study; and that Philiscus, the Thracian, spent his whole life in forests for the purpose of observing them. But in consequence of the imperfect methods of research, assuming that what they did discover was known to Aristotle, Columella and Pliny, we are justified in pronouncing the statements of these philosophers, as well as the embellished poetical pictures of Virgil, to be nothing more than conjecture, almost in every particular erroneous. It was not indeed till 1712, when glass hives were invented by Maraldi, a mathematician of Nice, that the proceedings of bees within the hive could be known. This important invention was soon afterwards taken up by M. Reaumur, who laid the foundation of the more recent discoveries of Hunter, Schirach and the Hubers. It remains an undecided question whether the hive bee is a native of this country, or was imported from Europe. The natives called this insect the white man's fly,' from which it would seem that they were unacquainted with it till the arrival of the first settlers. The admirable architecture which bees exhibit in their miniature cities has, by these and other naturalists, been investigated with great care and accuracy. In every hive are associated three different kinds of bees ;females, males and neuters or workers. The females are styled queens, not more than one of which can live in the same hive, and no hive or colony can subsist long without her presence. The average number in a hive is from 15 to 20,000; about 5000 bees will weigh a pound. Of the above aggregate number, 19,499 are supposed to be neuters or working bees, 500 are drones, and the remaining one is the personage styled the queen, or mother, and she is in the strictest sense the mother and ruler of the whole hive. The bee is no less admirable in the structure and form of its body, than wonderful in its instinct and sagacity. It is all perfect in proportion and symmetry, all harmony and combination of parts concurring to the design of its creation. On each side of its head is a large round eye. It has a long tongue, and two strong mandibles or teeth, which enable it to construct the comb and cells, and to carry from the hive all obnoxious substances. It has four wings and six legs; in the third pair of legs are two triangular cavities for the purpose of carrying to the hive little pellets or balls of pollen, which they gather from flowers. At the extremity of each of the six feet are fangs, with which they attach themselves to the sides. of the hive, and occasionally to each other in clusters. Below the teeth is the probocis, or trunk, (See Fig.) which is the principal organ employed in collecting honey from flowers. It has a stomach and a honey bag or second stomach, which last is of the size of a pea when filled, and is as transparent as crystal. Its head is furnished with two antennæ, or horns, by means of which they reciprocally obtain a knowledge of each other, of their young, and their queen, all communicated by the sense of feeling. It is by these simple organs that they are guided in the dark, and enabled to construct their comb and cells, and feed their young. When deprived of both their antennæ, they can no longer recognize objects, their instinctive faculties are lost, and like Sampson after his locks were shorn, they are feeble, helpless, and soon perish. According to the celebrated Huber's experiments on the antennæ of a queen, the amputation of one did not affect her instinct, but when both were cut off near the head she lost all her influence; even the instinct of maternity disappeared, and the workers themselves seemed to participate in the deprivation. This fact evinced that the antennæ of both parties to a recognition are necessary, and that it is not alone the mutilated one which looses the power of knowing others. The females and neuters are furnished with a sting, (See Fig.) their arms of defence, of which the males are destitute. This is not a simple sharp-pointed weapon; it consists of two lancets, concealed in a director, which, on a slight observation, would seem to be the sting itself. The external side of each is provided with several barbs, like those of a dart, which prevent the retraction of the sting. These lancets are operated upon by muscles of uncommon strength. They have two membranous bags or ducts, which unite and form a canal, which terminates between the two strings; the latter uniting form a groove. When imposed upon by man or other animals, they pierce their stings into the flesh, inject a liquid poison into the wound, the virulence of which is sufficient to occasion death if the stings be numerous. Queens are more peaceable and less disposed to sting than the neuters. OF THE QUEEN BEE. (See Fig.) The queen is distinguished from the other bees by her form and stature, being about eight lines and a half in length, while the males and neuters are less. Her abdomen is longer in proportion, and its size is augmented when filled with eggs; her wings are much shorter, and her color tends to a deeper yellow. She resides in the interior of the hive, and seldom if ever departs from her station, except when she leads out a new swarm. The government of bees is termed republican, although it resembles more the monarchical, as a single individual governs the whole. The respect and obedience with which she is honored are truly remarkable; she is almost continually attended by a circle of her subjects, who devote themselves to her service; some present her with honey, others pass their trunks lightly over her body in order to remove from it anything that may be offensive. When she walks, those that are in her way range themselves in a respectful manner in order to let her pass. Among 20 or 30,000 bees of which a hive frequently consists, the queen is the only one from which the progeny proceeds; she is the parent of the hive, and her fecundity is astonishing. She propagates her specics by means of eggs. According to Swammerdam a queen contains 50,000 eggs; and some naturalists affirm that a queen may be the mother of 100,000 bees in one season, sometimes laying 200 eggs daily. The eggs are deposited in cells, which the workers prepare in the comb for their reception; each cell is formed of a size and shape according to the kind of bee which is to be produced. Those producing workers are hexagonal and horizontal; those for drones are somewhat irregular, but the cells containing eggs intended to produce queens are large, circular, and hang perpendicularly in the hive. The queen, before depositing an egg, examines whether the cell is clean and suitable to its future condition, being aware which kind of bee will proceed from the egg she deposits. Each of the eggs for the three kinds of bees is hatched in three days to a larva, or worm, which lies on the bottom of the cell, surrounded by a thin, transparent fluid. The queen bee has nothing to do with feeding and nursing her young; but this duty devolves entirely upon the neuters. These may be seen feeding the larvae with the pollen of flowers, which receive it by opening two lateral pincers. As they increase in size, they repeatedly shed their coats. After the larva is so large as nearly to fill its cell, it requires no more food, but prepares for another state called pupa, chrysalis, or nymph. The bees, aware of this change, cover the mouth of the cell with a substance of a light brown color. The larva then begins to line the cell with silk which it spins similar to the silk worm, and makes a kind of pod, by which it is entirely surrounded. It now casts off its last coat and enters the pupa state. It is now wonderfully changed, for there is not a vestige of the old form to be seen. How this curious change is effected is not easily determined. To bring it about many parts must be removed, out of which it would seem as if new ones were formed. Soon after the pupa is formed, which is about twenty-two days after the egg is deposited for the neuters, and about sixteen days for the queens, it breaks through its covering and comes forth a perfect bee. The cell which it occupied is immediately filled with honey. ner. The presence of the queen bee inspires the others with new instinct, and animates them to labor. If the queen by any means gets lost or removed, the whole hive becomes a scene of tumult and disorder. The bees seem to anticipate their own destruction, and if there be neither eggs nor brood in the cells, they will infallibly perish; their instinctive faculties will be lost; and in a short time will disappear and die. But if there be brood in the cells, they quietly pursue their labors, knowing that nature has endowed them with the power of repairing their loss. This they effect in the following manIf there are no worms in the royal cells, they select one three days old, and having sacrificed three of the contiguous cells, they form one adapted for a royal cell; and the worm which it contains is supplied with a peculiar kind of paste or jelly, of a pungent taste, which is reserved for queens alone. By this process, a queen is produced from a worm which otherwise would have been bred a common worker; and thus by a single kind of metamorphosis of their own species they obtain a sovereign, and avert the effect of a loss which would have proved the utter ruin of the whole colony. Though the queen lays several eggs in the royal cells, which will successively be transformed into queens, one only in its mature state can exist long in the same hive; if two come forth at the same time, one must die for the welfare of the community. Nature has, therefore, inspired queens with the most deadly hatred, which nothing but actual death can appease. Huber witnessed in his glass hives many duels in which the fate of queens was decided. They rush together apparently with great fury, the antennæ are mutually seized by their fangs. The head, breast and belly of the one are opposed to the same parts of the other. The queen, which is either the strongest or the most enraged, seizes the origin of her rival's wing with her fangs, then rising above her, she curves her own body, and inflicts a mortal wound. She then withdraws her sting and quits her hold of the wing she had seized, and the victim falls down, drags herself along, and her strength declining she soon expires. During these combats the common bees are in great agitation, they certainly take a decided part, and appear to be aware that it is necessary such combats should have a fatal issue. The extraordinary antipathy manifested by queens is not limited to their perfect state, for it extends to the nymphs yet in their cells. When a queen is hatched, she immediately seeks the cells of those that are to become her rival sisters, and uses every possible exertion to destroy them. A young |