You have seen how the bees collect and employ two of the materials that I mentioned; I must now advert to the third—thePropolis. Huber was a long time uncertain from whence the bees procured this gummy resin; but it at last occurred to him to plant some cuttings of a species of poplar (before their leaves were developed, when their leaf-buds were swelling, and besmeared and filled with a viscid juice,) in some pots, which he placed in the way of the bees that went from his hives. Almost immediately a bee alighted upon a twig, and soon with its mandibles opened a bud, and drew from it a thread of the viscid matter which it contained; with one of its second pair of legs it took it from the mouth, and placed it in the basket: thus it proceeded till it had given them both their load[233]. I have myself seen bees very busy collecting it from the Tacamahaca (Populus balsamifera). But this is an old discovery, confirmed by recent observation; for Mouffet tells usfrom Cordus, that it is collected from the gems of trees, instancing the poplar and the birch[234]. Riem observes that it is also collected from the pine and fir. The propolis is soft, red, will pull out in a thread, is aromatic, and imparts a gold colour to white polished metals. It is employed in the hive not only in finishing the combs, as I related in my letter on Habitations[235]; but also in stopping every chink or orifice by which cold, wet, or any enemy, can enter. They cover likewise with it the sticks which support the combs, and often spread it over a considerable portion of the interior of the hive. Like the pellets of pollen, it is carried on the posterior tibiæ, but the masses are lenticular[236].
Mr. Knight mentions an instance of bees using an artificial kind of propolis. He had caused the decorticated part of some tree to be covered with a cement composed of bees-wax and turpentine: finding this to their purpose, they attacked it, detaching it from the tree by their mandibles, and then, as usual, passing it from the first leg to the second, and so to the third. When one bee had thus collected its load, another often came behind and despoiled it of all it had collected; a second and third load were frequently lost in the same manner; and yet the patient animal pursued its labours without showing any signs of anger[237].
Bees in their excursions do not confine themselves to the spot immediately contiguous to their dwelling, but, when led by the scent of honey, will go a mile from it. Huber even assigns to them a radius of half a leagueround their hive for their ordinary excursions; yet from this distance they will discover honey with as much certainty as if it was within their sight. To prove that it is by their scent that bees find it out, he put some behind a window-shutter, in a place where it could not be seen, leaving the shutter just open enough for insects, if they liked, to get at it. In less than a quarter of an hour four bees, a butterfly, and some house-flies had discovered it. At another time he put some into boxes, with little apertures in the lid, into which pieces of card were fitted, which he placed about two hundred paces from his hives. In about half an hour the bees discovered them, and traversing them very industriously, soon found the apertures, when, pushing in the pieces of card, they got to the honey. That contained in the blossom of many plants is quite as much concealed, yet the acuteness of their scent enables them to detect it.
These insects, especially when laden and returning to their nest, fly in a direct line, which saves both time and labour. How they are enabled to do this with such certainty as to make for their own abode without deviation, I must leave to others to explain. Connected with this circumstance, and the acuteness of their smell, is the following curious account, given in thePhilosophical Transactionsfor 1721, of the method practised in New England for discovering where the wild hive-bees live in the woods, in order to get their honey. The honey-hunters set a plate containing honey or sugar upon the ground in a clear day. The bees soon discover and attack it: having secured two or three that have filled themselves, the hunter lets one go, which rising into the air, flies straight to the nest: he then strikes off at rightangles with its course a few hundred yards, and letting a second fly, observes its course by his pocket-compass, and the point where the two courses intersect is that where the nest is situated[238].
The natural station of bees is in the cavities of decayed trees; such trees, Mr. Knight tells us, they will discover in the closest recesses, and at an extraordinary distance from the hive; in one instance it was a mile: and at swarming, they sometimes are inclined to settle in such cavities. After the discovery of one, from twenty to fifty, who are a kind of scouts, may be found examining and keeping possession of it. They seem to explore every part of it and of the tree with the greatest attention, even surveying the dead knots and the like[239]. When a hive stands unemployed, a swarm will also sometimes send scouts to take possession of it.
How long our little active creatures repose before they take a second excursion I cannot precisely say. In a hive the greatest part of the inhabitants generally appear in repose, lying together, says Reaumur, but this probably for a short time. Huber tells us, that bees may always be observed in a hive with the head and thorax inserted into cells that contain eggs, and sometimes into empty ones: and that they remain in this situation fifteen or twenty minutes so motionless, that did not the dilatation of the segments of the abdomen prove the contrary, they might be mistaken for dead. He supposes their object is repose from their labours[240]. Thequeen, for this purpose, enters the large cells of the males, and continues in them without motion a very long time. Even then the workers form a circle round her, and brush the uncovered part of her abdomen. The drones while reposing do not enter the cells, but cluster in the combs, and sometimes remain without stirring a limb for eighteen or twenty hours[241].
Reaumur observes, that in a hive the population of which amounts to 18,000, the number that enter the hive in a minute is a hundred; which, allowing fourteen hours in the day for their labour, makes 84,000: thus every individual must make four excursions daily, and some five. In hives where the population was smaller, the numbers that entered were comparatively greater, so as to give six excursions or more to each bee[242]. But in this calculation Reaumur does not seem to take into the account those that are employed within the hive in building or feeding the young brood; which must render the excursions of each bee still more numerous. He proceeds further to ground upon this statement a calculation of the quantity of bee-bread that may be collected in one day by such a hive; and he found, supposingonly half the number to collect it, that it would amount to more than a pound; so that in one season, one such hive might collect a hundred pounds[243]. What a wonderful idea does this give of the industry and activity of these little useful creatures! And what a lesson do they read to the members of societies that have both reason and religion to guide their exertions for the common good! Adorable is that Great Being who has gifted them with instincts, which render them as instructive to us, if we will condescend to listen to them, as they are profitable.
While I am upon this part of the story of bees, I cannot pass over the account Reaumur has given from Maillet of the transportation of hives in Egypt from one place to another, before alluded to[244], to enable them to make in greater abundance their collections of honey, &c. Towards the end of October, when the inundations of the Nile have ceased, and the husbandmen can sow their land, saintfoin is one of the first things that is sown; and as Upper Egypt is warmer than the Lower, the saintfoin gets there first into blossom. At this time, bee-hives are transported in boats from all parts of Egypt into the upper district, and are there heaped in pyramids upon the boats prepared to receive them; each being numbered by the individual to whom it belongs. In this station they remain some days; and when they are judged to have got in the harvest of honey and pollen that is to be collected there, they are removed two or three leagues lower down, where they remain the same time; and so they proceed till towards the middle of February, when having traversed Egypt, they arrive at thesea, from whence they are dispersed to their several owners.
John Hunter observes, that when the season for laying is over, that for collecting honey comes on (he means, probably, for making the principal collection of it); and that when the last pupa is disclosed, the cell it deserts, after being cleaned, is immediately filled with it; and as soon as full is covered with pure wax: but this only holds with respect to the cells containing honey for winter use, those destined to receive that which forms their food when bad weather prevents them from going out, being left open[245]. Sometimes, when the year is remarkably favourable for collecting honey, the bees will destroy many of the larvæ to make room for it; but they never meddle with the pupæ. When no more honey is to be collected, they remain quiet in the hive for the winter. Mr. Hunter found that a hive grew lighter in a cold than in a warm week; he found also, that in three months (from November 10th to February 9th) a single hive lost 72 oz. 1½ dram[246].
Water is a thing of the first necessity to these insects; but they are not very delicate as to its quality, but rather the reverse; often preferring what is stagnant and putrescent, to that of a running stream[247]. I have frequently observed them busy in corners moist with urine; perhaps this is for the sake of the saline particles to be there collected.
A new-born bee, as soon as it is able to use its wings, seems perfectly aware, without any previous instruction, what are to be its duties and employments for the restof its life. It appears to know that it is born for society, and not for selfish pursuits; and therefore it invariably devotes itself and its labours to the benefit of the community to which it belongs. Walking upon the combs, it seeks for the door of the hive, that it may sally forth and be useful. Full of life and activity, it then takes its first flight; and, unconducted but by its instinct, visits like the rest the subjects of Flora, absorbs their nectar, covers itself with their ambrosial dust, which it kneads into a mass and packs upon its hind legs; and if need be, gathers propolis, and returns unembarrassed to its own hive[248].
Instances of the expedition with which our little favourites accomplish their various objects you have had several; but this is never more remarkable than when they settle in a new hive. At this time, in twenty-four hours they will sometimes construct a comb twenty inches long by seven or eight wide; and the hive will be half filled in five or six days; so that in the first fifteen days as much wax is made as in the whole year besides[249].
In treating of the various employments of the bees, I must not omit one of the greatest importance to them—theventilationof their abode. When you consider the numbers contained in so confined a space; the high temperature to which its atmosphere is raised; and the small aperture at which the air principally enters, you will readily conceive how soon it must be rendered unfit for respiration, and be convinced that there must be some means of constantly renewing it. If you feel disposed to think that the ventilation takes place, as in ourapartments, by natural means, resulting from the rarefaction of the air by the heat of the hive, and the consequent establishment of an interior and exterior current—a simple experiment will satisfy you that this cannot be. Take a vessel of the size of a bee-hive, with a similar or even somewhat larger aperture—introduce a lighted taper, and if the temperature be raised to more than 140°, it will go out in a short time. We must therefore admit, as Huber observes[250], that the bees possess the astonishing faculty of attracting the external air, and at the same time of expelling that which has become corrupted by their respiration.
What would you say, should I tell you that the bees upon this occasion have recourse to the same instrument which ladies use to cool themselves when an apartment is overheated? Yet it is strictly the case. By means of their marginal hooks, they unite each pair of wings into one plane slightly concave, thus acting upon the air by a surface nearly as large as possible, and forming for them a pair of very ample fans, which in their vibrations describe an arch of 90°. These vibrations are so rapid as to render the wings almost invisible. When they are engaged in ventilation, the bees by means of their feet and claws fix themselves as firmly as possible to the place they stand upon. The first pair of legs is stretched out before; the second extended to the right and left; whilst the third, placed very near each other, are perpendicular to the abdomen, so as to give that part considerable elevation.
Maraldi, and after him Reaumur, long ago noticed this action of the bees; but they attributed to it an effectthe reverse of that which it really produces; the former imagining it to occasion directly the high temperature of the hive, and the latter indirectly[251]. It was reserved for Huber to discover the true cause of it; and from him the chief of what I have to say upon the subject will be derived[252].
During the summer a certain number of workers—for it is to the workers solely that this office is committed—may always be observed vibrating their wings before the entrance of their hive; and the observant apiarist will find upon examination, that a still greater number are engaged within it in the same employment. All those thus circumstanced that stand without, turn their head to the entrance; while those that stand within, turn their back to it. The station of these ventilators is upon the floor of the hive. They are usually ranged in files, that terminate at the entrance; and sometimes, but not constantly, form so many diverging rays, probably to give room for comers and goers to pass. The number of ventilators in action at the same time varies: it seldom much exceeds twenty, and is often more circumscribed. The time also that they devote to this function is longer or shorter according to circumstances: some have been observed to continue their vibrations for nearly half an hour without resting, suspending the action for not more than an instant, as it should seem to take breath. When one retires, another occupies its place; so that in a hive well peopled there is never any interruption of the sound or humming occasioned by this action; by which it may always be known whether it be going on or not.
This humming is observable not only during theheats of summer, but at all seasons of the year. It sometimes seems even more forcible in the depth of winter than when the temperature of the atmosphere is higher. An employment so constant, which always occupies a certain number of bees, must produce as constant an effect. The column of air once disturbed within, must give place to that without the hive; thus a current being established, the ventilation will be perpetual and complete.
To be convinced that such an effect is produced, approach your hand to a ventilating bee, and you will find that she causes a very perceptible motion in the air. Huber tried an experiment still more satisfactory. On a calm day, at the time when the bees had returned to their habitation—having fixed a screen before the mouth of the hive to prevent his being misled by any sudden motion of the external air—he placed within the screen little anemometers or wind-gauges, made of bits of paper, feather, or cotton, suspended by a thread to a crotch. No sooner did they enter the atmosphere of the bees than they were put in motion, being alternately attracted and repelled to and from the aperture of the hive with considerable rapidity. These attractions and repulsions were proportioned to the number of bees engaged in ventilation, and, though sometimes less perceptible, were never intirely suspended. Burnens tried a similar experiment in the winter, when the thermometer stood in the shade at 33°. Having selected a well-peopled hive, the inhabitants of which appeared full of life and sufficiently active in the interior, and luted it all around, except the aperture to the platform on which it stood, he stuck in the top a piece of iron wire which terminated ina hook, to which he fastened a hair with a small square of very thin paper at the other end; this was exactly opposite to the aperture, at the distance of about an inch from it. As soon as the apparatus was fixed, the hair with its paper pendulum began to oscillate more or less, the greatest oscillations on both sides being an inch, by admeasurement, from the perpendicular: if the paper was moved by force to a greater distance, the vibrations did not take place, and the apparatus remained at rest. He then made an opening in the top of the hive, and poured in some liquid honey: soon after there arose a hum, the movement in the interior increased, and some bees came out. The oscillations of the pendulum upon this became more frequent and intense, and extended to fifteen lines or an inch and a quarter from the perpendicular; but when the paper was removed to a greater distance from the aperture, it remained at rest.
Huber, at the proposal of M. de Saussure, in order to ascertain whether artificial ventilators would produce an analogous effect, got a mechanical friend to construct for him a little mill with eighteen sails of tin. He also prepared a large cylindrical vase, into which he could, at an aperture in the box upon which it was fixed, introduce a lighted taper. In one side of this box was another aperture to represent that of a hive, but larger. The ventilator was placed below, and luted at the points of contact, and anemometers were suspended before the aperture. The first experiment was the introduction of the taper, without putting the ventilator in motion. Though the capacity of the vessel was about 3228 cubic inches, the flame soon diminished, and went out in about eight minutes, and the anemometers continued motionless.The same experiment was next repeated with the door shut, with precisely the same result. After the air of the vessel had been renewed, the taper was again introduced, and the ventilator set in motion: immediately, as appeared by the oscillations of the anemometers, two currents of air were established, and the brilliancy of the flame was not diminished during the whole course of the experiment, which might have been prolonged for an indefinite time. A thermometer placed in the lower part of the apparatus rose to 112°; and the temperature was evidently still more elevated at the top of the receiver.
The Creator often has one end in view in the actions of animals, (and nothing more conspicuously displays the invisible hand that governs the universe,) while the agents themselves have another. This probably is the case in the present instance, since we can scarcely suppose that the bees beat the air with their wings in order to ventilate the hive, but rather to relieve themselves from some disagreeable sensation which oppresses them. The following experiments prove that one of their objects in this action, as it is with ladies when they use their fans, is to cool themselves when they suffer from too great heat. When Huber once opened the shutter of a glazed hive, so that the solar rays darted upon the combs covered with bees, a humming, the sign of ventilation, soon was heard amongst them, while those which were in the shade remained tranquil. The bees composing the clusters which often are suspended from the hives in summer, when they are incommoded by the heat of the sun, fan themselves with great energy. But if by any means a shadow is cast over any portion of the group, the ventilation ceases there, while it continuesin the part which feels the heat of the sun. The same cause produces a similar effect upon humble-bees, wasps, and hornets.
Amongst the bees, however, it is remarkable that ventilation goes on even in the depth of winter, when it cannot be occasioned by excess of heat.—This therefore can only be regarded as a secondary cause of the phenomenon. From other experiments, which, having already detained you too long, I shall not here detail, it appears that penetrating and disagreeable odours produce the same effect[253]. Perhaps, though Huber does not say this, the odour produced by the congregated myriads of the hive may be amongst the principal motives that impel its inhabitants to this necessary action.
Whatever be the proximate cause, it is I trust now evident to you, that the Author of nature, having assigned to these insects a habitation into which the air cannot easily penetrate, has gifted them with the means of preventing the fatal effects which would result from corrupted air. An indirect effect of ventilation is the elevated temperature which these animals maintain, without any effort, in their hive:—but upon this I shall enlarge hereafter.
Bees are extremely neat in their persons and habitations, and remove all nuisances with great assiduity, at least as far as their powers enable them. Sometimes slugs or snails will creep into a hive, which with all their address they cannot readily expel or carry out. But here their instinct is at no loss; for they kill them, and afterwards embalm them with propolis, so as to prevent any offensive odours from incommoding them. Anunhappy snail, that had travelled up the sides of a glazed hive, and which they could not come at with their stings, they fixed, a monument of their vengeance and dexterity, by laying this substance all around the mouth of its shell[254]. When they expel their excrements, they go apart that they may not defile their companions: and in winter, when prevented by extreme cold, or the injudicious practice of wholly closing the door of the hive, from going out for this purpose, their bodies sometimes become so swelled from the accumulation of feces in the intestines, that when at last able to get out they can no longer fly, so that falling to the ground in the attempt, they perish with cold, the sacrifice of personal neatness[255]. When a bee is disclosed from the pupa and has left its cell, a worker comes, and taking out its envelope carries it from the hive; another removes the exuviæ of the larva, and a third any filth or ordure that may remain, or any pieces of wax that may have fallen in when the nascent imago broke from its confinement. But they never attempt to remove the internal lining of silk that covers the walls, spun by the larva previous to its metamorphosis, because, instead of being a nuisance, it renders the cell more solid[256].
Having now described to you the usual employments of my little favourites both within doors and without, I shall next enlarge a little upon their language, memory, tempers, manners, and some other parts of their history.
"Brutes" (it is the remark of Mr. Knight) "have language to express sentiments of love, of fear, of anger; but they seem unable to transmit any impressionthey have received from external objects. But the language of bees is more extensive; if not a language of ideas, it is something very similar[257]." You have seen above that the organ of the language of ants is their antennæ. Huber has proved satisfactorily, that these parts have the same use with the bees. He wished to ascertain whether, when they had lost a queen (intelligence which traverses a whole hive in about an hour) they discovered the sad event by their smell, their touch, or any unknown cause. He first divided a hive by a grate, which kept the two portions about three or four lines apart; so that they could not come at each other, though scent would pass. In that part in which there was no queen, the bees were soon in great agitation; and as they did not discover her where she was confined, in a short time they began to construct royal cells, which quieted them. He next separated them by a partition through which they could pass their antennæ, but not their heads. In this case the bees all remained tranquil, neither intermitting the care of the brood, nor abandoning their other employments; nor did they begin any royal cell. The means they used to assure themselves that their queen was in their vicinity and to communicate with her, was to pass their antennæ through the openings of the grate. An infinite number of these organs might be seen at once, as it were, inquiring in all directions; and the queen was observed answering these anxious inquiries of her subjects in the most marked manner; for she was always fastened by her feet to the grate, crossing her antennæ with those of the inquirers. Various otherexperiments, which are too long to relate, prove the importance of these organs as the instrument of communicating with each other, as well as to direct the bee in all its proceedings[258]. Besides their antennæ, the bees also cause themselves to be understood by certain sounds, not indeed produced by the mouth, but by other parts of their body:—but upon this subject I shall have occasion to enlarge hereafter.
That bees can remember agreeable sensations at least, is evident from the following anecdote related by Huber.—One autumn some honey was placed upon a window—the bees attended it in crowds. The honey was taken away, and the window closed with a shutter all the winter. In the spring, when it was re-opened, the bees returned, though no fresh honey had been placed there[259].
From the earliest times our little citizens of the hive have had the character of being an irritable race. Their anger is without bounds, says Virgil; and if they are molested, this character is no exaggeration. Some individuals, however, they will suffer to go near their hives, and to do almost any thing: and there are others to whom they seem to take such an antipathy, that they will attack them unprovoked. A great deal will probably depend upon this—whether any thing has happened to put them out of humour. The bees usually do not attack me; but I remember one day last year, when the asparagus was in blossom, which a large number were attending, I happened to go between my asparagus beds; which discomposed them so much, that I was obliged toretreat with hasty steps, and some of them flew after me; I escaped however unstung. Thorley relates an anecdote of a gentleman, who, desirous of securing a swarm of bees that had settled in a hollow tree, rashly undertook to dislodge them. He succeeded; but though he had used the precaution of securing his head and hands, he was so stung by the furious animals, that a violent fever was the consequence, and his recovery was for some time doubtful. The strength of his constitution at length prevailed; and the hole of the tree being stopped, the survivors of the battle settled upon a branch, were hived, and became the dear-bought property of their conqueror[260].
In Mungo Park's last mission to Africa, he was much annoyed by the attack of bees, probably of the same tribe with our hive-bee. His people, in search of honey, disturbed a large colony of them. The bees sallied forth by myriads, and attacking men and beasts indiscriminately, put them all to the rout. One horse and six asses were either killed or missing in consequence of their attack; and for half an hour the bees seemed to have completely put an end to their journey. Isaaco upon another occasion lost one of his asses, and one of his men was almost killed by them[261].
Bees, however, if they are not molested, are not usually ill-tempered: if you make a captive of their queen, they will cluster upon your head, or any other part of your body, and never attempt to sting you. I remember,when a boy, seeing the celebrated Wildman exhibit many feats of this kind, to the great astonishment and apprehension of the uninformed spectators. The writer lately quoted (Thorley) was assisted once by his maidservant to hive a swarm. Being rather afraid, she put a linen cloth as a defence over her head and shoulders. When the bees were shaken from the tree on which they had alighted, the queen probably settled upon this cloth; for the whole swarm covered it, and then getting under it, spread themselves over her face, neck, and bosom, so that when the cloth was removed she was quite a spectacle. She was with great difficulty kept from running off with all the bees upon her; but at length her master quieted her fears, and began to search for the queen. He succeeded; and hoped when he put her into the hive that the bees would follow; but they only seemed to cluster more closely. Upon a second search he found another queen, (unless the same had escaped and returned,) whom seizing, he placed in the hive. The bees soon missed her, and crowded after her into it: so that in the space of two or three minutes not one was left upon the poor terrified girl. After this escape, she became quite a heroine, and would undertake the most hazardous employments about the hives[262].
Many means have been had recourse to for the dispersion of mobs and the allaying of popular tumults. In St. Petersburgh (so travellers say) a fire-engine playing upon them does not always cool their choler; but were a few hives of bees thus employed, their discomfiture would be certain. The experiment has been tried.Lesser tells us, that in 1525, during the confusion occasioned by a time of war, a mob of peasants assembling in Hohnstein (in Thuringia) attempted to pillage the house of the minister of Elende; who having in vain employed all his eloquence to dissuade them from their design, ordered his domestics to fetch his bee-hives, and throw them in the middle of this furious mob. The effect was what might be expected; they were immediately put to flight, and happy if they escaped unstung[263].
The anger of bees is not confined to man; it is not seldom excited against their own species. From what I have said above respecting the black bees[264]and their fate, it seems not improbable that, when the workers become too old to be useful to the community, they are either killed, or expelled from the society. Reaumur, who observed that the inhabitants of the same hive had often mortal combats, was of opinion that this was their object in these battles[265], which take place, he observes, in fine or warm weather. On these occasions the bees are sometimes so eager, that examining them with a lens does not part them:—their whole object is to pierce each other with their sting, the stroke of which, if once it penetrates to the muscles, is mortal. In these engagements the conqueror is not always able to extricate this weapon, and then both perish. The duration of the conflict is uncertain; sometimes it lasts an hour, and at others is very soon determined: and occasionally it happens that both parties, fatigued and despairing of victory, give up the contest and fly away.
But the wars of bees are not confined to single combats; general actions now and then take place between twoswarms. This happens when one takes a fancy to a hive that another has pre-occupied. In fine warm weather, strangers, that wish to be received amongst them, meet with but an indifferent welcome, and a bloody battle is the consequence. Reaumur witnessed one that lasted a whole afternoon, in which many victims fell. In this case the battle is still between individuals, who at one time decide the business within the hive, and at another at some distance without. In the former case the victorious bee flies away, bearing her victim under her body between her legs, sometimes taking a longer and sometimes a shorter flight before she deposits it upon the ground.—She then takes her repose near the dead body, standing upon her four anterior legs, and rubbing the two hinder ones against each other. If the battle is not concluded within the hive, the enemy is carried to a little distance, and then dispatched.
This strange fury however does not always show itself on this occasion; for now and then some friendly intercourse seems to take place. Bees, from a hive in Mr. Knight's garden, visited those in that of a cottager, a hundred yards distant, considerably later than their usual time of labour, every bee as it arrived appearing to be questioned. On the tenth morning, however, the intercourse ceased, ending in a furious battle. On another occasion, an intimacy took place between two hives of his own, at twice the distance, which ceased on the fifth day. Sometimes he observed that this communication terminated in the union of two swarms; as in one instance, where a swarm had taken possession of a hollow tree[266], it is probable that the reception of one swarmby another may depend upon their numbers, and the fitness of their station to accommodate them. Thorley witnessed a battle of more than two days continuance, occasioned by a strange swarm forcing their way into a hive[267]. Two swarms that rise at the same time sometimes fight till great numbers have been destroyed, or one of the queens slain, when both sides cease all their enmity and unite under the survivor[268].
These apiarian battles are often fought in defence of the property of the hive. Bees that are ill managed, andnot properly fed, instead of collecting for themselves, will now and then get a habit of pillaging from their more industrious neighbours: these are called by Schirachcorsairbees, and by English writers,robbers. They make their attack chiefly in the latter end of July, and during the month of August. At first they act with caution, endeavouring to enter by stealth; and then, emboldened by success, come in a body. If one of the queens be killed, the attacked bees unite with the assailants, take up their abode with them, and assist in plundering their late habitation[269]. Schirach very gravely recommends it to apiarists whose hives are attacked by these depredators, to give the bees some honey mixed with brandy or wine, to increase and inflame their courage, that they may more resolutely defend their property against their piratical assailants[270]. It is however to be apprehended that this method of making them pot-valiant might induce them to attack their neighbours, as well as to defend themselves.
Sometimes combats take place in which three or four bees attack a single individual, not with a design to kill, but merely to rob: one seizes it by one leg, another by another; till perhaps there are two on each side, each having hold of a leg, or they bite its head or thorax. But as soon as the poor animal that is thus haled about and maltreated unfolds its tongue, one of the assailants goes and sucks it with its own, and is followed by the rest, who then let it go. These insects, however, in their ordinary labours are very kind and helpful to each other; I have often seen two, at the same moment, visit the sameflower, and very peaceably despoil it of its treasures, without any contention for the best share.
As the poison of bees exhales a penetrating odour, M. Huber was curious to observe the effect it might produce upon them. Having extracted with pincers the sting of a bee and its appendages impregnated with poison, he presented it to some workers, which were settled very tranquilly before the gate of their mansion. Instantaneously the little party was alarmed; none however took flight, but two or three darted upon the poisoned instrument, and one angrily attacked the observer. When however the poison was coagulated, they were not in the least affected by it—A tube impregnated with the odour of poison recently ejected being presented to them, affected them in the same manner[271]. This circumstance may sometimes occasion battles amongst them, that are not otherwise easy to be accounted for.
Anger is no useless or hurtful passion in bees: it is necessary to them for the preservation of themselves and their property, which, besides those of their own species, are exposed to the ravages of numerous enemies. Of these I have already enumerated several of the class of insects, and also some beasts and birds that have a taste for bees and their produce[272]. TheMerops Apiaster(which has been taken in England), the lark and other birds catch them as they fly. Even the frog and the toad are said to kill great numbers of bees; and many that fall into the water probably become the prey of fish. The mouse also, especially the field-mouse, in winter often commits great ravages in a hive, if the base and orifices are not well secured and stopped[273]. Thorleyonce lost a stock by mice, which made a nest and produced young amongst the combs[274]. The titmouse, according to the same author, will make a noise at the door of the hive, and when a bee comes out to see what is the matter, will seize and devour it. He has known them eat a dozen at a time. The swallows will assemble round the hives and devour them like grains of corn[275]. I need only mention spiders, in whose webs they sometimes meet with their end, and earwigs and ants, which creep into the hive and steal the honey[276].
Upon this subject of the enemies of bees, I cannot persuade myself to omit the account Mr. White has given of an idiot-boy, who from a child showed a strong propensity to bees. They were his food, his amusement, his sole object. In the winter he dozed away his time in his father's house, by the fire-side, in a torpid state, seldom leaving the chimney-corner: but in summer he was all alert and in quest of his game. Hive-bees, humble-bees, and wasps were his prey wherever he found them. He had no apprehension from their stings, but would seize them with naked hands, and at once disarm them of their weapons, and suck their bodies for the sake of their honey-bags. Sometimes he would fill his bosom between his shirt and skin with these animals; and sometimes he endeavoured to confine them in bottles. He was very injurious to men that kept bees; for he would glide into their bee-gardens, and sitting down before the stools, would rap with his fingers, and so take the bees as they came out. He has even been known to overturn the hives for the sake of the honey, of which he was passionately fond. Where metheglin was making,he would linger round the tubs and vessels, begging a draught of what he calledbee-wine. As he ran about, he used to make a humming noise with his lips resembling the buzzing of bees. This lad was lean and sallow, and of a cadaverous complexion; and except in his favourite pursuit, in which he was wonderfully adroit, discovered no manner of understanding. Had his capacity been better, and directed to the same object, he had perhaps abated much of our wonder at the feats of a more modern exhibiter of bees; and we may justly say of him now,
"... Thou,Had thy presiding star propitious shone,Should'st Wildman be[277]."
"... Thou,Had thy presiding star propitious shone,Should'st Wildman be[277]."
The worker bees are annual insects, though the queen will sometimes live more than two years; but, as every swarm consists of old and young, this is no argument for burning them. It is a saying of bee-keepers in Holland, that the first swallow and the first bee foretell each other[278]. This perhaps may be correct there; but with us the appearance of bees considerably precedes that of the swallow; for when the early crocuses open, if the weather be warm, they may always be found busy in the blossom.
The time that bees will inhabit the same stations is wonderful. Reaumur mentions a countryman who preserved bees in the same hive for thirty years[279]. Thorley tells us that a swarm took possession of a spot under the leads of the study of Ludovicus Vives in Oxford, where they continued a hundred and ten years, from 1520 to 1630[280]. These circumstances have led authors to ascribeto bees a greater age than they can claim. Thus Mouffet, because he knew a bees-nest which had remained thirty years in the same quarters, concludes that they are very long-lived, and very sapiently doubts whether they even die of old age at all[281]!!! Which is just as wise as if a man should contend, because London had existed from before the time of Julius Cæsar, that therefore its inhabitants must be immortal.
Bees are subject to many accidents, particularly, as I have said above, they often fall or are precipitated by the wind into water; and though like the cat a bee has not nine lives, nor