“There cluster’d now clear wells of nectar glow,Like amber drops that sparkle in the Po,And now (so quick the change) ere one short moonShrinks with waned crescent mid the blaze of noon.All veil’d from view, these amber drops are lost.And each clear well with waxen crown embost.”Evans.
“There cluster’d now clear wells of nectar glow,Like amber drops that sparkle in the Po,And now (so quick the change) ere one short moonShrinks with waned crescent mid the blaze of noon.All veil’d from view, these amber drops are lost.And each clear well with waxen crown embost.”
Evans.
In the Philosophical Transactions for 1792, Mr. Hunter has stated, that whatever time the contents of the honey-bags may be retained, they still remain pure and unaltered by the digestive process. Mr. Polhill, a gentleman to whom the public are indebted for several articles in Rees’s Cyclopædia appertaining to bees, is also of this opinion. Messrs. Kirby and Spence do not admit this statement: as the nectar of flowers is not of so thick a consistence as honey, they thinkit must undergo some change in the stomach of the bee. This opinion is strengthened by what has been stated by Reaumur: he observed that if there was a deficiency of flowers, at the season of honey-gathering, and the bees were furnished with sugar, they filled their cells with honey, differing in no other respect from honey collected in the usualway, but in its possessing a somewhat higher flavour and in its never candying, nor even losing its fluidity by long keeping. The same may be observed when they imbibe the juices of sweet fruits, for bees do not confine themselves solely to flowers and honey-dewed leaves; they will sometimes very greedily absorb the juice of raspberries for instance, and thus spoil them for the table; they also visit in crowds the vats of the cider and wine maker.
Reaumur has likewise remarked, thatin each honey-cell there is a cream-like layer or covering, of a thicker consistence than the honey itself, which apparently serves to retain the more liquid collections that may from time to time be introduced under it. Messrs. Kirby and Spence say, that if honey were the unaltered nectar of flowers, it would be difficult to conceive how this cream could be collected in proper proportions. This observation is made, in consequence of their presuming that some of this cream-like covering is conveyed into the cells with each deposition of fresh honey; and it has been supposed that this cream was the last portion disgorged. According to an article in Rees’s Cyclopædia, probably written by Mr. Polhill, this cream-like matter is formed at the very first, and every addition of honey is deposited beneath it. The bee, entering into the cell as deeply as possible, puts forward its anterior pair of legs, and with them pierces a hole through the crust or cream: while this hole is kept openby the feet, the bee disgorges the honey in large drops from its mouth; these, falling into the hole, mix with the mass below: the bee, before it flies off, new-models the crust, and closes up the hole. This mode of proceeding is regularly adopted by every bee that contributes to the general store.
The power ofregurgitationin the bee is very remarkable: its alimentary organs, like those of the pigeon, besides being subservient to the purpose of nutriment, afford it a temporary storeroom or reservoir. Ruminating animals may be considered as regurgitating animals, though in them the operation is performed for different purposes. In some it is exercised for the purpose of digesting the food, in others for feeding the young; but in bees its use is to enable them to disburden themselves of the honey which they gather for the winter’s store of the community.
The finest flavouredand most delicatehoneyis that whichis collected from aromatic plants, and has been stored in clean new cells: it has been usually calledvirgin-honey, as though it were elaborated by a fresh swarm of bees; but this is not essential to the perfection of honey, for, provided the cells in which it is deposited have never contained either brood or farina, it is not material whether it have been collected by swarms or by old stocks; the season and the flowers having been the same, the quality of the honeywill in both cases be alike. F. Lamberti asserts, that the best honey in the world is produced in Pontus, and that its superiority is attributable to the great quantity of balm growing there. In this quarter of the world, theNarbonne honeyis regarded as the finest, owing to the rosemary which abounds in the neighbourhood of Narbonne. “The honey, for whichNarbonneis so deservedly celebrated, is every year diminishing. Bees have ceased to be an object of attention to the peasantry; they now devote their time to the vineyards, and neglect the bees. The flowers of the wild plants, in the neighbourhood of Narbonne, are highly aromatic, and give the flavour which is peculiar to its honey: this peculiarity is attributed exclusively to the wild rosemary,Rosmarinus officinalis.” (Duppa’s Miscellaneous Observations and Opinions on the Continent. 1825.) Attempts are said to have been made to imitate Narbonne honey, by adding to other honey an infusion of rosemary flowers.
Of the power which some flowers possess of imparting deleterious qualities to their honey, I have already spoken in the chapter on Pasturage. I will here add, however, what has been said of the appearance of thisperniciouskind ofhoney. It is usually distinguished from what is innocent, by its crimson or reddish brown colour, its bitter flavour, and thicker consistence; but in Floridaand Carolina it is so similar, in all respects, to innocent honey, that the hunters depend upon experience only, and, knowing that bad honey soon shows its effects, they at first eat very sparingly. The converse of this would appear in the “blood-red honey” found by Mr. Bruce at Dixan in Abyssinia, to which he ascribes no evil properties. (Travels to the Nile, vol. v.) Linnæus informs us, that in Sweden, the honey of autumn is principally gathered from the flowers of theEricaor Heath, and that it has a reddish cast. The honey of our native heaths is also of the same colour. Dr. Barton has observed that during his residence at Edinburgh, the Highland honey was often of a dirty brownish colour, which was supposed to be given to it by the “blooming hather,” as Burns calls it: the people of Edinburgh, however, though great consumers of it, never complain of any ill effects from it. It produced upon the Doctor a soporific effect. The most innocent honey will often disagree with those who take it in large quantities, or who have irritable bowels; usually, in such cases, it produces purging, and sometimes griping pain. The mischievous qualities of honey have been said to be destroyed by boiling and straining, or even by long keeping only; yet when made into metheglin, it has been found as deleterious as ever.
The quality of honey varies with the time ofgathering, and that even though the whole season may have been favourable. The collection at the commencement of summer is regarded as the prime honey of the year, the flowers being then most abundant, and in the full glow of health; and that which is collected in spring is superior to the gleanings of autumn.
Huberstates thatthe secretion of honey and the formation of wax are singularly promoted by electricity: hence the works may always be observed to advance rapidly when there is a southerly wind, a moist warm air, and an impending storm; whereas the secretion is impeded, and sometimes suspended, by long protracted droughts, cold rains, and a northerly wind.
Prime honeyis of a whitish colour, an agreeable smell, a pleasant taste, and a thick consistence. When taken from the combs it is in a fluid state, but gradually thickens by age, and in cold weather, if genuine, it becomes firm and solid. In England, it has seldom, if ever, been known to assume this solid state while in the hives; and even out of them, if it remain in the combs, it will preserve its clearness, purity and fine flavour, for at least a year. The honey of tropical climates is always in a fluid state.Videchapter onExotic Bees.
Much of the fine flavour of honey will depend upon the manner of its separation from the comb.That will be the most delicate which flows spontaneouslyfrom the purest and whitest combs; the next in excellence will be that which is expressed without heat; and the coarsest, that which is obtained by the aid of heat and pressure.
Care should be taken in the selection ofthe vessels used for storing honey;the most appropriate arejars of stone ware, called Bristol ware. The principalconstituents of sugar and honeyare the same; viz. hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. Besides these their common elements, honey contains mucilage and extractive matter, and also an excess of oxygen: in plain English, honey possesses a greater proportion of acid than is contained in sugar, and in a state more capable of acting upon those bodies with which it comes in contact. From this the reader will perceive my reason for recommending stone jars for its preservation: the acid of the honey acting upon the lead with which every other kind of earthenware is glazed, causes the honey to receive an impregnation from it, which may prove injurious to those whose constitutions are delicate: the stone ware, being glazed with common salt, cannot communicate any injurious property to the honey which is stored in it.Honey should be kept in a cool and dry situation, as warmth promotes fermentation and generates a sensible acidity. The circumstance of honey, when separated from the combs and put into jars, being disposed to ferment in a temperature muchbelow the usual heat of a hive, is calculated to excite our admiration of the instinctive intelligence of the bee, which leads it to distribute its treasure in small cells and to seal them closely over, whereby the honey can be preserved from fermentation for a long period, even in a high temperature.Proustsays that granulated honey is capable of being separated into two parts, one of which is liquid, the other dry and not deliquescent, crystallizable in its manner and less saccharine than sugar.The Jews of Moldavia and the Ukraine prepare from honey a sort of sugarwhich is solid and as white as snow, which they send to the distilleries at Dantzic. They expose the honey to frost for three weeks, in some place where neither sun nor snow can reach it, and in a vessel which is a bad conductor of caloric, by which process the honey, without being congealed, becomes clear and hard like sugar.
Prior to the discovery of sugar, honey must have been an article of great utility; and notwithstanding that discovery, if we may judge from the quantity imported into this country, and the price at which it sells when of fine quality, it may still be regarded as a commodity of great importance, and worthy of more attention from our rural population than it in general obtains.In the Ukraine, some of the peasants have four or five hundred hives each, and find their bees more profitablethan their corn.This is a number however which I should think would overstock most districts, and which could only be supported naturally by having recourse to transportation. This seems to be evinced by the inhabitants of Egypt, France, Savoy, Piedmont and other places availing themselves of that practice, as already stated.
The most productive parts of this kingdom, in all probability, are the borders of Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, and part of Hampshire, which abounding in heaths, commons and woods, afford so much pabulum for bees, as to enable some of the farmers to have from 100 to 150 stocks of them, the largest number that I have ever heard of in this kingdom.
On the subject ofoverstocking, Mr. Espinasse says that few parts of England which he has visited afford flowers in sufficient profusion and of sufficient variety to support numerous colonies. “In the village,” says he, “where my house is situated, many persons, induced by my example, procured bees; they were too numerous for what was to feed them; more than one half of them died in the ensuing winter, and nearly one-third of my own were with difficulty saved by feeding.” The proprietor of bees may know whether or not his situation is overstocked, if he will attend to the produce of his apiary for several years together.
MEAD.
Priorto the introduction of agriculture into Britain, mead was the principal cordial beverage of its inhabitants. In other northern nations also it was formerly in high estimation. This must have proceeded, either from their unpampered simplicity of taste, or from their having a better method of making their mead than has been handed down to posterity; for certainly in the present day it is a liquor seldom heard of, and still seldomer made; and when made, holding a very humble rank among our imperfect vinous productions. It however continued in favour long after the introduction of malt liquor, and the northern inhabitants of Europe drank it generally until very modern times. To show how highly it was formerly esteemed in this country, I will give an extract from an ancient law of the principality of Wales, where “the praises of it, accompanied by the lyre, resounded through the spacious halls of her princes.” “There are three things in Court which must be communicated to the king, before they are made known to any other person.
“1st, Every sentence of the judge;
2nd, Every new song; and
3rd, Every cask of Mead.”
Mead-making appears to have been regarded by our forefathers as a high and important avocation; at the courts of the Princes of Wales, the mead-maker was the eleventh person in dignity, and took place of the physician. We read in the English History, that Ethelstan a subordinate king of Kent, in the tenth century, on paying a visit to his relation Ethelfleda felt very much delighted that there was no deficiency of mead. According to the custom at royal feasts, it was served up in cut horns and other vessels of various sizes. About the same period, it was customary to allow the monks a sextareum (about a pint) of mead between six of them at dinner, and half the quantity at supper.
It was probably the liquor called by Ossian, the joy and strength of shells, with which his heroes were so much delighted; the Caledonian drinking-vessels having consisted of large shells, which are still used by their posterity in some parts of the Highlands. Mention is sometimes made also of the Feast of Shells.
Mead was the ideal nectar of the Scandinavian nations, which they expected to quaff in heaven out of the skulls of their enemies; and, as may reasonably be supposed, the liquor which they exaltedthus highly in theirimaginary celestial banquets, was not forgotten at those which theyreallyindulged inupon earth. Hence may be inferred the great attention which must have been paid to the culture of the bee in those days, or there could not have been an adequate supply of honey for the production of mead, to satisfy the demand of such thirsty tribes.
The mythology of Scandinavia (the religion of our Gothic ancestors) was imparted by Sigge or Odin, a chieftain who migrated from Scythia with the whole of his tribe, and subdued either by arms or arts the northern parts of Europe. From him descended Alaric and Attila. In the singular paradise which Odin sketched for his followers, the principal pleasure was to be derived from war and carnage; after the daily enjoyment of which, they were to sit down to a feast of boar’s flesh and mead. The mead was to be handed to them in the skulls of their enemies, by virgins somewhat resembling the houri of the Mahometan paradise, and plentiful draughts were to be taken, until intoxication should crown their felicity. Hence the poetPenrosethus commences his “Carousal of Odin.”
“Fill the honey’d bev’rage high,Fill the skulls, ’tis Odin’s cry!Heard ye not the powerful call,Thundering through the vaulted hall?Fill the meath and spread the board,Vassals of the grisly lord!—The feast begins, the skull goes roundLaughter shouts—the shouts resound!”
“Fill the honey’d bev’rage high,Fill the skulls, ’tis Odin’s cry!Heard ye not the powerful call,Thundering through the vaulted hall?Fill the meath and spread the board,Vassals of the grisly lord!—The feast begins, the skull goes roundLaughter shouts—the shouts resound!”
Hence likewise, in an ode byMr. Stirling, we find the following illustration of the northern Elysium.
“Their banquet is the mighty chineExhaustless, the stupendous boar;Virgins of immortal linePresent the goblet foaming o’er:Of heroes’ skulls the goblet made,With figur’d deaths and snakes of gold inlaid.”
“Their banquet is the mighty chineExhaustless, the stupendous boar;Virgins of immortal linePresent the goblet foaming o’er:Of heroes’ skulls the goblet made,With figur’d deaths and snakes of gold inlaid.”
Boar’s flesh was considered by these tribes as the highest delicacy; the celestial boar was supposed to be daily renewed, and to afford an ample repast for the most numerous party: a quantity of mead also, sufficient for the intoxication of this paradisiacal community, was imagined to be daily supplied by a goat called Heidruna,
“Whose spacious horn would fill the bowlThat rais’d to rapture Odin’s soul;And ever drinking, ever dry—Still the copious stream supply.”Cottle.
“Whose spacious horn would fill the bowlThat rais’d to rapture Odin’s soul;And ever drinking, ever dry—Still the copious stream supply.”
Cottle.
I could not refrain from adducing these short historical and poetical evidences of the high estimation in which mead was held by our northern ancestors. I trust that I shall also stand excused for still further lengthening my preamble by enteringuponthe general principles of wine-making.
The grand desiderata in wine are strength, flavour, and pleasantness:—to accomplish the first, sugar must be converted by fermentation into alcohol; the second depends upon the article to be vinified, and upon the management of the process of vinification; flavour may likewise be produced artificially by different adjuncts: pleasantness will principally result from the same causes, but more especially from the liquor holding in solution a certain quantity of unconverted sugar.
The elements necessary to a due fermentationand to bring the process to a satisfactory issue,are sugar, extractive matter, acid of tartar, andwater. These exist in the highest perfection and in the best relative proportions inthe grape: hence the superiority of foreign wines. Whoever therefore expects to imitate, with much effect, those generous liquors, must supply in the process those ingredients in which the article sought to be converted into wine is deficient.
If the native juices of fruits be deficient in sugar, it will be impossible to convert them into a strong wine without a proper supply of that ingredient; and without a sufficiency of extractive matter, which is the natural ferment, a due fermentation could not be established; the wine would be sweet, but not potent;sweet wines being the produce ofan incomplete fermentation. If the extractive matter were in excess, the liquor would have a tendency to the acetous fermentation, which might also be induced by a superabundant proportion of water.
The result of a complete fermentation is a dry wine;to produce which, the elements must all be nicely balanced, and the process conducted under favourable circumstances, with respect to temperature, tunning, stopping down, &c.
Two opposite practices prevail, in the manufacture of the same sort of wine;some wine-makers boiling the juices before fermentation, others conducting the whole process without boiling:the propriety or impropriety of these practices depends upon the quality of the juices to be vinified. Extractive matter is partially coagulable by heat; boiling therefore, by causing this matter to separate and to be deposited, tends to the production of a sweet wine. The extractive matter may also be precipitated by sulphuric acid gas, (burning in the cask a brimstone match as hereafter directed,) or by sulphuric acid itself, with which the soluble leaven forms an insoluble compound. Hence where the extractive matter is in excess, and where there is danger of fermentation going on too rapidly, boiling or sulphuring will be useful both to the wine and cider-maker, in checking or preventing fermentation. The superfluous extractthrown up in the course of fermentation as yeast, or deposited as lees, will, if remixed with the liquor, have the effect of continuing the fermentation: hence the utility of racking and fining, where it is in excess; and of re-union, where it is deficient.Artificial leaven or yeast, which contains the extractive principle in great abundance, affords a supply to those juices which are deficient in it, and without which they will not ferment.Natural leaven(i. e.extractive matter) is soluble in cold water, artificial leaven is not: during fermentation, therefore, the latter is always thrown off; so also is the greater part of the former, if the process be well conducted.
Most of the fruits of this country abound inmalic acid; those that possess only a moderate quantity of it, however, afford excellent wine with the addition of sugar only; still better wine may be obtained by the further addition of the acid of tartar. Where the malic acid prevails so abundantly as to make its neutralization desirable.Dr. McCulloch, (to whom I am indebted for much of the information contained in this chapter,) recommends the coating of the insides of the fermenting vats with a white wash of hotcaustic lime. I have neutralized the malic acid, by putting into the cask, after the sensible fermentation has been completed, about a pound ofegg shellsto every sixty gallons of wine.
The acid of tartar increases the fermenting power of fluids: half-ripe fruits possess it in greatest abundance; hence the vivacity of champagne and green gooseberry wine. It is most conveniently used in the state of supertartrate of potash or common cream of tartar: the common rough tartar is in some respects preferable, as its admixture of yeast assists in perfecting the fermentation.
All vegetables contain more or less of extractive matter; those that possess little may be assisted in their fermentation, by that process being conducted in wooden vessels, wood supplying the extractive principle to the liquor; the same juices therefore which would ferment very well in wood, would scarcely ferment at all in glass or earthenware.
The extractive matter and the sugar are seldom completely destroyed in any wines; the existence of the former is evinced, by the skinny matter frequently deposited upon the insides of the wine-bottles; the latter may be detected, by a nice palate, in the very driest of our wines; its predominance indicates an inferior wine.
From the preceding observations, my readers have probably anticipated my opinion ofhoney, in wine-making. I regard it merely asa substitute for sugar; and to those who approve of its flavour I recommend the followingdirections, which Ihave successfully followed for several years, having my home-made wines enriched with a considerable portion of foreign flavour.—Dissolve an ounce of cream of tartar in five gallons of boiling water; pour the solution off clear upon twenty pounds of fine honey, boil them together and remove the scum as it rises. Towards the end of the boiling, add an ounce of fine hops; about ten minutes afterwards, put the liquor into a tub to cool; when reduced to the temperature of about 60° Fahrenheit, add a slice of bread toasted and smeared over with a very little yeast; the smaller the quantity the better, foryeast invariably spoils the flavour of wines, and where there is a sufficiency of extractive matter in the ingredients employed, it should never be introduced. The liquor should now stand, and be stirred occasionally, till it carries a head, when it should be tunned and the cask filled up from time to time from the reserve, till the fermentation has nearly subsided. It should now be bunged down, leaving open a small peg-hole; in a few days this may also be closed, and in about twelve months the wine will be fit to bottle.
Many makers of both wine and cider have been unconsciously benefited from the acquisition of tartar by their liquor; it being a frequent practice to tun into an empty foreign wine cask, whose incrusted sides have supplied their wine or theircider with a portion of that necessary ingredient for perfect vinification.
It is a practice with some to addspicesto their Mead during the fermentation, such as ginger, cloves, mace, rosemary, lemon-peel, &c. This is bad œconomy; a much smaller quantity will communicate the required flavour if the addition be made after the fermentation has ceased.
Acommon beverageis sometimes made, by simply boiling the refuse honey-combs in water after extracting from them as much of the honey as will run; this liquor will not require tartar or yeast: it should be tunned as soon as cool, bunged down in three or four days, and drank in a few weeks. In some parts of Wales the refuse combs are brewed with malt, spices, &c. and the produce is calledBraggot, a name derived from the old British wordsbragandgots, the former signifyingmalt, the latterhoney-comb.
A knowledge of the principles of fermentation will enable the wine-maker to regulate its process. Thus if a dry wine be desired, and fermentation be suspended, it may be renewed by a restoration of the separated leaven or the addition of fresh; or by agitation and a remixture of the lees. It is upon the latter principle, called “feeding on the lees,” that some foreign wines are improved by long voyages; but this treatment, soserviceableto Madeira and other Spanish wines, and also to some of the French wines,would destroy Burgundy. If there be an excess of fermentation the scientific operator will regulate, check or suspend it, by skimming, racking, fining. If skimming and racking do not succeed, recourse must be had tofining, which may be effectedby isinglass, in the proportion of about an ounce to 100 gallons. The isinglass must be beaten, for a few days, with a whisk in a small quantity of the wine, till completely attenuated. This solution must then be well stirred into the cask of wine, which in about a week will become fine and fit for being racked off. This fining is accomplished by the union of the isinglass with what is called the tannin of the wine. Fining may also be effected bystumming, i. e.by burning in a close vessel containing a small part of the wine a brimstone rag, at the rate of a dram of sulphur to thirty gallons; and when consumed, rolling the cask about for a quarter of an hour, that the wine may absorb as much as possible of the sulphuric acid gas. This being done, the cask is to be filled up with the remainder of the wine, and bunged down. In this process the sulphuric acid or its oxygen unites with the extractive matter or soluble leaven, which being thereby rendered insoluble is precipitated to the bottom, as I before observed. If wines be perfectlyfermented, they do not require the addition of any brandy, as a sufficiency of spirit is generated during the process.
The best temperature for carrying on fermentationis about 54° Fahrenheit. Its perfection depends in some degree upon the volume of the liquor; the larger the quantity, the longer the fermentation will continue, and the stronger and pleasanter will be the wine. There are however exceptions to this rule. The peculiar excellence of champagne would be destroyed, if its fermentation were conducted upon a large scale: it may be made successfully in a gallon measure. This wine is so managed by the makers as to ferment after bottling.
Dry wines and fine winesare much more durable than any others; and those that would perish in cask,may be preserved many years by bottling.
These hints will, I hope, enable the makers of home-made wines to conduct the process scientifically, and to secure generally a successful issue. Cookery books and good housewives abound in receipts for wine-making, which are very often fanciful and absurd, recommending the introduction of articles which, in their very natures, counteract the production of good wine. Hence we are sometimes presented with such miserable mawkish stuff, as disgraces the name of wine,being only rendered tolerable by the brandy which has been added to it, and which in some degree covers the crudeness and insipidity of the compound, and moderates its hostility to the peace of our stomachs.
THE
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
OF
THE BEE.
ANATOMY.
Havinggiven in detail the instructions necessary for the domestic management of the Bee, and treated of such parts of its physiology as that detail naturally suggested; I shall now proceed to give an account of the most important parts of its anatomical structure, and so much more of its physiology as may arise from a consideration of that structure, or be otherwise likely to interest my readers.
Some persons may possibly consider a description of the anatomy of so small a creature asunimportant and uninteresting; but without understanding the anatomy of the bee, its physiology would be vague, uncertain, and conjectural; and it is physiological knowledge that has hitherto led, and must still lead, to a scientific and profitable management of this insect. The enlightenedBoyle, when contemplating the various wonders of Nature, has declared his astonishment to have been more excited by the mite than by the elephant; and that his admiration dwelt, not so much on theclocksas on thewatches of creation. It is not my intention, however, to enter deeply into the anatomy of the bee, but merely to give a general account of those parts which are most prominent and important; anything beyond this would, to the general reader, be tedious and uninteresting. Those who desire minute information may obtain it in various works, but in none more satisfactorily than in that ofMessrs. KirbyandSpence.
These are connected together by ligaments.
TheHead, in common with that of other creatures, is the inlet for nutrition and the principal seat of the organs of sensation.—Of nutrition and sensation I shall speak in their appropriate places.
TheTrunkis the intermediate section of thebody between the head and the abdomen: it approaches in figure to a sphere, and is the seat of the organs of motion; it contains the muscles of the wings and legs which proceed from it, and is the main prop, or as it were the key-stone, of the other two sections. The upper side is calledthoraxor thechest, the under sidepectusor thebreast.
TheAbdomenis the third section of the body, posterior to the trunk; it is divided into six rings or segments, which, by sliding one over another, serve to shorten or lengthen the body. It is the seat of the organs of generation, and principally of those connected with respiration; and contains also the anus and the sting. The upper part is calledtergumor theback, the under sideventeror thebelly.
The Head.
The most remarkable part of the head is theProboscis, of which so good an account has been given byDr. Evansthat I shall describe it nearly in his words.
It is not so much the mere simplicity of nature, which excites our wonder and admiration, as that apparently complex structure, which operates with all the ease of the simplest machinery. Of this we have not a more striking instance than in the proboscis of the labouring bee: though the component parts of the proboscis are scarcely discernible by the naked eye, yet are they far morecomplicated than the elephant’s stupendous trunk. It consists of no less than five distinct branches; namely, a central trunk, or tongue, and four horny scales, tapering to a point, convex outwards and concave towards the trunk; the two outer ones so sheath the inner as to appear but one single tube: by a joint in the middle they bend, or extend all at once, carrying with them the unarticulated tongue, which is cylindrical, and about the size of a man’s hair, and appears through a magnifier to be composed of successive rings. It has probably as many short muscles as the tongue of a fish, which are capable of moving it in all directions; and towards its termination is furnished with hairs or villi, some of which at the point are very long, and seem to act like capillary tubes.Mr. Wildmanassures us, that he has seen the trunk growing bigger and less by turns, swelling the instant the bee sucked; and this alternate lessening and enlargement propagated from the extremity to the root. What a delicate apparatus of invisible muscles must perform this office! The tongue is capable of being contracted and folded up at pleasure; for if it were constantly extended, it would be exposed to injury: when at rest, therefore, it is doubled up by means of its joint, and lies in a very small compass; the first portion being brought within the lip, and the second part folded under the head and neck, protection is given to it by a doublesheath, consisting of four strong scales, the two inner scales sheathing the tongue, and the two outer and larger ones encompassing the whole. When at work, the trunk is lengthened beyond its sheaths, probes the very bottom of the flowers, through all impediments of foliage or fructification, and drains them of those treasured sweets which, without such an apparatus, would be completely inaccessible.
The proboscis of the bee is not used like that of other flies, not being tubular like theirs, but serves as a brush or besom to sweep, or as a tongue to lap[K]; having collected the nectar of flowers in small drops, it deposits its collection upon the tongue, which is protruded for the purpose of receiving it, and having received it, withdrawn again.
[K]The bee and all other insects that lap their food are called lambent insects.
[K]The bee and all other insects that lap their food are called lambent insects.
TheLips. The bee has two lips, an upper one calledlabrum, and an under one calledlabium; (theMentumof Latreille.)
TheTongueof the bee, which is very long, is at its upper part cartilaginous; below the middle, membranous and capable of considerable inflation, thus forming a bag to receive the honey from the proboscis, preparatory to its conveyance into the pharynx. It terminates in a knob, but has nopassage through it, to exercise the power of suction, as has been supposed. When in a state of inaction, it is folded up longitudinally, and lies between the lips. The tongue of the working bee is probably the largest of any known animal, for its size; it is much longer than that of either the male or queen, and thus fitted for taking up honey at a considerable depth. The bee has the power of unfolding it with great rapidity, and darting it betwixt the petals and stamina of those flowers that afford honey, it moves it about in every direction, sweeping the convex as well as the concave surface of the petals.
ThePharynxlies at the root of the tongue; it is an opening by which the honey passes from the tongue to the gullet or honey-bag, and closes by a valve.
TheŒsophagusorGulletreceives the food from the pharynx, and conveys it, in part at least, to the stomach, there to be digested, animalized, and forwarded to the small intestines, from whence it is distributed, through appropriate vessels or tubes, to all parts of the body for its nutriment. The gullet is long and slender, commences at the termination of the pharynx, and traversing the neck and breast, dilates into a fine bag, transparent as crystal, and when filled with honey about the size of a small pea. In bees caught on going out early in the morning, Mr. Hunter found this reservoirperfectly empty; but in those returning from the fields, it was quite full of honey,someof which had passed into the stomach.
TheMandiblesor upper jaws move horizontally, and are armed with teeth.
TheMaxillæor under jaws are situated below the mandibles, have a similar motion, and form, according to Linnæus, the sheath of the tongue. De Geer regarded them as part of the apparatus of the under lip, on each side of which they are placed.
The mandibles are powerful organs, hard and horny, and constitute the tools with which the bee performs its various labours; the maxillæ on the contrary are soft and leathery: the latter probably serve to hold such materials as the former have occasion to operate upon.
TheAntennæ. Of all the organs of insects, none appear to be of more importance than their antennæ: in all the tribe they are planted either between or below the eyes; and no insect has more than two: in their general structure, they consist of a number of tubular joints, each having a separate motion, which gives them every variety of flexure. The antennæ of the male have one more joint than those of the female, the former having thirteen, the latter only twelve. They seem to enable the insects, by certain signs and gestures, to communicate to each other theirmutual wants or discoveries. But I shall enter more fully into this subject when I come to speak of the various uses to which the antennæ are applied.
ThePalpiorFeelersare also important organs; their ends are furnished with nervous papillæ, indicating some peculiar sense, of which they are the instrument: they are four in number, two emerging from the maxillæ called maxillary feelers, and one from each side of the labium, called labial feelers. The maxillary are short and without a joint, the labial long and with four joints, including the two flat joints or elevators.
TheEyes, two in number, are placed in the sides of the head; they are compounds of an infinite number of hexagonal lenses, as clear as crystal, and are guarded by a horny tunicle or covering. This subject is however treated of inChap. XXXII.
The Trunk.
The trunk affords attachment to the organs of motion.
First, To theWings, which transport the insect through the air; these consist of twosuperiorand twoinferior: they are membranous and transparent, and while in a state of repose are incumbent on each other, covering the abdomen.
Bees and various other hymenopterous insects,and also those of the dipterous family, possess the power of flying in a more perfect degree than any class of animals besides, surpassing in this respect even the bird tribe. In the anterior margin of the under wings small hooks (hamuli) are placed, which are capable of laying hold of the posterior margin of the upper wings, by means of which they are kept steady when flying. These hooks are discoverable under a good magnifier.
Secondly, To theLegs, by which the insect moves itself from place to place upon the earth. Of these there aresix in number, each composed of several joints, and articulated like our arms, thus affording the power of various movements: in the legs are three distinct divisions; namely, the thigh, the shank, and the foot. In thefourhinder legs one joint forms a kind ofbrush, externally smooth and bare, but covered on the inside with stiff bristling hairs. By these the insect is enabled to brush off farina both from the tips of the stamina of flowers and from the hairs of its own body. With the jaws and two fore-feet, the meal is rolled into small compact masses, which are conveyed, by the middle pair of legs, to thespoon-shaped cavitiesin the centre joint of the two hindmost feet; these are surrounded by strong close set hairs, to secure more firmly the precious burdens. (No such groove is to be found in the legs of either the queen-bee or drone.)Each footterminatesintwo hooks, with their points opposite to each other, by means of which the bees suspend themselves from the roofs or sides of the hives or boxes, and hang from each other, in the form of festoons, ropes, or cones. From the middle of each pair of hooks proceeds a little thinappendix, which is usually folded up; when unfolded it enables the insects to fasten themselves to polished surfaces, such as glass, &c.: they probably also use it for taking up small bodies, the pollen for instance, which they thereby transmit to the hollows of their hinder legs.
The trunk also gives origin to a number of muscles, serving various purposes, which it would lead me too much into detail to enter upon here.
The Abdomen.
Theabdomen, besides various other parts, contains thehoney-bag, thevenom-bag, and theanus, which latter in the female comprehends theovipositorandsting: in the male it contains theorgans of reproductionbut no sting, and of course no ovipositor. For a particular account of these,videOrgans of Reproduction further on.
Organs of Sensation.
We have an abundance of presumptive evidence that bees are endowed withsensationandperception, and that the excitement of these faculties iscommunicated, through the medium ofnerves, to a commonsensorium, though the latter was denied to insects by Linnæus and other eminent naturalists. Common sensation, however, does not reside in the brain alone of insects, as in that of warm-blooded animals, but in the spinal marrow also; hence it is that bees and many other insects exhibit signs of sensation after their heads have been severed from their bodies. Some insects exhibit these for a long time afterwards, the wasp for instance;Lyonnetinforms us that he has seen motion in the body of a wasp, three days after its division from the head; and I have known several instances of its inflicting wounds with its sting, at least four-and-twenty hours after the separation. The severed body will not only move but walk, and sometimes even fly, at first almost as actively without the head as with it. The penetrating genius ofLord Baconafforded him such illumination upon this subject, as to enable him to approach very near to what is at this day regarded as a correct statement of the cause of thisprotracted vitalityin mutilated insects. “They stirre,” says he, “a good while after their heads are off, or that they be cut in pieces; which is caused also for that their vital spirits are more diffused throughout all their parts, and lesse confined to organs than in perfect creatures.”
That insects have a real sensorium or brain,would seem to be proved by their havingmemory, and acapacity to receive instruction, andacquire new habits. Such functions in higher animals are regarded as functions of a cerebral system. That they are endowed with memory cannot well be doubted.Huberrelates a remarkable instance of it in bees, which illustrates what will hereafter be said on their having a method of communicating information to each other. “Honey,” says he, “had been placed in a window in autumn, where the bees resorted to it in multitudes. It was removed, and the shutters closed during winter; but when opened again, on the return of spring, the bees came back, though no honey was there. Undoubtedly they remembered it, therefore an interval of several weeks did not obliterate the impression they had received.” “But the most striking fact evincing the memory of bees has been communicated to me,” saysMr. Kirby, "by my intelligent friendMr. W. Stickney, ofRidgemont, Holderness. About twenty years ago, a swarm from one of this gentleman’s hives took possession of an opening beneath the tiles of his house, whence, after remaining a few hours, they were dislodged and hived. For many subsequent years, when the hives descended from this stock were about to swarm, a considerable party of scouts were observed, for a few days before, to be reconnoitring about the old hole under thetiles; andMr. Stickneyis persuaded, that if suffered, they would have established themselves there. He is certain that for eight years successively the descendants of the very stock that first took possession of the hole, frequented it as above stated, andnotthose of any other swarms; having constantly noticed them, and ascertained that they were bees from the original hive by powdering them, while about the tiles, with yellow ochre, and watching their return. And even at the present time, there are still seen every swarming season about the tiles, bees, whichMr. Stickneyhas no doubt are descendants from the original stock.”
Some anecdotes of the spider prove that insects are capable of instruction.M. Pelisson, when he was confined in the Bastille, tamed a spider, and taught it to come for food at the sound of an instrument.A manufactureralso, in an apartmentat Paris, fed 800 spiders, which became so tame, that whenever he entered it, which he usually did with a dish of flies, they immediately came down to receive their food. That insects are susceptible of a change of habits, or rather that they may acquire civilized habits, if I may say so, is shown by the domestication of bees, and occasionally by that of ants and wasps.Huber’sexperiments, with leaf-hives, show the existence of this faculty in an eminent degree, forhe assures us that it renders the bees quite tame and tractable.
Most physiologists, resting upon the evidence of analogy, agree in attributingfive sensesto insects: (Dr. Virey, as will be seen further on, ascribes to themseven senses:) though there is a difference of opinion as to the organs by which those senses are conveyed. Theantennæfor instance, have been regarded by some as the organs of smell, by others as the organs of touch, and by a third class as the organs of hearing. With the substitution of taste forbearing, the same opinions have been maintained respecting thepalpi;nor can the question even now be considered as settled. The prevailing opinion seems to be, that the antennæ are explorers or tactors, but that they are also applied to other uses; the effects produced by their excision indicate that they are organs of the highest importance.VideSenses of Bees.
Messrs. KirbyandSpencenotice the analogy borne by antennæ to the ears of vertebrate animals, such as their corresponding in number and standing out from the head. No ether organ has been found which can be supposed to represent the ear[L]. And what I have said in another place, of their constituting a sixth sense, has received some countenance from the observations of those naturalists.“I conceive,” says Mr. K., “that the antennæ, by a peculiar structure, may collect notices from the atmosphere, receive pulses or vibrations, and communicate them to the sensorium, which, [communications] though not precisely to be called hearing, may answer the same purpose.” Lehmann calls the function of the antennæ aëroscepsy. A very remarkable instance of the effect produced upon them by sound, is adduced by the authors just quoted, which one of them has thus related. “A little moth was reposing upon my window; I made a quiet, not loud, but distinct noise: the nearest antenna immediately moved towards me. I repeated the noise at least a dozen times, and it was followed every time by the same motion of that organ; till at length the insect, being alarmed, became agitated and violent in its motions. In this instance, it could not betouch; since the antenna was not applied to a surface, but directed towards the quarter from which the sound came, as if to listen.”