[X]Kirby and Spence, vol. ii. p. 522.
[X]Kirby and Spence, vol. ii. p. 522.
Mr. Hunterspeaks rather sarcastically, upon the subject of reason being one of the attributes of insects. “Reason,” says he, “has been ascribed to bees; they have been supposed to be legislators, and even mathematicians; and though there is some show of reason for these suppositions, there ismuch more of imagination.” To show how far the excursive fancy of apiarians had sometimes carried them, Mr. H. selected a very unfortunate instance, namely, the assertion, as he calls it, that workers’ eggs may be converted into queens,—a fact which has since been established by a series of the most satisfactory experiments.Dr. Virey, in hisNouvelle Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturelle, denies that insects possess any portion of intellect, and attributes all their operations to mere instinct, which he considers as the result of pure mechanism, depending upon the construction of their nervous systems, in the same manner as the tune played upon a barrel organ, is dependent on the notes which the cylinder successively presents to its keys.Des Cartes, and others before him, held a similar opinion, considering insects as being simply susceptible of external impressions, and through the medium of that susceptibility stimulated to act. If this doctrine be correct, instinct is possessed alike by animals and vegetables; in short by every thing that has life, the difference being not in quality, but in quantity.
Buffonattempted to explain the phænomena of insect life by the simple laws of mechanism, conceding to the insects at the same time a power of distinguishing and choosing between pleasure and pain. Some have even ventured to assert that the invariable exactness of the cell-work of bees is a proof of their stupidity, and “thatthe wonders of the honey’d reign,” no more bespeak the agency of mind or intellect, than the configuration of salts into their respective crystals.
“Shall then proud sophists arrogant and vain.Spurn all the wonders of the honey’d reign.And bid alike one mindless influence ownThe social bee, and crystallizing stone?Each link they trace in animation’s round,Dashes their poison’d chalice to the ground.”Evans.
“Shall then proud sophists arrogant and vain.Spurn all the wonders of the honey’d reign.And bid alike one mindless influence ownThe social bee, and crystallizing stone?Each link they trace in animation’s round,Dashes their poison’d chalice to the ground.”
Evans.
If this theory respecting insects were just, it should elucidate all the phenomena which it undertakes to explain, otherwise it is injurious to science. Examination will prove it to be a mere hypothetical opinion, ingenious, and at first sight plausible, but completely unsatisfactory. This theory is the natural consequence of denying to insects any portion of intellect, and its erroneousness is shown by their capability of instruction. Instinct itself cannot be a purely mechanical process, or it would be incapable of modification, and would, under like circumstances, always act in the same manner.Sir Joseph Banks’sspiderthat, on being crippled, changed from a sedentary web-weaver to a hunter, is an instance of modified instinct[Y]. The well known fact that birds buildtheir nests differently, where climate and other circumstances require a variation, is another instance. Adogmay be restrained from obeying its instincts, by the intimidating recollection of a beating which it had formerly received; a bee, if alarmed, will quit the nectary of a flower:—here the intellect of the creaturescounteracts their instincts. There are other instances in which the intellect appears todirect the instincts. When the bee makes excursive flights in quest of pasture, its senses serve to guide it, and enable it, by the aid of memory, to retrace its passage home again. At the conclusion of its outward and homeward journeys, its instincts immediately begin to operate; in the one case, teaching it to imbibe nectar, collect pollen, &c.; in the other, to store and apply those materials to their respective uses.
[Y]The account of this spider was sent toDr. LeachbySir Joseph Banks. An interesting history of it is given in the Linnæan Transactions, vol. ii. page 393. It had lost five of its legs, which were afterwards reproduced, but the new legs were shorter than those for which they were substituted.
[Y]The account of this spider was sent toDr. LeachbySir Joseph Banks. An interesting history of it is given in the Linnæan Transactions, vol. ii. page 393. It had lost five of its legs, which were afterwards reproduced, but the new legs were shorter than those for which they were substituted.
M. Reimarhas denied that the lower animals possessmemory, properly so called; and has given it as his opinion, that they are only influenced by past events, in consequence of having present objects before them,—never by reflection or knowledge of the past, as being past. But that, with them, a former impression may be renewed, without being recollected; that it is thus rendered present to the imagination, but has no place in the memory. For arguments and instances in support of their being endowed with memory, seepage 260. (Organs of Sensation.)
The possession of the organs of sense implies the possession of some portion of intellect, for without intellect those organs would seem incapable of being employed to the greatest advantage. “There is this difference,” saysMr. Spence, “between intellect in man, and the rest of the animal creation. Their intellect teaches them to follow the lead of their senses, and to make such use of the external world as their appetites or instincts incline them to,—andthis is their wisdom:while the intellect of man, being associated with an immortal principle, and connected with a world above that which his senses reveal to him, can, by aid derived from heaven, control those senses, and render them obedient to the governing power of his nature; andthis is his wisdom.” A distinction has been made, and very properly, between wisdom and knowledge. The former alone can be possessed by the lower animals, man can possess both. The distinction between them has been very accurately marked byCowper, though in making it he has confined himself to man only.
“Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one,Have oft times no connection. Knowledge dwellsIn heads replete with thoughts of other men,Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.”
“Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one,Have oft times no connection. Knowledge dwellsIn heads replete with thoughts of other men,Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.”
It will, I think, be evident to my readers, from the general tenour of this chapter, that though Imake a distinction between the instinct and the reason of bees, I do not confound their reason with the reason of man. But to obviate all possibility of misconception, I will at once define my meaning, when I use the terms insect reason and instinct.
Byreason, I mean the power of making deductions from previous experience or observation, and, thereby of adapting means to ends.InstinctI regard as a disposition and power to perform certain actions in the same uniform manner, without reference either to observation or experience. Those who have attended to this subject, will be aware thatinsect reasonas above defined, is more restricted in its functions thanthe reason of man; to which is superadded the power of distinguishing between the true and the false, and, according to some metaphysicians, between right and wrong. Reason, in man, has a regular growth, and a slow progression; all the arts he practises evince skill and dexterity, proportioned to the pains which have been taken in acquiring them. In the lower links of creation, but little of this gradual improvement is observable; their powers carry them almost directly to their object. They are perfect, asBaconsays, in all their members and organs from the very beginning.
“Far different Man, to higher fates assign’d.Unfolds with tardier step his Proteus mind,With numerous Instincts fraught, that lose their forceLike shallow streams, divided in their course;Long weak, and helpless, on the fostering breast,In fond dependence leans the infant guest.Till Reason ripens what young impulse taught.And builds, on sense, the lofty pile of thought;From earth, sea, air, the quick perceptions rise,And swell the mental fabric to the skies.”Evans.
“Far different Man, to higher fates assign’d.Unfolds with tardier step his Proteus mind,With numerous Instincts fraught, that lose their forceLike shallow streams, divided in their course;Long weak, and helpless, on the fostering breast,In fond dependence leans the infant guest.Till Reason ripens what young impulse taught.And builds, on sense, the lofty pile of thought;From earth, sea, air, the quick perceptions rise,And swell the mental fabric to the skies.”
Evans.
“Every manufacturing art,” saysDr. Reid, “was invented by some one man, successively improved and perfected by others; and when thus perfected, known only by those to whom it has been taught: while in the arts of animals no individual can claim the invention. Every animal of the species has equal skill from the beginning, without teaching, without experience, or habit.”
“Both Instinct and Reason,” saysDr. Evans, "appear to lose their intensity, in proportion as their rays diverge from their proper focus; and as they are less frequently aroused to action. A domesticated fowl is furnished with the same apparatus as her wild sisters on the waste, for rendering her feathers impenetrable to water: yet, living principally under cover, she secretes much less of the oily fluid, destined for that purpose, and makes, when accidentally wet, a most ridiculous appearance. The force of instinctive propensities, when directed to one object, and uninfluenced by reason, is strongly exemplified inthe idiot bee-eater of Selborne, mentioned byMr.White, in hisHistory of Selborne. The collected powers of reason, when concentred in a single focus, is no less finely instanced in the immortalNewton.”
To those readers who have not seen Mr. White’s account of the bee-eater, the following abstract of it may prove acceptable.
The boy was a resident in Selborne, about the year 1750. He took great notice of bees from his childhood, and at length used to eat them. In summer, his few faculties were devoted to the pursuit of them, through fields and gardens. During winter, his father’s chimney corner was his favourite haunt, where he dozed away his time, in an almost torpid state. Practice made him so expert, that he could seize honey-bees, humble-bees or wasps, with his naked hands, disarm them of their stings, and suck their honey-bags, with perfect impunity. Sometimes he would store the bees in bottles, and even in his shirt bosom. He was the terror of the surrounding bee-keepers, whose gardens he would enter by stealth, and rapping on the outsides of their hives, catch the bees as they came out to see what was the matter. If in this way he could not obtain a sufficient number to supply his wants, so passionately fond was he of honey, that he would sometimes overturn the hives to get at it. He was accustomed to hover about the tubs of the mead-makers, to bega draught of bee-wine, as he called it. As he ran about the fields he made a humming noise with his lips, resembling that of bees. The lad was lean in his person, and of a cadaverous unhealthy aspect: he died before he reached the age of maturity.
ON THE ARCHITECTURE OF BEES.
“Quel abime aux yeux du sage qu’une ruche d’abeilles? Quel sagesse profonde se cache dans cet abime! Quel philosophe osera le fonder!”—Bonnet.
“Quel abime aux yeux du sage qu’une ruche d’abeilles? Quel sagesse profonde se cache dans cet abime! Quel philosophe osera le fonder!”—Bonnet.
Thecombs of a bee-hive comprise a congeries of hexagonal cells, formed by the bees, as receptacles for honey or for embryo bees. A honey-comb is allowed to be one of the most striking achievements of insect industry, and an admirable specimen of insect architecture. It has attracted the admiration of the contemplative philosopher in all ages, and awakened speculation not only in the naturalist, but also in the mathematician: so regular, so perfect, is the structure of the cells, that it satisfies every condition of a refined problem in geometry. Still a review of their proceedings will lead to the conclusion, asHuberhas observed, that “the geometrical relations, which apparently embellish the productions of bees, are rather the necessary result of their mode of proceeding, than the principle by which their labour is guided.” “We must therefore conclude, that the bees, although they act geometrically, understandneither the rules nor the principles of the arts which they practise so skilfully, and that the geometry is not in the bee, but in the great Geometrician who made the bee, and made all things in number, weight and measure[Z].”
[Z]Reid.
[Z]Reid.
Before the time ofHuber, no naturalist had seen the commencement of the comb, nor traced the several steps of its progress. After many attempts, he at length succeeded in attaining the desired object, by preventing the bees from forming their usual impenetrable curtain, by suspending themselves from the top of the hive; in short, he obliged them to build upwards, and was thereby enabled, by means of a glass window, to watch every variation and progressive step in the construction of comb.
Each comb in a hive is composed of two ranges of cells backed against each other: these cells, looking at them as a whole, may be said tohave one common base, though no one cell is opposed directly to another. This base or partition between the double row of cells is so disposed as to form a pyramidal cavity at the bottom of each, as will be explained presently.The mouths of the cells, thus ranged on each side of a comb,open into two parallel streets(there being a continued series of combs in every well filled hive). These streetsare sufficiently contracted to avoid waste of room and to preserve a proper warmth, yetwide enough to allow the passage of two bees abreast. Apertures through different parts of the combs are reserved to form near roads, for crossing from street to street, whereby much time is saved to the bees.
“These in firm phalanx ply their twinkling feet,Stretch out the ductile mass, and form the street,with many a cross-way path and postern gate.That shorten to their range the spreading state.”Evans.
“These in firm phalanx ply their twinkling feet,Stretch out the ductile mass, and form the street,with many a cross-way path and postern gate.That shorten to their range the spreading state.”
Evans.
The bees, as has been already observed,build their cells of an hexangular form, having six equal sides, with the exception of the first or uppermost row, the shape of which is an irregular pentagon, the roof of the hive forming one of the members of the pentagon, thus:
“There are only three possible figures of the cells,” saysDr. Reid, “which can make them all equal and similar, without any useless interstices. These are the equilateral triangle, the square and the regular hexagon. It is well known to mathematicians that there is not a fourth way possible,in which a plane maybe cut into little spaces that shall be equal, similar, and regular, without leaving any interstices.” Of these three geometrical figures, the hexagon most completely unites the prime requisites for insect architecture. The truth of this proposition was perceived byPappus, an eminent Greek philosopher and mathematician, who lived at Alexandria in the reign of Theodosius the Great, and its adoption by bees in the construction of honey-comb was noticed by that ancient geometrician. These requisites are;
First, Œconomy of materials. There are no useless partitions in a honey-comb, each of the six lateral pannels of one cell forms also one of the pannels of an adjoining cell; and of the three rhombs which form the pyramidal base of a cell, each contributes one-third towards the formation of the bases of three opposing cells, the bottom or centre of every cell resting against the point of union of three pannels that are at the back of it.
Secondly, Œconomy of room; no interstices being left between adjoining cells.
Thirdly, The greatest possible capacity or internal space, consistent with the two former desiderata.
Fourthly, Œconomy of materials and œconomy of room produce œconomy of labour. And in addition to these advantages, the cells are constructed in the strongest manner possible, considering thequantity of materials employed. Both the sides and bases are so exquisitely thin, that three or four placed on each other are not thicker than a leaf of common writing-paper; each cell, separately weak, is strengthened by its coincidence with other cells, andthe entrance is fortified with an additional ledge or border of wax, to prevent its bursting from the struggles of the bee-nymph, or from the ingress and egress of the labourers. This entrance border isat least three times as thick as the sides of the cell, and thicker at the angles than elsewhere, which prevents the mouth of the cell from being regularly hexagonal, though the interior is perfectly so.
“On books deep poring, ye pale sons of toil.Who waste in studious trance the midnight oil,Say, can ye emulate with all your rules.Drawn or from Grecian or from Gothic schools.This artless frame? Instinct her simple guide,A heaven-taught Insect baffles all your pride.Not all yon marshal’d orbs, that ride so high.Proclaim more loud a present Deity,Than the nice symmetry of these small cells,Where on each angle genuine science dwells.And joys to mark, through wide creation’s reign,How close the lessening links of her continued chain.”Evans.
“On books deep poring, ye pale sons of toil.Who waste in studious trance the midnight oil,Say, can ye emulate with all your rules.Drawn or from Grecian or from Gothic schools.This artless frame? Instinct her simple guide,A heaven-taught Insect baffles all your pride.Not all yon marshal’d orbs, that ride so high.Proclaim more loud a present Deity,Than the nice symmetry of these small cells,Where on each angle genuine science dwells.And joys to mark, through wide creation’s reign,How close the lessening links of her continued chain.”
Evans.
I have just adverted to the ingenuity of the bees in thickening, and thereby strengthening the mouths of the cells.Additional strength is alsoderived from the bees covering the whole surface of the combs, but more particularly the edges of the cells, with a peculiar kind of varnish, which they collect for the purpose. At first the combs are delicately white, semitransparent, and exceedingly fragile, smooth but unpolished: in a short time their surfaces become stronger, and assume more or less of a yellow tint. The deepening of the colour of honey-combs has been supposed, by some, to be the effect of age; and in part it may be: but it is principally owing to the coat of varnish with which the bees cover them. This varnish strongly resembles propolis, appearing to differ from it only in containing the colouring material which imparts to wax its yellow hue. The source of this colouring matter has not been discovered: it is insoluble in alcohol; but the manufacture of white wax shows that it is destructible by light.—But to return to the construction of the cell-work.
The pyramidal basis of a cell is formed by the junction of three rhomboidal or lozenge-shaped portions of wax;thus,
the apex of the pyramid being situated where the three obtuse angles of the lozenges meet. To the exterior edges and angles are attached the six pannels or sides of each cell. The apex of each pyramidal bottom, on one side of a comb, forms the angles of the bases of three cells on the opposite side, the three lozenges respectively concurring in the formation of the bases of the same cells. This will I hope explain what is meant by “each cell separately weak, being strengthened by coincidence with others.” The bottom of each cell rests upon three partitions of opposite cells, from which it receives a great accession of strength.
As it is desirable that the reader should thoroughly comprehend this subject, I will restate it in other words.—The partition which separates the two opposing rows of cells, and which occupies, of course, the middle distance between their two surfaces, is not a plane but a collection of rhombs, there being three at the bottom of each cell: the three together form in shape a flattened pyramid, the basis of which is turned towards the mouth of the cell; each cell is in form therefore an hexagonal prism, terminated by a flattened trihedral pyramid, the three sides of which pyramid are rhombs, that meet at the apex by their obtuse angles. The plates underneath, represent the opposite surfaces of the pyramidal bases of adjoining cells, and will, Itrust, enable the reader to understand the foregoing description.
The union of the lozenges in one point, in addition to the support which it is the means of affording to the three partitions between opposing cells, is also admirably adapted to receive the little egg and to concentrate the heat necessary for its incubation.
Each obtuse angle of the lozenges or rhombs forms an angle of about 110°, and each acute one, an angle of about 70°.M. Maraldifound by mensuration that the angles of these rhombs which compose the base of a cell, amounted to 109° 28′ and 70° 32′; and the famous mathematicianKœnig, pupil of the celebrated Bernouilli, having been employed for that purpose byM. Reaumur, has clearly shown, by the method of infinitesimals, that the quantity of these angles, using the least possible wax, in a cell of the same capacity, should contain 109° 26′ and70° 34′. This was confirmed by the celebratedMr. McLaurin, who very justly observes, that the bees do truly construct their cells of the best figure, and with the utmost mathematical exactness.
The construction of several combs is generally going on at the same time. No sooner is the foundation of one laid, with a few rows of cells attached to it, than a second and a third are founded on each side, parallel to the first, and so on, (if the season give encouragement to the operations of the bees,) till the hive is filled with their works; the first constructed comb or combs being always in the most advanced state, and therefore the first to be completed.
The design of every comb is sketched out, and the first rudiments are laid, by one single bee.This founder-bee forms a block, out of a rough mass of wax, drawn partly from its own resources, but principally from those of other bees, which furnish materials, in quick succession, from the receptacles under their bellies, taking out the plates of wax with their hind feet, and carrying them to their mouths with their fore-feet, where the wax is moistened and masticated, till it becomes soft and ductile.
Thus, “filter’d through yon flutterer’s folded mail,Clings the cool’d wax, and hardens to a scale.Swift, at the well-known call, the ready train(For not a buz boon Nature breathes in vain,)Spring to each falling flake, and bear alongTheir glossy burdens to the builder throng.”Evans.
Thus, “filter’d through yon flutterer’s folded mail,Clings the cool’d wax, and hardens to a scale.Swift, at the well-known call, the ready train(For not a buz boon Nature breathes in vain,)Spring to each falling flake, and bear alongTheir glossy burdens to the builder throng.”
Evans.
The architect-in-chief, who lays, as it were, the first stone of this and each successive edifice, determines the relative position of the combs, and their distances from each other: these foundations serve as guides for the ulterior labours of the wax-working bees, and of those which sculpture the cells, giving them the advantage of the margin and angles already formed.
The expedients resorted to by that ingenious naturalist,Huber, unfolded the whole process. He saw each bee extract with its hind feet one of the plates of wax from under the scales where they were lodged, and carrying it to the mouth, in a vertical position, turn it round; so that every part of its border was made to pass, in succession, under the cutting edge of the jaws: it was thus soon divided into very small fragments; and a frothy liquor was poured upon it from the tongue, so as to form a perfectly plastic mass. This liquor gave the wax a whiteness and opacity which it did not possess originally, and at the same time rendered it tenacious and ductile. The issuing of this masticated mass from the mouth was, no doubt, what misled Reaumur, and caused him to regard wax as nothing more than digested pollen.
The mass of wax, prepared by the assistants, is applied by the architect-bee to the roof or bottom of the hive, as the case may be; and thus a block is raised of a semi-lenticular shape, thick at top and tapering towards the edges. When of sufficient size, a cell is sculptured on one side of it, by the wax-working bees, who relieve one another in succession, sometimes to the number of twenty, before the cell is completely fashioned. At the back and on each side of this first cell, two others are sketched out and excavated. By this proceeding the foundations of two cells are laid, the line betwixt them corresponding with the centre of the opposite cell. As the comb extends, the first excavations are rendered deeper and broader; and when a pyramidal base is finished, the bees build up walls from its edges, so as to complete, what may be called, the prismatic part of the cell. Every succeeding row of cells is formed by precisely similar steps, until there is sufficient scope for the simultaneous employment of many workers.
“These, with sharp sickle, or with sharper tooth,Pare each excrescence, and each angle smooth,Till now, in finish’d pride, two radiant rows,Of snow-white cells, one mutual base disclose.Six shining pannels gird each polish’d round.The door’s fine rim, with waxen fillet bound,While walls so thin, with sister walls combin’d.Weak in themselves, a sure dependence find.”Evans.
“These, with sharp sickle, or with sharper tooth,Pare each excrescence, and each angle smooth,Till now, in finish’d pride, two radiant rows,Of snow-white cells, one mutual base disclose.Six shining pannels gird each polish’d round.The door’s fine rim, with waxen fillet bound,While walls so thin, with sister walls combin’d.Weak in themselves, a sure dependence find.”
Evans.
The pyramidal bases and lateral plates aresuccessively formed, with surprising rapidity: the latter are lengthened as the comb proceeds, for the original semi-lenticular form is preserved till towards the last, when if the hive or box be filled, the sides of all the cells receive such additions as give them equal depth.
The cells intended for the dronesare considerably larger, and more substantial, than those for the working bees, and, being later formed, usually appear near the bottom of the combs. Last of all are built theroyal cells, the cradles of the infant queens: of these there are usually three or four, and sometimes ten or twelve, in a hive, attached commonly to the central part, but not unfrequently to the edge or side of the comb.Mr. Huntersays that he has seen as many as thirteen royal cells in a hive, and that they have very little wax in their composition, not one-third, the rest he conceives to be farina. Such is the genuine loyalty of bees, that the wax which they employ with so much geometric œconomy, in the construction of hexagonal cells, is profusely expended on the mansions of the royal bee-nymph, one of these exceeding in weight a hundred of the former. They are not interwoven with them, but suspended perpendicularly, their sides being nearly parallel to the mouths of the common cells, several of which are sacrificed to support them.
“No more with wary thriftiness imprest,They grace with lavish pomp their royal guest,Nor heed the wasted wax, nor rifted cell.To bid, with fretted round, th’ imperial palace swell.”Evans.
“No more with wary thriftiness imprest,They grace with lavish pomp their royal guest,Nor heed the wasted wax, nor rifted cell.To bid, with fretted round, th’ imperial palace swell.”
Evans.
The form of these royal cells is an oblong spheroid, tapering gradually downwards, and having the exterior full of holes, somewhat resembling therusticwork of stone buildings. The mouth of the cell, which is always at its bottom, remains open till the maggot is ready for transformation, and is then closed as the others are.
Immediately on the emergence of a ripened queen, the lodge which she inhabited is destroyed, and its place is supplied by a range of common cells. The site of this range may always be traced, by that part of the comb being thicker than the rest, and forming a kind of knot; sometimes the upper portion of the cell itself remains, like an inverted acorn-cup, suspended by its short peduncle.
“Yet no fond dupes to slavish zeal resign’d,They link with industry the loyal mind.Flown is each vagrant chief? They raze the dome,That bent oppressive o’er the fetter’d comb,And on its knotted base fresh gamers raise.Where toil secure her well-earn’d treasure lays.”Evans.
“Yet no fond dupes to slavish zeal resign’d,They link with industry the loyal mind.Flown is each vagrant chief? They raze the dome,That bent oppressive o’er the fetter’d comb,And on its knotted base fresh gamers raise.Where toil secure her well-earn’d treasure lays.”
Evans.
In this mutilated state only, and not in the breeding season, could Mr. Hunter have seen this cradle of royalty; for he describes it as the half of an oval, too wide and shallow to receive itssupposed tenant. The following sketch affords; a representation of the hexagonal cells of a comb, and also the attachment of the royal cradles.
I have spoken of the perfect regularity in the cell-work of a honey-comb;—particular circumstances, however, induce a departure from this exactness: for instance, where bees have commenced a comb with small cell-work, and afterwards wish to attach to it a set of large cells, as in the case of drone-cells being required to be appended to workers-cells. These deviations from the usual regularity renew our admiration of bee-ingenuity, though Reaumur and Bonnet have regarded them as examples of imperfection. They effect their object by interposing three or four series of, what may be called,cells of transition,the bottoms or bases of which are composed of two rhombs and two hexagons, instead of three rhombs; the rhombs and hexagons gradually varying in form and relative proportion, till the requisite size, namely that of the cells which they are approaching, has been attained. The following outlines will serve to convey to the reader the regular steps in this progressive increase.
The same gradation is observed when returning to smaller cells. Every apparent irregularity is therefore determined by a sufficient motive, and forms no impeachment of the sagacity of the bee.
The common breeding-cells of drones or workers are, occasionally, (after being cleaned,) made the depositories of honey; but the cells are never made so clean, as to preserve the honey undeteriorated.The finest honey is stored in new cells, constructed for the purpose of receiving it, their configuration resembling precisely the common breeding-cells: thesehoney-cells vary in size, being made more or less capacious,according to the productiveness of the sources from which the bees are collecting, andaccording to the season of the year: the cells formed in July and August vary in their dimensions from those that are formed earlier; being intended for honey only, they are larger and deeper, the texture of their walls is thinner, and they have more dip or inclination: this dip diminishes the risk of the honey’s running out, which from the heat of the weather, and the consequent thinness of the honey, at this season of the year, it might otherwise be liable to do.When the cells, intended for holding the winter’s provision, are filled,they are always closed with waxen lids, and never re-opened till the whole of the honey in the unfilled cells has been expended. The waxen lids are thus formed;—The bees first construct a ring of wax within the verge of the cell, to which other rings are successively added, till the aperture of the cell is finally closed with a lid composed of concentric circles.
The brood-cells, when their tenants have attained a certain age, are also covered with waxen lids, like the honey-cells; the lids differ a little, the latter being somewhat concave, the formerconvex.The depth of the brood-cellsof drones and working bees is about half an inch;their diameteris more exact, that of the drone-cells being 3⅓ lines[AA], that of the workers 2⅗ lines. These, says Reaumur, are the invariable dimensions of all the cells, that ever were, or ever will be made.
[AA]A line is the twelfth part of an inch.
[AA]A line is the twelfth part of an inch.
From this uniform, unvarying diameter of the brood-cells, when completed, their use has been suggested, as an universal standard of measure, which would be understood, in all countries, to the end of time.
“While heav’n-born Instinct bounds their measur’d view,From age to age, from Zembla to Peru,Their snow-white cells, the order’d artists frame,In size, in form, in symmetry the same.”Evans.
“While heav’n-born Instinct bounds their measur’d view,From age to age, from Zembla to Peru,Their snow-white cells, the order’d artists frame,In size, in form, in symmetry the same.”
Evans.
AN INQUIRY INTO THE SOURCE AND NATURE OF BEES-WAX.
Ithas long been very generally and implicitly believed, that the yellow matter (in other words, the pollen or farina of flowers,) which bees visibly collect upon their thighs, is the prime constituent of wax, the material of the honey-comb. EvenBonnetandReaumurwere of this opinion.Burler,Purchas,RusdenandThorleyhave argued against its identity with wax; and I trust that the observations and experiments which I am about to detail, will convince the dispassionate inquirer of the fallacy of this old opinion.
In the first place, It is to be observed, that where no more comb can be built, as in old hives, the bees carry in the greatest quantity of this yellow matter.
Secondly, That it differs materially from wax, the latter when examined between the fingers being adhesive, the former crumbly; the latter also liquefying on the application of heat, whilst the former burns to ashes.
Thirdly, That the wax of new combs, from whatever source collected, is uniformly white; whereas the farina, as gathered by the bees, isalways black, yellow, or red, agreeing in colour with the anther-dust of the flowers in blossom at the time of its collection. Moreover, the farina, after it has been stored in the cells, retains its original colour, whilst wax invariably changes, first to a yellow, and lastly to a blackish tint. Layers of different-coloured farina are generally found in the cells, if slit down; and every hive, at the season of deprivation, possesses a store of it.
Fourthly, That fresh colonies carry in very little, if any, of this matter, for some days after swarming, though combs are formed within that period. I noticed this fact in my first colony: the swarm issued from the parent hive on the 18th of May;—five days of rainy weather succeeded: during this period the bees were prevented from flying abroad; I fed them nightly with sugared ale, and before the return of fine weather a considerable quantity of comb was formed. Now excepting such materials as the bees might have brought with them from the parent hive, in this case, the sugared ale alone must have been the source of the wax.Huishhas remarked that unless bees have access to water, and also to sugar or honey, no comb can be formed. Again, it may be observed, that upon the storifying plan, when fresh works are commenced in the duplets or triplets, if the farinawere the basis of the combs, an increased quantity should be carried in. On the contrary, though I have watched the bees very minutely on these occasions, I scarcely ever witnessed the introduction of farina; and in such rare instances as I did observe it, it might fairly be regarded as food for the young larvæ of the bees contained in the full box or boxes.
“No pearly loads they bear; but o’er the fieldRound flower and fruit the lithe proboscis wield.From meal-tipp’d anthers steal the lacquer’d crown,And brush from rind or leaf the silvery down.Nay oft, when threaten’d storms or drizzling rain.Close in their walls, th’ impatient hosts detain,E’en from the yellow hoard’s nectareous rill,Their tubes secerning can a stream distil,Clear and untinctur’d as the fountain wave,That glides, slow trickling, thro’ the crevic’d cave.But, as that welling wave, around the stone,In rings concentric, wreathes its sparry zone.So filter’d thro’ yon flutterer’s folded mail.Clings the cool’dwax, and hardens to a scale.”Evans.
“No pearly loads they bear; but o’er the fieldRound flower and fruit the lithe proboscis wield.From meal-tipp’d anthers steal the lacquer’d crown,And brush from rind or leaf the silvery down.Nay oft, when threaten’d storms or drizzling rain.Close in their walls, th’ impatient hosts detain,E’en from the yellow hoard’s nectareous rill,Their tubes secerning can a stream distil,Clear and untinctur’d as the fountain wave,That glides, slow trickling, thro’ the crevic’d cave.But, as that welling wave, around the stone,In rings concentric, wreathes its sparry zone.So filter’d thro’ yon flutterer’s folded mail.Clings the cool’dwax, and hardens to a scale.”
Evans.
The observations ofMr. John Huntertended to confirm this view of the matter; still more so, those ofM. HuberandSon. In order to determine the point with greater precision, Huber instituted many experiments. He lodged a recent swarm in a straw-hive, leaving at its disposal only a sufficiency of honey and water for its consumption, and preventing it from going beyond theprecincts of a room, so closed as to admit only a renewal of the air. At the end of five days as many cakes of beautifully white, though very fragile wax, were suspended from the roof; the honey had totally disappeared. Still however, as there was a possibility that the thighs and stomachs of the bees might have conveyed pollen from the parent hive, he withdrew these five combs, and replaced the bees in the hive with a fresh supply of honey and water; they renewed their toil with unabated industry, and soon fabricated new combs: these last were taken from them; when the patient and indefatigable insects commenced a third structure of comb. Five times in succession were their works thus completed and removed, although during the whole of this period they were fed merely with honey and water, and could not possibly have had access to farina.
These experiments, so uniform in their results, give indubitable validity to the fact,—that honey, through the organic intervention of bees, may be converted into wax. A contrary experiment was made, by abundantly supplying a hive with fruit and pollen only: but during eight days confinement the bees produced no wax whatever, nor exhibited any plates under their abdominal rings; no combs were formed, nor was an atom of farina touched,—a clear proof that farina supplies neitherwax nor sustenance to adult bees. The improbability of this indeed is evinced by its abundance in hives whose tenants have died of famine. And as to its being the constituent of wax,Reaumurcalculated that a well stocked hive might collect at least 100 pounds of pollen in a season, whereas the weight of wax fabricated in the same time would not exceed two pounds.
Experiments have proved the excellence of sugar as a substitute for honey, and in some instances its superiority for the formation of wax. It might otherwise have been supposed that bees might form comb from some particles of wax accidentally present in the honey, and that these afforded the pabulum for this secretion. To prove therefore that the saccharine principle alone enabled the bees to produce wax, being still confined, they were supplied with a syrup made with Canary-sugar and water, and at the same time comparative experiments were made in another hive, where the bees were fed on honey and water. The syrup-fed bees produced wax sooner and more abundantly than the honey-fed bees. Another fact was also incontrovertibly elicited; namely, that in the old hives the honey is warehoused, and that in the new ones it is consumed and transmuted into wax.
The experiments ofHuberhave been confirmed by those ofM. Blondelu, of Noyau,who addressed a memoir upon this subject to the Society of Agriculture at Paris, in May 1812.Huishhas critically examined these experiments of Huber, but without being convinced by them: for having observed pollen on the thighs of bees when swarming, and upon dissection, in their stomachs also, he considers that pollen, elaborated in the second stomach of the bee, “contains in itself the principle of wax.” Were this the case, what a store of pollen must the bees have reserved, in Huber’s experiments, wherein they formed five successive sets of comb, without access to fresh pollen! The pollen or bee-bread, which Huish discovered on the thighs and in the stomachs of some of his bees, was most likely intended for larva-food; they were probably bees that had been abroad, and joined the swarm on their passage home, before they had deposited their freight in the parent hive. With this pollen (or ambrosia, as it has been called), after conversion into a sort of whitish jelly by the action of the bee’s stomach, where it is probably mixed with honey, and then regurgitated, the young brood, immediately upon their exclusion and until their change into nymphs, are fed by the nursing-bees several times a day. The opinion that pollen is the prime constituent of wax was held byBuffon, and remains uncontradicted in an edition of his Works so late as 1821.ArthurDobbs, Esq., in the Philosophical Transactions for 1752, instead of considering wax as digested pollen discharged from the stomach of the bee, regards it as being emittedper annum; and as he speaks of its discharge in husks or shells, doubtless he saw it in that form, which it is now known to assume when moulded upon the body of the bee. Indeed he says that he has had swarming bees alight upon his hand, and drop warm wax upon it. Its being secreted only by the under side of the belly might easily deceive, and lead him to regard it as alvine excrement.
I will here subjoin some more proofs of the non-identity of wax and pollen. So long ago as 1768, theLusatian Society(calledSociété des Abeilles, founded at little Bautzen, a village in Upper Lusatia, under the auspices of the Elector of Saxony,) knew that wax was not discharged from the mouths of bees, but was secreted in thin scales among their abdominal rings or segments. About 1774,Mr. Thorleycaught a bee just entering its hive, and found, among the plaits of its belly, no less than six pieces or scales of solid wax, perfectly white and transparent, and he oftentimes saw wax in the same situation.M. Duchet, in hisCulture des Abeilles, quoted byWildmanin 1778, declares that wax is formed of honey; and relates in proof of it, that he has seen a broken comb of an overset hive, whichwas repaired during bad weather, when the bees could not acquire any other material. This statement of Duchet corresponds with my own observation, as stated inpage 357, but is not so conclusive. In Duchet’s instance there might have been other materials in the hive besides honey; whereas in my case the bees had access to no materials whatever, excepting the sugared ale and the honey which they had conveyed from the parent hive, the swarm having been just hived.Wildman, in his Treatise on the Management of Bees, states his having seen pieces of wax, like fish scales, on the hive floor of a fresh swarmed colony, part of which he thinks must at least have been formed upon the body of the bee; some flakes might have fallen from the combs then constructing, but there were many pieces among them which were concave on one side and convex on the other, as if moulded on the insect’s belly. Flakes were likewise seen, hanging loose, between the abdominal scales of the bees. In 1792,Mr. John Hunter, apparently unacquainted with antecedent conjectures, detected the genuine reservoir of wax under the bee’s belly. He considered wax as an external secretion of oil, formed and moulded between the abdominal scales of the insect.Dr. Evansconfirms the testimony of Wildman and Hunter, having been an eye-witness to the formation of wax intoflakes. “One or more bees,” he remarks, “may be often seen before the door of the hive, supporting themselves by their two fore-feet, fluttering their wings, and agitating the hind parts of their bodies. They are then evidently moulding the wax between their abdominal scales, the motion of the wings serving to preserve their balance, and as a signal for their companions within to come and carry off the falling flakes.” In the Philosophical Transactions for 1807,Mr. Knightstates that there is no such secretory process; that the wax is laid on the scales of the abdomen for the convenience of carriage, and to receive warmth preparatory to cell-building.
To complete the evidence however, to me so irresistible, in favour of the wax-secreting faculty of the bee’s body, I observe finally, that in 1793, M. Huber’s observations led him to the same conclusion as Mr. Hunter’s, relative to the nature of the laminæ under the abdominal scales: but Huber slumbered not there, he prosecuted the inquiry more successfully than any preceding naturalist, and at length demonstrated the secreting organs which had eluded the scrutiny of Swammerdam, Hunter, and other acute anatomists. He found that these laminæ were contained in distinct receptacles, on each side of the middle process of the scales; he examined with great care the form and structure of these secretingcavities, which are peculiar to working bees. Each working bee has eight of these organs, sacklets or small compartments. Their general shape is an irregular pentagon, and the plates of wax, being moulded in them, exhibit accordingly the same form. A perforation of their lining membrane on the side next to the abdomen, started a jet of transparent fluid, which congealed on cooling; in this state it resembled wax, and became again fluid on the application of heat. Comparative experiments were made with the substance contained in the pouches and with the wax of fresh combs: a great similarity between these two substances was discerned; the latter appeared somewhat more compound, having probably received some additional ingredient, while employed as the material for building. The secreting function of the membrane on the inner surface of these cavities, was further evinced, by a more minute examination of its structure, which exhibited a number of folds, forming an hexagonal net-work, analogous to the inner coat of the second stomach of ruminating quadrupeds. Huber does not appear to have known the observations either of Duchet or of Wildman on this subject, although they were made long prior to Mr. Hunter’s; for he quotes only from the latter.
When combs are wanted, bees fill their cropswith honey, and retaining it in them, hang together in a cluster from the top of the hive, and remain inactive about twenty-four hours. During this time the wax is secreted, and may be seen in laminæ, under the abdominal scales, whence it is removed by the hind legs of the bee, and transferred to the fore legs; from them it is taken by the jaws, and after being masticated as described in Chap, XXXIV,page 347, the fabrication of comb commences.
“To see the wax-pockets in the hive-bee, you must press the abdomen, so as to cause its distention; you will then find, on each of the four intermediate ventral segments, separated by the carina or elevated central part, two trapeziform whitish pockets, of a soft membranaceous texture: on these the laminæ of wax are formed, in different states, more or less perceptible[AB].”