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Read Ebook: The Honey-Bee: Its Natural History Physiology and Management by Bevan Edward
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Ebook has 487 lines and 121887 words, and 10 pages
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Chap. Page.
A GENERAL VIEW
OF THE
HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY
THE BEE.
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HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY.
Every association of bees comprises three descriptions of individuals; and each description is distinguished by an appearance and cast of character peculiar to itself.
"First of the throng and foremost of the whole, One 'stands confest the sovereign and the soul.'"
This couplet may, to a limited extent, be applied to other kinds of bees; but it is more peculiarly applicable to hive-bees, as amongst them there has never been found, in any single family, more than one acknowledged regnant chief, usually designated by the name of Queen; of whom, as having the highest claim to our attention, I shall first proceed to speak.
Thirdly, there are the +drones+ or +males+, to the number of perhaps 1500 or 2000. These make their appearance about the end of April, and are never to be seen after the middle of August, excepting under very peculiar circumstances which will be stated hereafter. They are one-third larger than the workers, somewhat thicker and of a darker colour; they have a shorter proboscis and are more blunt at the tail than either the queen or the workers; the last ring of the body is fringed with hairs, extending over the tail and visible to the naked eye. They make a greater noise in flying and have no sting; are rather shorter than the queen but much larger. Underneath the tail two small protuberances of a yellowish colour may be seen, which are regarded as the distinctive marks of their sex. In some swarms no drones are observable: probably these are first swarms, which, being always led off by old queens, have no occasion for drones, if there be any truth in the theory to be hereafter stated.
Contrary to what occurs in the human species and in other parts of the animal creation, among bees, the females alone exhibit activity, skill, diligence and courage, whilst the males take no part whatever in the labours of the community, but are idle, cowardly and inactive, and possess not the usual offensive weapon of their species. The only way in which the drones promote the welfare of the society is a sexual one; and I shall endeavour to show, in the course of this chapter, that they serve no other purpose than that of impregnating such of the young queens as may lead forth swarms in the season, or be raised to the sovereignty of the parent hive. As the drones are "never seen settling on any kind of flowers, nor laying up honey in the cells, they most probably feed at home, and fully answer the description given of them by the poet:"
"Immunisque sedens aliena ad pabula fucus."
+Virgil.+
"Their short proboscis sips No luscious nectar from the wild thyme's lips, From the lime's leaf no amber drops they steal, Nor bear their grooveless thighs the foodful meal: On others toils, in pamper'd leisure thrive The lazy fathers of th' industrious hive." "Yet oft, we're told, these seeming idlers share The pleasing duties of parental care. With fond attention guard each genial cell, And watch the embryo bursting from its shell."
+Evans.+
It may appear somewhat extraordinary that a creature which takes its food so voraciously prior to its assuming the pupa state, should live so long without food, after that assumption: but a little consideration will perhaps abate our wonder; for when the insect has attained the state of pupa, it has arrived at its full growth, and probably the nutriment, taken so greedily, is to serve as a store for developing the perfect insect.
Such are the respective stages of the working bee; those of the royal bee are as follow. She passes three days in the egg and is five a worm; the workers then close her cell, and she immediately begins spinning the cocoon, which occupies her twenty-four hours. On the tenth and eleventh days, as if exhausted by her labour, she remains in complete repose, and even sixteen hours of the twelfth. Then she passes four days and one-third as a nymph. It is on the sixteenth day therefore that the perfect state of queen is attained.
"The larvae of bees, though without feet, are not always without motion. They advance from their first station at the bottom of the cell, in a spiral direction: this movement, for the first three days, is so slow as to be scarcely perceptible; but after that it is more easily discerned. The animal now makes two entire revolutions, in about an hour and three quarters; and when the period of its metamorphosis arrives, it is scarcely more than two lines from the mouth of the cell. Its attitude, which is always the same, is a strong curve. This occasions the inhabitant of a horizontal cell to be always perpendicular to the horizon, and that of a vertical one to be parallel with it."
The young bees break their envelope with their teeth, and, assisted at first by the working-bees, proceed to cleanse themselves from the moisture and exuviae with which they were surrounded: this operation being completed, they begin to exercise their intended functions, and in a few minutes are gathering provision in the fields, loading "in life's first hour the hollow'd thigh." M. Maraldi assures us that he has "seen bees loaded with two large balls of wax, returning to the hive, the same day they became bees." "We have seen her," says Wildman, "the same day issue from the cell, and return from the fields loaded with wax, like the rest." The error of Maraldi and Wildman in using the term wax instead of pollen, does not at all affect the accuracy of their observations. As soon as the young insect has been licked clean and regaled with a little honey by its companions, the latter clean out the cell, preparatory to its being re-occupied by a new tenant or with honey.
"When noon-tide Sirius glares on high, Young Love ascends the glowing sky, From vein to vein swift shoots prolific fire, And thrills each insect fibre with desire. Thence, Nature, to fulfil thy prime decree, Wheels round, in wanton rings, the courtier bee; Now shyly distant, now with bolden'd air. He woos and wins the all-complying fair: Through fields of ether, veil'd in vap'ry gloom, They seek, with amorous haste, the nuptial room; As erst th' immortal pair, on Ida's height, Wreath'd round their noon of joy, ambrosial night."
+Evans.+
The males and the fertile females, among ants, are winged insects; the former, as in the case of drone bees, perish a short time after their amours; and the females, having alighted upon a spot suitable for the formation of a colony, cut off their own wings, as being no longer of any use to them. A domino Hunter didici, se bombinatrices sub oculos in coitu junctos, ut apud muscas mos est, vidisse. "Aculeus," inquit, "articulo temporis ejicitur, et inter gemina insecta, dorso feminae imponitur. Hoc situ aliquandi? manent." In the hornet it is the same.
The young virgin-queens, generally, set out in quest of the males, the day after they are settled in their new abode, which is usually the fifth day of their existence as queens, two or three days being passed in captivity, one in the native hive after their liberation, and the fifth in the new dwelling. The ancients seem to have been very solicitous to establish for the bees a character of inviolable chastity: Pliny observes, "Apium enim coitus visus nunquam." And Virgil endeavours to support the same opinion:
"But of all customs which the bees can boast, 'Tis this that claims our admiration most; That none will Hymen's softer joys approve, Nor waste their spirits in luxurious love: But all a long virginity maintain. And bring forth young without a mother's pain."
"Well might the Bard, on fancy's frolic wing, Bid, from fresh flowers, enascent myriads spring, Raise genial ferment in the slaughter'd steer. And people thence his insect-teeming year; A fabled race, whom no soft passions move. The smile of duty nor the glance of love."
+Evans.+
In page 26 I have stated the opinion of Mr. Dobbs, that a queen has intercourse with several drones; and what I have also stated upon the authority of Mr. Hunter, in page 34, with respect to the silk-moth and other insects, gives countenance to that opinion: nor do I see its inconsistency with the discovery made by Huber. Though there is reason to believe that the act proves fatal to one devoted drone, yet those that are so fortunate as to obtain the first favours of her majesty, may escape uninjured. If the conjecture which I have thus hazarded be correct, it will appear less surprising that so many drones should be brought into existence.
Morier in his second journey through Persia has recorded a fact, which, though it did not come under his own immediate observation, was related to him by a person on whose authority he could place full reliance, and which is directly the reverse of what I have stated respecting bees. It is, that among the locusts, when the female has done laying, she is surrounded and killed by the males.
THE APIARY.
The first object of consideration, in the establishment of an apiary, is situation.
The aspect has, in general, been regarded as of prime importance, but I think there are other points of still greater importance.
An apiary would not be well situated near a great river, nor in the neighbourhood of the sea, as windy weather might whirl the bees into the water and destroy them.
It was the opinion of the ancients that bees, in windy weather, carried weights, to prevent them from being whiffled about, in their progress through the air: Virgil has observed that
"They with light pebbles, like a balanc'd boat, Pois'd, through the air on even pinions float."
+Sotheby's Georgics.+
This assertion, which was probably borrowed by the poet from his predecessor Aristotle, and which has since been repeated by Pliny, is now ascertained to be erroneous. The error has been noticed by both Swammerdam and Reaumur, and ascribed by them to preceding observers having mistaken the mason bee for a hive-bee. The former builds its nest against a wall, with a composition of gravel, sand and its own saliva, and when freighted with the former article, may easily have led a careless observer into the erroneous opinion above alluded to.
From a similar inaccuracy of observation, it is probable that flies were confounded with bees by ancient naturalists, and that from thence arose the absurd notion, of the latter being generated in putrid carcases, as we know the former to be; and this error was most likely confirmed by their having found both honey and bees in the carcases of dead animals, as recorded in the case of Samson.
Though, for the reasons above stated, an apiary would not be well situated near a large river, yet it should not be far from a rivulet or spring: small ones, that glide gently over pebbles, are the most desirable, as affording a variety of resting places for the bees to alight upon. If neither spring nor streamlet be near, a broad dish of water should be placed for the bees, the bottom being covered with small stones or duckweed, to facilitate their drinking and prevent drowning.
This, in a hot dry season, is of considerable importance, as it will save that time, which must otherwise be spent, in fetching water from a distance; for without water, as will be noticed hereafter, no wax can be formed.
It is of course of the greatest importance that the apiary be situated near to good pasturage, such as clover, saintfoin, buckwheat, &c.--better still if in a garden well stocked with suitable plants.
It should be near the residence of the proprietor, as well for the purpose of rendering the bees tractable and well acquainted with the family, as for affording a good view of their general proceedings; if it be so situated that its front may form a right angle with the window of the family sitting-room, an easy opportunity will be afforded to watch the bustle of swarming.
An out-door apiary should admit of being approached at the back part, to give an opportunity of making observations on the proceedings of the bees, or to perform any requisite operation upon them.
The hives should be placed upon separate stands, supported by single posts or pedestals, be raised from sixteen inches to two feet above the ground, and be three or four feet from each other; and they should stand quite clear of any wall or fence.
The resting-boards should project several inches in front of the hives, that the bees may have plenty of room to alight, when they return home loaded from the fields, and should be screwed down firmly to the tops of the stands, that the hives may not be overturned by high winds or other accidents.
They should be free from the droppings of trees, from noisome smells and disagreeable noises; and be guarded as much as possible from the extremes of heat and cold.
Most apiarians are agreed that the aspect of the apiary should, in this country, be more or less southerly, and that it should be well secured from the north and south-west, by trees, high hedges, or other fences; this is the opinion of Wildman, Keys, and Huish; Bonner, however, prefers an easterly aspect; Huish recommends two points to the east and one to the south. Wildman preferred a south-west aspect, as not tempting the labourers to emerge too early, and as affording a later light for their return home in the evening.
"Skreen'd from the east; where no delusive dawn Chills, while it tempts them o'er the dew damp lawn, But, as on loaded wing, the labourers roam, Sol's last bright glories light them to their home."
+Evans.+
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