The economy of bees comprehends so wide a field of inquiry, the different parts of which are so connected and dependant upon one another, that it is impossible to treat of them distinctly, without supposing the reader to possess some general ac quaintance with the history of these insects. We shall, therefore, premise a brief account of the dif ferent sorts of bees inhabiting the hive, and of the respective offices of each. We shall then proceed to consider their comparative physiology ; under which head' we shall state the leading particulars relating to their nutrition, secretion, respiration, progressive motion, external senses and instincts. We shall next follow them in their different labours, from the period when the swarm has settled in a new habitation ; we shall detail the complex struc ture of their hives,—their curious processes of ar chitecture,—the pains they bestow on rearing their progeny and in sending forth new swarms ; and this will lead us to the subject of the fecundation of the queens, and the massacre of the drones. After having thus given an account of their usual condi tion, we shall, in the last place, describe the result of several experiments and observations, which have been made when they were placed iu unusual cir cumstances; experiments which have exhibited ma ny interesting features of their character, and have thrown considerable light on the whole of their his tory, as well as suggested various practical and eco nomic applications in the management of these in sects..
The leading feature in their history, and one which distinguishes them from almost all insects, is their singular distribution into three different kinds, con stituting, to all appearance, so many different modi fications of sex. The drone, which is characterized by a thicker body, a round head, a more flattened shape, and more obtusely terminated abdomen, within which are contained the male organs of generation, has been admitted as the male of the species. It is distinguished, also, by the absence of a sting, and by humming noise that accompanies its flight. The queen-bee, which is larger than any of the others, has the abdomen of greater length, and is provided with a sting, and with two ovaria of considerable size, is unequivocally recognised as the female. The work ing-bees compose the third class, and are distin guished by the smallness of their size, their length ened proboscis, the peculiar structure of their legs and thighs, which are adapted to the collection of certain materials collected from vegetables, and by the apparent absence of every trace of generative organs,—we say apparent absence, because, as will be hereafter stated, rudiments of ovaria have been very lately discovered to exist, which, however, are not perceptible without a very minute and careful dissection. Till within a few years, the working-bees were regarded as animals deprived of sex, and were accordingly termed neuter• or mules. It is these which perform all the laborious offices for the com munity,—which construct the interior of their babita tion,—which explore the country in search of nourish ment and other materials,—which collect and bring them to the hive, and apply them to different pur poses ; it is they who assiduously attend upon the queen, and supply all her wants,—who defend the hive from the attacks of depredators,—and who carry on hostilities against the various enemies of the tribe. The life of the females is chiefly engrossed.
with the duties of laying eggs, and conducting the colonies, which, at certain periods, emigrate from the parent state. The drones, producing neither wax nor honey, and depending on the rest for their subsistence, are idle spectators of these labours. They appear to be formed only for the momentary, but important duty of impregnation ; since they pe rish when this purpose is accomplished. There is commonly only one perfect queen existing at a time within each hive; and she appears to be treated by all the other bees with every mark of affection and of deference. The number of labourers is very dif
ferent in different hives ; sometimes there are only a few thousands, at other times, from twenty to forty, or even fifty thousand. The drones, even in the spring, seldom compose more than one-thirtieth, or one-fortieth of the whole ; and, at other seasons, there are none to be found in the hive. In order to form some estimate of the number of bees which can occupy a certain space, Mr Hunter counted whit number of drowned bees could be contained in an alehouse pint, and found it to be 2160; so that if a swarm were to fill two quarts, their numbers would be nearly 9000. Reaumur, with the same view of ascertaining their numbers, employed the more accurate method of weighing them ; he found that a collection of them, weighing one ounce, con sisted of 336 bees ; and, therefore, that 16 ounces, or one pound, would consist of 5376 bees.
f Notwithstanding these differences in conformation, instincts, and offices between the queen-bee and the workers, it is now established, upon the most incon trovertible evidence, that they both originally proceed from the same kind of larva, and that the queen-bee lays only two kinds of eggs, the one destined to pro duce the drone, the others capable of being convert ed, according tb circumstances, either into a worker or a queen. It has been proved that the former, al though exhibiting no appearance of sexual organs on a superficial examination, are in reality females, and have the rudiments of these organs, which, from their not being developed, are incapable of exercis ing their proper functions. The principal facts from which these conclusions were derived have already been briefly stated in the article BEE in the Encyclo pedia, but the evidence was at that time scarcely suffi cient to carry complete conviction to the mind. It may be remarked, that the idea of the working-bees being radically females had been given out long ago by Dr Warder, in his Monarchy of Bees, in which he terms them " True Amazons ;" but no attention had been paid to his opieion. The real merit of this great discovery, which affords the key to a multitude of hitherto inexplicable facts, unques tionably belongs to Mr Schirach, vicar of Little Bautzen, the Secretary of the Lusatian' Society, to which we formerly adverted. When first announ ced to the world, it was received with suspicion by the greater number of naturalists, and with com plete incredulity by others. It was, indeed, at va riance with the whole tenor, of the observations of Swammerdam, Maraldi, and Reaumur. Wilhelmi, the brother-in-law of Schirach, though an eye wit ness to the experiments from which he had deduced this theory, for a long time refused to admit the doc trine ; but became at length one of its most stre nuous supporters. It is noticed in a vein of sarcas tic ridicule by Mr John Hunter, in his otherwise excellent paper on bees in the Philosophical Trans actions. Needham wrote a memoir for the Imperial Academy of Brussels, in 177.7, for the express pur pose of refuting it ; and he then inveighs in strong language against those naturalists who had deigned to give it the least countenance. Mr Key, in the Bath Society Papers, declares that he made experi ments on this subject for eight years, without obtain ing a single result in conformity to Schirach's views. Bonnet, after exercising a laudable scepticism, and making a diligent inquiry, in which he displays a genuine spirit of philosophy, yielded a reluctant assent. But the truth of the doctrine has since been placed beyond the reach of controversy by multiplied series of observations and experiments in different parts of Europe ; and more especially by the recent investigations of Mr Huber of Geneva. We shall not at present enter into the detail of proofs, because their force will be better appreciated when other particulars belonging to the history of the bee have been explained.