The indistinct descriptions which some travellers give of the bees of different foreign countries, render it difficult for us to determine whether the real honey bee is meant or not. It is true, they describe such bees as being the same ; but they maintain, that one species wants a sting, and that another nestles in'the earth with its honey.. So far as naturalists have yet ascertained, neither of these peculiarities belong to the honey bee ; bnt it is extremely probable, that be sides the single species which we keep in hives, others might be domesticated. One kind is found in Suri nam, which hives in very numerous societies. These construct a nest eight or ten inches in diameter, and eighteen or twenty long, towards the top of trees of moderate height. Within are found large cells of a fine reddish liquid honey, in great abundance. The nests, which resemble a lump of earth applied against the tree, cannot be procured unless the tree be cut down, when the natives of the country, after using the honey, and making a kind- of mead, roll the wax around matches.
There is a species of bee which collects the honey of plants, and stores it up in cells, though we may doubt if this is intended forits Winter provision. This is called the humming or humble bee ; an insect so common in Britain as to have attracted the attention ' of every one. Like the honey bee, it lives in societies, consisting of from twenty to an hundred males, fe males, and what are supposed neuters. We have never found the society more numerous in Scotland, and the continental authors seem to describe it as smaller. These societies either dwell in cavities of the earth, or in tufts of moss collected together on the surface ; or sometimes those whose proper habitation is in such cavities, are content with a hollow of the ground, where they cover themselves with -moss and bits of leaves ; or we have seen them effect a lodgement in a wooden box, some feet above the ground, in which they appeared to have themselves collected moss and leaves, and there bred a considerable colony. In reverting to the origin of these societies, we are opposed by very considerable difficulties. It seems probable, that a single female, which has been accidentally preserved through the winter, is the parent of the whole, and that she selects the spot, or cavity, for her posterity. No naturalist has, we believe, yet beheld a nest in its origin, though it has been seen when consisting of few cells. Reaumur relates, that on one occasion he removed the whole combs from a nest, and complete ly evacuated the interior. Nothing was visible for several days ; but after the bees had remained eight days undisturbed, a lump of paste and farina the size of a nut was found in it, attached to which was a pot of honey ; that is, a half made cell, which the bees at times construct, and in which some of their honey is kept. Thence, and from other circumstances, it is conjectured, that the mother proceeds to collect a quantity of farina or pollen, in the midst of which her eggs are laid ; and by their coming to maturity after a certain time, the colony is constituted and en larged. Several females inhabit the same nest, living in harmony together. They are occupied in collect
ing honey ; and are easily known, from being the largest of all the three species. The males are next in size ; always of a lighter colour ; and are capable of making wax. The workers are' of various sizes. in the same nest, some not, being half the size of others. Nature does not require the like sacrifice in the males of humble bees as in those of the honey. bee to propagate the species ; the sexual union takes place according to the common mode of insects : nei ther is there any massacre among them. Females and 'workers are much less disposed to use their stings. -than the honey bee : here, also, the males have 'none, ' On opening a nest containing a colony of humble bees, a confused and mishapen aggregate of substances is disclosed, interspersed in various parts with crude masses of wax, and cells of honey. The ovoidal substances are the young coming to maturity, -within a silken coccoon coated with wax ; and amidst some of the lumps of wax are found larvm, which one author thinks are there for the purpose of being fed,. and another for being preserved from cold and humi dity. The eggs are deposited in cells, which the workers lend their aid to construct ; and the mother, herself completes them, smoothing and polishing the interior. When she prepares to lay in a cell, the work.. crs, unlike that, care which those of common bees in- stow on the eggs of their queen that arc to preserve " the colony, eagc•ly endeavour to devour them. The moment that the eggs are deposited, and the female is about to close the cell with a waxen covering, they rush upon it, and are repulsed only by her defence ; or, if she removes during an instant, they steal thi ther, and surreptitiously carry off the eggs. The fe male is, therefore, under the necessity of keeping in cessant watch during several hours, after which she may leave the cell ; for it is only in their first stage that the eggs are sought for with avidity by the com mon bees. Sometimes twenty eggs are deposited by a female in a single cell, which is then closed ; but it does not appear that the bees are careful to provide the young with a sufficient store to serve them until their ultimate metamorphosis ; for the mother supplies a thick layer of pollen whereon her eggs are deposit ed, which is soon consumed by the larva'. • After be ing hatched, the common bees make a small hole in the top of the cell, and then go in quest of honey or pollen. This they obtain from the rest of their combs, and seem to introduce it by the opening to feed the young ; they then withdraw, and close the cell. Some cells acquire perceptible increment ; from being very small they become as large as a nut ; which results from the included worms, perhaps six or seven in number, successively bursting the cell, and the cleft being as often covered over with wax by the bees. When the young bee has attained its perfect state, the workers gradually contract the mouth of the cell it has left, and lay up their honey in it. Other cells are also constructed of pure wax, which are so many reservoirs• of honey from the be rinninz, and have never contained vounff.
See 13 nEws NG.