ifip : MS WW: ■..:.;! i : '■..'. Hiuiiiilllliili •■" ;:;:■ • " : ;::":::\ ':!" -.::■■ . C /fc^^^s yA^^yv i^^o /I y/U <• /f4f t y^i/^Mrtc^s Zoadon,. Shertvocd.. Gilbert & Pip, <• J~a tuary 1S4Z. BEES: THEIR NATURAL HISTORY AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT: COMPRISING A FULL AND EXPERIMENTAL EXAMINATION OF THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF NATIVE AND FOREIGN APIARIANS; WITH AN ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION OF THE ERRORS OF THE THEORY OF HUBER; CONTAINING, ALSO, THE LATEST DISCOVERIES & IMPROVEMENTS IN EVERY DEPARTMENT OF THE APIARY, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE MOST APPROVED HIVES NOW IN USE. ROBERT HUISH, F.Z.S. HONORAKY MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OP FRANCE, MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES OF GOTTINGEN, AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OE BAVARIA. Pluris est oculatus testis unus quam auiiti decern. LONDON: PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, GILBERT, AND PIPER, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1842. Sf~ LONDON : gilbert & rivington, printers, st. John's square. INTRODUCTION. If we take a retrospective view of the apiarian know- ledge of the ancients as far back as Democritus, who lived four hundred and sixty years before Christ, we shall find that they directed their attention more to the natural history of the bee than to its economy. The major part, however, of their writings is lost, and the traces of them are only to be found in two works of the seventeenth century, one of which is en- titled, " The Portrait op the Honey Fly, its Virtues, Form, and Instructions how to reap Advantage prom them," printed in 1646. The other was printed in Antwerp in 1649, and entitled, "The Spring op the Honey Fly, divided into two parts, in which will be pound a curious, true, and new History op the admirable and natural Conduct of the Bee, drawn solely from the Hand op Experience." The author of the first of these works is Alexander de Montfort, captain in the service of his imperial and catholic majesty, and who was born in the county of Luxemburg. De Montfort estimates the number of authors who have written en bees before his time, at between five a 2 iv INTRODUCTION. and six hundred ; and he quotes a few, such as Galen, Aristeus, Aristomachus, Menus, Misald, Philistrius, So- lin, John of Lebanon, &c. &c, whose works, however, on that subject are wholly unknown to us. He, how- ever, cites a few with whose works we are conversant, viz. Aristotle, Columella, Varro, Moufet *, Aldrovan- dus t> &c. &c. The writings of De Montfort are so far valuable, that they unite the romantic reveries of the ancients with some weak scintillations of modern knowledge. Some of the ancients imagined that the bees were bred from the purest juice which could be extracted from the flowers in summer ; others conceived that they were bred from putrid animals, an opinion entertained by Virgil in his Georgics. They were acquainted with the existence of one superior bee, whom they called the king, and who was supposed to originate from a flower or an animal more distinguished and noble than that from which the common bees originated. They re- garded the drones or males as lazy, idle flies, of no particular use, and in some degree actually noxious, and only fit to be exterminated. They called them hornets, or flies of an ugly shape. When they saw two queens in a swarm, they believed that one of them was * Thomas Moufet, an English physician, who died about 1600, known by a work written in Latin, entitled, " Theatrum Insect- orum." Londini, 1634, in fol. with plates. t A celebrated professor of physic at Bologna, one of the many authors whose researches into natural history have been most extensive. His works amount to thirty volumes in folio. They, however, did not enrich him, for he died blind in the hospital at Bologna at the age of eighty. INTRODUCTION. V a false king or a tyrant ; they therefore called him the usurping prince who plays on the flute to divert the bees ; all due homage was, however, paid to him. At the close of the seventeenth century, three cele- brated naturalists appeared. Swammerdam, a Dutch physician, IVlaraldi, an astronomer, and Ferchault de Reaumur, members of the Academy of Sciences, who, by their researches and dissections, began to uplift the veil which had hitherto concealed from us the most im- portant and interesting features of the natural history of the bee. They discovered that there were males and females amongst the bees, and from that period, the theory of De Montfort was admitted to be founded on truth. Amongst those who in later times have written on bees, may be distinguished principally Schirach, who discovered that the bees who have lost their queen can raise another for themselves from larvae of their own kind, by imparting to them a peculiar kind of nourish- ment. (2) Riems, who discovered that there are common bees, which lay eggs. (3) De Braw, who attempted to establish by experiments and specious arguments, that the eggs laid by the queen are fecun- dated by the drone in the manner of fish ; and lastly, Butler, who attributed to the bees a knowledge of the art of solfaing. This may be considered as the second epoch of the natural history of the bee. At the close of the eighteenth century, Mr. Huber, a blind naturalist, appeared, who directed his servant, or his servant directed him in those researches, for the supposed verity of which a surreptitious fame has been a 3 vi INTRODUCTION. awarded him, and which has placed him on the pinnacle of apiarian science, an eminence on which he has been undeservedly elevated by a host of commentators, encyclopedists, editors, and compilers, who have been led away by the apparent originality of his pretended discoveries ; but who never deemed it necessary to de- vote any portion of their time or ability in the investi- gation of the principles of that theory, of the truth of which they expressed their unqualified assent. If, in the course of the ensuing work, we may have laid ourselves open to the charge of having applied the lash of ridicule too severely upon this falsely celebrated naturalist, we can only answer, in extenuation of that transgression, that we have been encouraged to the commission of it by the thorough conviction, arising from an ex- perience of above forty years, that the majority of the vaunted discoveries of Huber are the result of fiction and delusion, founded on obsolete theories and anti- quated prejudices. The man who will assert, that from his own evidence he has heard the queen bee speak the French language, — that he has seen the queen bee place herself in such an attitude as to strike the bees motionless, — that he has seen the queen bees for six consecutive nights engaged in a duel, — that he has seen fortifications erected by the bees ; we affirm, that the man who will tell us, and call upon us in a dogmatical tone to believe him, that ten hives will warm an apart- ment, and twelve a green-house if the bees be well shaken, — that the queen bee is sometimes afflicted with the ague, — that he has seen a bee construct a cell from the foundation to the coping, with numerous other similar INTRODUCTION. Vll fooleries, possesses but a very slight claim indeed to the character of a profound or accurate naturalist. We are bold enough to declare, that the discoveries of Huber are not only improbable, but even impossible ; and it is on the basis of that knowledge that we have so unequivocally expressed our dissent to the principal points of the theory of Huber. We have, however, fearlessly thrown down the gauntlet to the advocates of Huber, and although we may stand single-handed in the contest, we fight under the banners of truth, and as such we despair not of the victory. If an individual, with the view of acquiring some knowledge of the natural history of the bee, or of its management, consult the works published by the " Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," the " Naturalist's Library," the works of Bagster, Bevan, or any of the periodicals which casually treat upon the subject, will he not rise from the study of them with his mind surcharged with falsities and mystification ? Will he not discover throughout the whole of them a servile acquiescence in the opinions and discoveries of one man, however at variance those opinions and dis- coveries may be with truth or probability; and if he enter upon the discussion with his mind free from prejudice, will he not experience that an outrage has been committed upon his reason, in calling upon him to give his assent to positions and principles, which at best are merely assumed, but to which he is called upon dogmatically to subscribe his acquiescence as the indubitable results of experience, skill, and ability ? Huber may have attempted to amuse and astonish a 4 INTRODUCTION. the inexperienced apiarian with the miraculous rearing of a queen bee in a glass cell, and he may have thrown over his description of it all the varnish of direct ex- perimental knowledge; but the editors of the works above alluded to, instead of disgracing their pages by the admission of such a visionary tale, should boldly and indignantly have declared, that from their own experience in the natural economy of the insect, they were able to pronounce the circumstances as related by Huber to be directly impossible, and the whole of them based on fiction and imposition. If we examine the account which Huber gives of his invention of the royal jelly, the existence and efficacy of which are fully acquiesced in by the aforesaid editors, to what other conclusions are we necessarily driven, than that they are the dupes of a visionary enthusiast, whose greatest merit consists in his inventive powers, no matter how destitute those powers may be of all affinity with truth or probability ? Before, however, those editors bestowed their unqualified assent on the existence of this royal jelly, did they stop to put to themselves the following questions ? — By what kind of bee is it made ? Whence is it procured ? Is it a natural or an elaborated substance ? If natural, from what source is it derived ? If elaborated, in what stomach of the bee is it to be found ? How is it ad- ministered ? What are its constituent principles? Is its existence optional or definite ? Whence does it derive its miraculous power of converting a common egg into a royal one ?— Will any of the aforesaid editors publicly answer these questions ? and ought they not to INTRODUCTION. have been able to answer them, before they so unequi- vocally expressed their belief in its existence, its powers and administration ? Huber declares that he has pro- cured some globules of this royal jelly, and that he ad- ministered it a la f aeon des abeilles ; the aforesaid editors have believed him, and on his authority alone are the existence and powers of the jelly admitted into the natural history of the bee. In the prosecution of the interesting inquiry relative to the fecundation of the queen bee, we may perhaps be accused of having committed some slight offence against the rules of decency, and we acknowledge that the portion of the work which treats of that par- ticular subject, was objected to by one of the most eminent publishers of the present day, as not being exactly suitable for the female eye. With every dis- position, however, to accede to the opinion of that highly experienced individual, we cannot refrain from asking, why the same latitude should not be granted to us, which has been awarded to others ? In every con- tested point relative to the fecundation of an animal, and in no one is that point involved in deeper mystery than in the queen bee, we do not see how it is possible to steer wholly clear of those expressions, illustrative of the subject, which under any other circumstances would be considered as offensive to decency. How, may we ask, was it possible for us to examine or refute the theory of Huber, or of any other naturalist relative to the disputed point of the fecundation of the queen bee, were we, from a fastidious notion of delicacy, to be debarred the use of that language by which our a 5 INTRODUCTION. ideas could be expressed on the subject. Let it also be considered, that it is a subject on which the female pen has been engaged, even to the most minute in- vestigation of the anatomy of the insect, and surely that which was permissible in a female writer, may be allowed in one of the opposite sex. In regard to the work now offered to the public, our aim has been chiefly to expose the fallacies and contradictions of the Huberian system, to simplify the mechanical operations of the apiary, and thereby to stimulate those who are already engaged in the cul- ture of the bee to greater exertions, and induce others to undertake it, from a full exposition of the great advantages to be derived from it, not only in an in- dividual, but in a national point of view, and finally, to render this country independent of all foreign supplv of the produce of the bee. ** CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE COMMON BEE. PAGE General character of the bee — Huber's account of the bee — Butler's female monarchy — Skill of the bees in music — Powers given to the bees by Huber — System of Schirach — Objections to it — The queen bee lays every egg in the hive — Contrariety of opinion respecting the bee — Opinions of the German apiarians — German bee gardens — Errone- ous management of Bushman — Bonner's discovery of little drones — The common bees take no part in the multiplica- tion of their species — The common bee, according to Huber, is a female — Arguments against it — The common bee a decided neuter — Different species of bees — Their history according to Huber — The working bees are en- dowed with ovaries — Eggs generated in some and not hi others — The administration of royal jelly — Efficacy of royal jelly — The female workers, according to Huber, lay only male eggs— Discovery of Mademoiselle Jurine — Common bees are imperfect females — Their imperfection investigated — Discovery of Mr. Epignes — Organization of the common bee — Erroneous statement of Huber in regard to the collection of farina — Its reputation — The honey bag —The venom vesicle — Description of the sting — Remedies for it — Prussian remedy for the sting — Opinion of Lom- bard — (Note) — Bonner not affected by the stings of bees — Opinion of L'Abbe della Rocca — Hives of bees made use of as instruments of war — Account of Pigneron — Only one species of bees in England — -Its general character — Its division of labour according to Huber — His discovery of black bees — The opinion of Rennie and Kirby respecting them — The existence of the black bees said by Kirby to be confirmed by Thorley — The same refuted — The su- perficial knowledge of Kirby in the natural history of the bee — The system of Huber, in regard to the existence of a 6 x ii CONTENTS. PAGE several species of bees, not founded on truth— Difference in the size of the bee accounted for— Singular hypothesis of Huber in regard to the nurse bees— Examination of the disputed points— Study of the natural history of the bee by the ancients— By Swammerdam, Miraldi, Reau- mur, Bonner, and Schirach— Interest attached to the study of the bee CHAPTER II. THE QUEEN BEE. The queen bee the mother of all the inmates of the hive — Organic structure of the queen bee — Position of the eggs in her ovarium — Investigation of the French and English apiarians — The fecundation of the queen according to the system of Huber — Difficulties attending that system — The queen begins to lay her eggs in January — Bostel an ad- vocate for the self-fecundation of the queen — The drone determined to be the male bee — The ovarium of the queen, according to Huber, fecundated for the whole of her life by a single act of coition with the drone — Nu- merical fecundity of the queen bee (note) — Number of oviducts in the ovarium of the queen — Number of eggs in the ovarium — The earliest appearance of eggs in the ova- rium — Some drones survive the winter, according to Bon- ner — Denied by Sir John Sinclair — The sexual intercourse of the queen and the drone advocated by the French apiarians — Remarks of the Monthly reviewers (note) — Number of eggs laid by the queen in an hour — Liittichau an eye-witness of the act of coition— Detection of the drone in the fecundation of the egg— Microscopical ex- amination of the seminal matter — The fecundation of the egg in the cell confirmed by Debraw — Theory of Swam- merdam — The hypothesis of L'Abbe' della Rocca relative to the copulation of the queen and the drone (note) — The queen bee never leaves the hive — The contrary asserted by Huber — The period of her absence from the hive- Effect of her absence on the bees — The drone, according to Huber, dies after copulation — Singular discovery of Huber in regard to the drone — Experiment of Huber with some young queens— The young queens depart with the swarms— Confirmed by Swammerdam— Contradiction of Huber relative to the old and young queens— The young queen commences to lay her eggs immediately on being settled in the hive— Experiment to determine the same Experiment of Huber with the queen and drone Incon- sistency of the experiment — Queen bees, according to Huber, bred in October — Experiment thereon — Its fal- CONTENTS. Xlll PAGE lacy — The system of retarded impregnation — Its effect on the early or late ovipositing of the queen — The dispropor- tion of males to females in a hive considered — The young queen leaves the hive twenty-four hours after her birth — Opinion of Miles — Construction of the cell in which a queen is born — Exact situation of the cell in the hives — Different stages of the growth of a queen — Period of a bee arriving at maturity — Manner in which the queen lays her eggs — The system of the egg fecundated in the cell by the drone — Analogy between the wasp and the bee — Experiment to determine the fecundation of the egg — Hy- pothesis of Mr. Ducarne — Fructified eggs remain in the brood combs during the winter— The queen bee leaves the hive if there be no vacant cells in which to deposit her eggs — Remedy for that defect — Repugnance of the queen bee to sting— Attachment of the bees to their queen — The ceremony of laying the eggs according to Huber — Estab- lishment of the guards — Period of depositing the eggs — Temperature of the hive — Nutt on the temperature of a hive — The eggs hatched the third day after their de- position — Progress of the bee to maturity 52 CHAPTER III. THE DRONES. Make of the drone — Number of drones in a hive — Organic- structure of the drone — Office of the drones — Opinion of L'Abbe della Rocca — Two species of drones according to Reaumur and Debraw — Huber asserts the existence of large and little drones — Deficiency of drones in a hive — Method of remedying the defect — Proof of the verity of the experiment — The drone dies after copulation, accord- ing to Reaumur — Experiment of Mr. Reaumur — The act of copulation of the queen and the drone — Timidity of the queen bee — Question between L'Abbe' della Rocca and Mr. Reaumur — Drones always emigrate with the swarms — Few drones to be found in a second swarm — Tragical end of the drones — Attack on the drones by the common bees — Period of the massacre of the drones— The mas- sacre of the drones injurious to the bees — Assistance to be granted to the bees — Various opinions of naturalists as to the manner in which the drone is killed — Supposed to be by the sting — Refutation of that hypothesis — Com- parison between the bee and the wasp in regard to their sting — Opinion of L'Abbe della Rocca — Analysis of that opinion — Hypothesis of Huber — His contradictions and in- consistencies — Examination and refutation of the hypo- thesis of Huber — Huber's discoveries not the result of xiv CONTENTS. PAGE his own observations — His physical infirmity — Francois Beurnens, the domestic of Huber— His character— Pre- judices and superstition— Mr. Rennie and Mr. Hunter- Errors of Mr. Hunter— The bees, according to Hunter, deposit their excrement in the cells — Refutation of that statement — The retention of the faeces injurious to the bees— Huber's hypothesis on the sting of the bee — Dr. Howison's opinion of the method of killing the drones — Not mentioned by any native or foreign apiarians — Quota- tion from Levett (note) — Experiment tried in the presence of Bonner and other naturalists — Statement of Mr. Pud- decombe (note) — Final examination of the subject 95 CHAPTER V*. ON THE PRESUMED POWER OF THE COMMON BEE TO GENERATE A QUEEN. The queen bee lays every egg in the hive — Every hive con- tains three kinds of eggs — Question discussed as to the knowledge of the queen bee respecting the nature of the egg which she is about to lay — Admission of Huber that the queen lays three kinds of eggs — The common bees endowed with the power of altering the nature of the eggs — The queen lays only two kinds of eggs according to Dunbar — Characteristic shape of the different eggs — Posi- tion of the eggs in the ovarium of the queen — The queen lays the eggs consecutively in the drone and common cells — Opinion of Reaumur — Quotation from Duchet relative to the queen laying her eggs — The queen not mistaken in the nature of the egg she is about to lay admitted by Huber — Difference of opinion of Schirach and Huber — The power of the common bee to generate a queen dis- proved by Bonner — A queen bee, according to Huber, cannot be made without royal jelly — Queen eggs not laid in royal cells — The royal cells made by the bees after the royal egg is laid — Erroneous statement of Huber relative to the construction of the royal cells — Extraordinary act of the bees as related by Huber — Construction of a glass queen cell by Huber — The queen cells, according to Schi- rach, enjoy a higher temperature than those of the com- mon bees — Particular methods of generating a queen according to some apiarians — System of Wildman — Ques- tion relative to the construction of the royal cells — Ex- periment to determine the existence of a royal cell — The power of the common bee to generate a queen denied by L'Abbe della Rocca — His system relative to the forma- * Tliis should properly have been called Chapter IV., but by some oversight in the figuring of the Chapters, all after Chapter III. have been erroneously numbered CONTENTS. XV PAGE tion of a queen — The character of the embryo according to Dunbar depends upon the elongation and expansion of the cell — Investigation of that theory — Mr. Dunbar an ad- vocate for the administration of royal jelly — Variety of opinions of different apiarians on that subject — Rennie's servile submission to the authority of Huber — The crea- tion of the jelly-makers by Huber — Conduct of Mr. Rennie examined — Candid confession of Mr. Dunbar — Two systems appertaining to the propagation of the bee — Hypothesis of Mr. Dunbar — Examination thereof — Con- trariety of opinion of Huber and Dunbar relative to the character of the eggs — Difference of character attached to the bees of Huber — Their respective kinds of labour — Mysterious disappearance of the eggs from the cells— The eggs, according to Huber, eaten by the bees — The eggs removed by the bees — Confirmed by two experiments — The eggs dropped at hazard by the queen lodged by the bees in a cell — The superfluous eggs removed by the bees —Attention paid by the bees to the larvae of another hive disproved as a general principle — Arguments of Kirby and Spence — Singular hypothesis of Kirby — Effect of diet on man, supposed to be the same on bees— The nature of man, according to Kirby, altered by a tighter or looser dress, similarly constituted with the bees — Change in the sexual character of the bees occasioned by royal jelly — Kirby's comparison of an infant in swaddling clothes and a bee — The change in the sex of the bee accounted for by Kirby — Analogy between a cow having twins and a bee — Con- tradictions of Kirby — The administration of the royal jelly improved upon by an anonymous French writer (note) — Kirby on the secondary characters of man and woman — Examination of the system — Final remarks 113 CHAPTER VI. ON THE PURCHASE OF HIVES AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN APIARY. General advice to pm-chasers— Drawbacks attending the purchase of a hive — The bee a great coward — Examina- tion of the interior of a hive — Coolness and fortitude re- quisite for the proper management of bees — Examination of the exterior of a hive — Signs of a decayed hive — The same to be rejected — General negligence of the cottagers in the choice of their hives — Internal signs of an old hive The number of queen cells, the criterion of an old hive Twentv-seven queen cells according to Huber in one hive — Average number of queen cells according to dif- ferent apiarians — Two queens in a swarm (note) — The XVI CONTENTS. PAGE combs to be examined as high as possible — The hive to be rejected if symptoms of the moth appear — Proper seasons for the purchase of hives— A fraud practised by the ven- dors of hives— Criterion of a first and second swarm — Singular instinct of a second swarm— Signs of the health of a hive, and the fecundity of the queen — A hive not to be purchased in the immediate vicinity — The weight the best criterion of the goodness of a hive — Transportation of hives — Directions for the removal of hives — Advantages of the tin entrances — Desci'iption of the construction of the tin entrances— Extraordinary occurrence in an apiary — A battle between twenty-eight hives — Bees to be con- fined in time of snow — Entrances used in France and Ger- many — Inspection of an apiary at Isenburg — The hand- barrow the best vehicle for the removal of hives — A hive not to be carried on the head — Disastrous effects of that mode — The middle of summer a bad time for the removal of hives — The evening the most proper time for the re- moval of a swarm — Method of removal recommended by Lombard (note) — Difference of the price of hives in Eng- land — Superstition of the cottagers relative to the sale of hives — Hives recommended to be purchased in the south- ern counties, and conveyed to London — Rules to be ob- served in lifting a purchased hive 150 CHAPTER VII. ON THE POSITION OF THE APIARY. Different position of hives — Little attention paid to aspect in England — Visit to an apiary at East Grinstead — The aspect of the apiary to vary with the climate — The hives to be protected from the winds — Singular anecdote re- specting bees by L'Abbe della Rocca — The hives in an apiary to be placed in a straight line — Height of the hives from the ground — The hives for want of room may be placed chequer-wise — The advantages of the single pedestal — Machine for the protection of hives from robbers — The platform of the pedestal of the hive to be made of well seasoned wood-The warping of the platform tobeprevented — The ascent into the hives by the enemies of the bees to be prevented — Erroneous custom in Sussex — Loss of a whole apiary by bad management — The apiary to be kept re- markably clean — Not to be incommoded by tall herbs and flowers— Protection against the ants — Sheep's skin to be put round the pedestal— The pedestal to be cleaned four times a year — Anecdote of a mouse in a hive — The vicinity of great towns not a proper situation for an apiary — Hive of Mr. Saul having a continual change of aspect — Proximity of large rivers injurious to bees 1 g j 8 CONTENTS. XV11 CHAPTER VIII. ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. PAGE Difference of the time in which bees throw off their swarms - — Period of Swarming in England, France, Italy, and Sicily — Programme of a swarm — Difference between the bees of a swarm and those of an old hive — Quantity of honey which a hive carries along with it — Weight of swarms — Signs preceding the departure of a swarm — Im- plicit confidence not to be placed in them — The clustering of bees arises from different causes, exemplified in a case at Wimbledon — Joy, the cause of the vibration of the wings of the bees — Question relative to the noise made by a queen preparatory to the departure of a swarm — Reason assigned for it by the German apiarians — Romantic state- ments of Huber — The birth of a queen bee an important event in the monarchy of bees — Deportment of the bees on the birth of a queen — The bees, according to Huber, imprison the queen — The queen maltreated by the bees — The queen possessed of the power of emitting a piping sound— The power of Huber to witness the motions of the bees described by him, denied — Natural timidity of the queen — The young queen proceeds to murder the remain- ing queens — Prevented by the common bees- — A national guard formed by the bees — Ludicrous description of their treatment of the queen — Extraordinary power vested in the queen of placing herself in such an attitude as to strike the bees motionless, described by Huber — Strictures on Kirby and Rennie — Huber's description of a swarm — The queen seized with an ague fit — Caused by an increase in the number of royal cells — The bees also seized with the ague — They rush out of the hive — The swarm formed ac- cording to Huber — The swarm not attended by the queen — The queen taken prisoner by the bees — No swarm will settle without a queen — The swarm produced by the in- creased temperature of the hive — Causes of the piping of the queen — The queens liberated according to their re- spective ages — Difference of sound in old and young queens — The departure of a swarm a gratifying sight — Question discussed relative to the bees sending out an advanced guard — Verified by Mr. Knight and St. Jean de Crevecceur, by Duchet and Ducarne — Remarks of Dubost — Laws relative to the placing of an empty hive in a garden (note) — New swarms, new hives — Culpable neglect in not providing proper hives — New hives to be cleared of all projecting straws — Directions for hiving a swarm — Plans adopted by the cottagers to make a swarm settle — The garden engine recommended by Martin — Covering to be used by the person on hiving a swarm — Frying-pans XV111 CONTENTS. PAGE and other instruments recommended by Wildman — Origin of the custom — Law respecting swarms— Substances where- with to rub the interior of a new hive — Leaves of garlic and onions recommended by the French and Italian api- arians—Objected to by L'Abbe" della Rocca— Signs of a queen not being in a swarm — Method of remedying the evil — Several queens in a swarm — The superfluous queens to be taken away — System of Lombard and Ducouedic — Junction of swarms from different hives — System to be adopted — The weight of a swarm the criterion of its value — Different weight of swarms — Second swarms — Signs of a hive not throwing off a second swarm — The superfluous queens killed by the bees — The queens take no part in the massacre of the young queens — The royal duels of Huber — Description of a duel — Conduct of the bees towards the victorious queen — The cause of it ascertained by Huber — Its removal — Huber's opinion of the discoveries of Schi- rach and Riems — The pretended discoveries of Huber con- sidered as impossible — Situation of the royal nymphs in the cell — The royal nymphs stung to death by the first- born queen — Contradictions of Huber relative to the ex- traction of the sting— The body of the bee impervious to stings — Singular method adopted by the bees to kill a queen — The royal duels of Huber denied by Dunbar — Probable death of the queens of two swarms— A second swarm seldom worth preserving — Comparative advantages of a first and second swarm — Junction of second swarms — System of Bonner on the junction of swarms— Its de- fects—Practical skill of the German apiarians — The bees recognise each other by the smell — Singular custom ad- opted by the Germans on the introduction of a queen — Junction of swarms by partial drowning — Two swarms working together in the same hive — Curious statement of Mr. Gagniard relative to three swarms — Food to be ad- ministered to weak swarms — The hiving of a swarm on the ground— System of Martin on the protracted cluster- ing of bees — Method of strengthening a weak hive — The swarm of a swarm — Remarks of L'Abbe' Tessier — A swarm to be prevented from swarming — Virgin swarms — Artificial swarms — Objections to them — Plan of Wild- man, of Schirach — Method of forming artificial swarms in the Huish hive — Plan recommended by Ducarne — Ap- paratus to be worn in all apiarian operations— Efficacy of smoke in the management of bees — General remarks 17 1 CHAPTER IX. INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FEEDING OF BEES. Erroneous system of feeding adopted by the cottagers of this country— Coarse brown sugar a useless food for bees — CONTENTS. XIX PAGE The spring and the beginning of winter the best seasons for feeding — Food to be given in abundance — Not to be given at intervals — The candying of food in the cells pre- judicial to bees — A superabundance of food not to be given — The preference to be given to periodical feeding — Quantity of food to be given at one time — Bees not to be kept too warm in the winter — The eagerness of the bees for food, a criterion of their health — During the feeding in the spring, the hives to be protected from robbers — Upper and lower feeding — Honey the best food for the bees — Directions for making a proper food — Method of feeding in the common hive — Process of feeding in the Huish hive — The food to be covered with straws or paper — Direc- tions for top feeding in the cottage hive — Erroneous opi- nion as to the effect of feeding on the bees — The adminis- tration of food not to be delayed — Erroneous system of the French in the feeding of their bees — Injurious effects of it — Lombard recommends brandy — Du Hamel recommends rum to be mixed with the food — The consumption of the cpuantity of food depends on the strength of the hive — Quantity to be given to a hive according to Huber — Honey not candied in the cell by any cold in this country 231 CHAPTER X. DESCRIPTION OF DIFFERENT HIVES, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN, SPECIFYING THEIR ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS. First mention of hives by Varro — The forests, the natural domicile of the bees — Colonies of bees in Poland, Russia, &c. — System of keeping bees in Poland — The Polish hive — The common cottage hive — Objections to it — Number of hives invented — Few hives invented in England — Hives invented by foreigners — The hive of Gelieu — The storify- ing hive of Ricour — The storifying hive of L'Abbe" Eloi — Numerous modifications of the storifying hive — Hive of Ducouedic — Advantages of the storifying system as laid down by Ducouedic — Their examination and refutation — The weight a good criterion of a swarm — The goodness of a swarm not always to be estimated by its size — Reasons thereof — The disjunction of the bees injurious — Investiga- tion of the general merits of storified hives — Hive of Lom- bard — Hive of Huber — Hive of Huber modified by Mr. Feburier — The open hive of Messrs. Martin of Corbeil — The hive in portions or fragments by Mr. Beville — The hive of Madame Vicat — The mirror or experimental hive — The hive of White — The hive of Sir Charles Whitworth XX C0N1ENTS. PAGE —The same as the hive of Thorley— The Huish hive- Best materials for the construction of hives— Singular bee hive of Monsieur Biege at Lileau— Number of modified hives — General remarks • 242 CHAPTER XI. ON THE ENEMIES OF BEES. Bees, a great number of enemies — Precautions to be used against the common and the field mouse — Signs of the ravages of the mouse — Erroneous method of placing the hives, the cause of their destruction — The snail, a vile enemy of the bee — The single pedestal the best preventive against the attack of enemies — The winter, the season for the attack of the mouse — Construction of a mouse trap — Spider webs to be removed from the vicinity of the apiary — Defects of the cottage hive in ascertaining the attacks of insects — The wasp, a formidable enemy of the bee — Opin- ion of Reaumur — Statement of Mendez de Torres (note) — The destruction of the mother wasp strongly recom- mended — Method of destroying a wasp's nest — Advantage of plastering the hive to the pedestal — Practice of hanging bottles in the vicinity of the apiary injurious — The ant, a great enemy of the bee — The toad — The field rat — Ad- vice of Feburier — Construction of a rat-trap— Birds, great enemies to bees — The woodpecker — The tom-tit — The swallow — The wax moth — Signs of the attack of the wax moth — Description of the wax moth — Account of the manner in which it destroys the combs — Season of its appearance — Opinion of the French apiarians — Method of Lombard for destroying the wax moth — The death- head sphinx — Its effects on the bees — Account of the fortifications erected, according to Huber, by the bees — Confirmed by Lombard — Bees infected with lice — Doubts of their injury to bees — The bear — The fox — The badger — Sagacious plan of the bear to obtain possession of a hive — Anecdote of a fox by Mr. Ducarne — The pig, a dangerous enemy to hives — A litter of pigs stung to death — The lizard — The newt — Plan adopted by L'Abbe" della Rocca for their destruction — General remarks 293 CHAPTER XII. THE PILLAGE OF HIVES— ITS SIGNS, AND METHOD OF PREVENTION. The pillage of hives not properly attended to— Erroneous opinion of Lombard— The chief causes of pillage— Parti- CONTENTS. XXI PAGE cular days and seasons in which the pillage is carried on — March and September the principal months of pillage — Method of knowing the pillaging bees — Signs of pillage — Frequent visits to be paid to his hives by the proprietor — Young bees to be distinguished from pillaging bees — Method of distinguishing them — Prevention of pillage — The entrance of the hive to be contracted — Hives that are attacked to be removed — Weak hives to be fed — The removal of a hive not always a remedy — An empty hive to be put in the place of the one removed — Concluding remarks 312 CHAPTER XIII. ON THE DECLINE OF HIVES, AND THE MORTALITY OF BEES. The decline of hives, and the mortality of bees, difficult to be accounted for — The prejudices and superstitions of the cottagers of this country, a great drawback to the culture of the bee — A bad season the cause of the mortality of bees — The progressive population of a hive the cause of famine — Consequent death of the bees— False judgment of the cottagers — Extreme cold not injurious to bees — The greater the torpor of bees, the less their consumption of food — Injurious effect of keeping bees warm in winter — Plastering of hives with pitch to be recommended — Cul- ture of the bee in Russia — Statement of Gmelin — The severity of a Russian winter not injurious to bees — The works of Huber not to be consulted on the practical de- partment of the apiary — His opinion of the effect of cold on bees — Extraordinary discovery of Huber — Bee hives to be used for warming apartments and greenhouses — Absurdities introduced by Huber into the natural history of the bee — Paradox and contradictions in the statements of Keys — More hives destroyed by heat than cold — Pre- cautions to be used against the rays of the sun — Average heat of a hive — Advantages of a straw top to the hives — Hives to be protected from humidity — Confinement in cellars and dark places injurious to bees — The retention of the excrement highly injurious to bees — System of burying the hives adopted by some apiarians — Snow a great cause of the mortality of bees — The death of the queen one of the chief causes of the decline of a hive — Uncertainty of the fate of the bees, who desert a hive on the death of a queen — Famine the chief cause of the mortality of bees — Prevented by feeding — Hives to be weighed in October and January — General remarks 320 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE COMBS. PAGE The construction of the combs the first act of a swarm — Propolis and wax the same substances — Commosis and pissoceros, two substances in a hive mentioned by Pliny — Bees on leaving the hive prepared with the means for the construction of the combs — The combs always begun at the top of a hive — Description of the formation of a cell given by Huber — Its falsity — The ovarium of the queen bee on leaving the hive full of eggs — Perfection of the architecture of the bees — Beautiful construction of a cell — The combs composed of double rows of cells— The cells of the common bee a perfect hexagon — Mathematical analysis of a comb by Samuel Koenig — Variety in the thickness of the combs — Description of the queen cell — Weight of the queen cell compared with that of the com- mon bees — Representation of the cells of the common bee, the drone, and the queen — Latreille on the structure of a comb — Combs when first made are white — Vicinity of manufacturing towns injurious to the colour of the combs — The whitest combs made, according to L'Abbe della Rocca, of the farina of thyme — Falsity of the state- ment — Concluding remarks 333 CHAPTER XV. ON THE BROOD OF THE BEES. The common bees endowed with the instinct of knowing the time when the queen will begin to lay her eggs — Arrange- ment of the eggs in the ovarium of the queen — Advan- tages of that arrangement — The queen on laying her eggs attended, according to Huber, by a body guard — Singular offices performed by the body guard— Manner of laying the eggs by the queen— The eggs hatched in three days — Progress of the worm to maturity— Method adopted by the young bee to extricate itself from the cell— Conduct of the old bees towards the young ones— The irascibility of the bees, the criterion of the quantity of brood in a hive —Question discussed as to the nature of the food ad- ministered to the larvae— Various opinions concerning it —No food whatever is administered to the larvEe— Opinion of Ducouedic on the subject— Hypothesis of Huber— Its principles investigated— The administration of food to the larvfe acknowledged by several writers— Its physical ob CONTENTS. XX111 PAGE jcctions considered — Bee bread or the pollen of flowers supposed by some naturalists to be the food administered to the larvee — Objections to bee bread forming any part of the food — Variety of opinion as to the nature of the food — Variety in the colour of it according to Huber, Lombard, Ducarne, and others— General remarks 339 CHAPTER XVI. THE MALADIES OF BEES, THEIR CURE AND PREVENTION. The dysentery and indigestion, the principal maladies of bees — Suffocation mentioned by the French apiarians — The protracted retention of the fseces the chief cause of the dysentery — Periodical flights of the bees — Errors of the French naturalists — Erroneous statement of Mr. Du- couedic — Anecdote of the Duchess of St. Albans — Inves- tigation of the hypothesis of Ducouedic — The drone voids no excrement according to Ducouedic — His food converted into wax — Refutation of that statement- — The chief symp- toms of the dysentery— The malady contagious — A spuri- ous and corrupted food, one of the causes of the dysentery — Supposed to be produced by particular trees and flowers —Experiments of Reaumur — Various remedies prescribed for the disease — Excellent recipe for the cure of it — Singular addition made to it by Monsieur Martin — Re- medies proposed by Wildman, Parkyns, Lombard, Ran- coni, James Gil, Duchet, Keys, L'Abbe" Aime" — The dys- entery almost incurable if not taken at its origin — The stand to be frequently cleaned — Indigestion of bees — Coarse sugar one of the chief causes of it — The antennae of the bees subject to a disease — Its signs — Attributed by Mr. Ducouedic to the farina of the broom — Abortive brood the cause of the death of a number of bees — Signs of abortive brood — Combs containing abortive brood to be cut out — Abortive brood the sign of the decline of a hive — Bee bread formerly considered a disease 34fi CHAPTER XVJI. COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF DEPRIVATION AND SUFFOCATION. Discussion of the question of deprivation and suffocation — The process of deprivation apparently of a formidable nature — Bees easily tamed by smoke — Hives to be CONTENTS. PAGE weighed previously to deprivation — The weight not al- ways the criterion of the quantity of honey— Comparative weight of cells filled with bee bread or with honey— Weight of honey to be taken from a hive in summer or winter — The process of deprivation always to be performed in the evening — Method of deprivation — The sticks placed in a hive the chief obstacle to deprivation — Their omission strongly recommended — Precautions to be used on re- turning the hive to the pedestal — Method of deprivation without smoke — Its danger and tediousness — Deprivation in the Huish hive — Instructions for restoring the bees to the hive — Deprivation by placing small hives over the large ones — Two seasons of deprivation — Spring depriva- tion recommended — Supposed to prevent the bees from swarming— Error of that supposition — A hive not to be deprived on both sides — Method of deprivation according to Varro and Columella — Suffocation generally adopted in this country — Suffocation strongly advocated by M. La Grene'e — Exposition of his system — Calculation of the pro- duce obtained by suffocation and deprivation — Quantity of honey obtained by deprivation (note) — Deprivation pre- ferable to suffocation 358 CHAPTER, XVIII. ON THE NATURE OF HONEY, AND THE METHOD OF COL- LECTING IT BY THE BEES ITS NATIONAL AND DOMESTIC ADVANTAGES. Character of honey according to the ancients — Longevity as- cribed to honey — Characteristic qualities of honey— Dif- ferent kinds of honey — Two species of honey in nature — The honey dew— Opinions of Ducarne and Boissier de Sauvages respecting honey dew— Opinion of Mr. Knight- Discussion of the question of the fall of the honey dew Honey elaborated in the stomach of the bee — Its wonder- ful power— Manipulation of honey— Adjustment and pre- paration of the utensils— The press not used in this country —Purer honey obtained by manual labour than by the press— Construction of a sieve— Glazed earthen vessels the best adapted for honey— Method of cutting the combs— Particular examination of the combs recommended— The combs to be cut horizontally Heat necessary to accelerate the flownig of the honey-The combs to be placed in the sun or before the fire-The latter to be preferred-Method of obtaining the second or inferior kind o hLf-The utensils employed m the manipulation of honey to be nut in the vicinity of the a P iary_P articular Xntion to Te CONTENTS. XXV PA HE paid to the second honey— Method adopted by the French to impart a peculiar flavour to honey — Different colours of honey — The quality of honey differs according to the country in which it is collected — False prejudices respect- ing honey gathered from heath— Richness of that shrub in honey — The criteria of good honey — Method of restor- ing honey deteriorated by fermentation — Adulteration of honey — Erroneous system of the cottagers — Different methods of adulterating honey — Method of detecting it.. . 368 CHAPTER XIX. ON THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF WAX. Origin of wax according to Huber — Honey the component principle of wax — The fanciful conceits of Huber — Opinion relative to the nature of wax, inserted in the " Spectacle de la Nature"- — Hypothesis of John Hunter — Its falsity — Analogy between silk and wax as elaborated substances — The elements of pollen different from those of wax — The experiments of Huber inconclusive — Wax, according to Huber, formed by exudation— Hypothesis of Latreille — The wax pockets of Huber — Analysis of wax by Martin — Opinion advanced in the " Dictionnaire des Sciences Na- turelles" — Experiment to determine the farina of plants being taken into the second stomach of the bee — Com- parison of the discovery of Huber with the hypothesis of Latreille, Martin, Dr. Howison, &c. — Scales of wax, ac- cording to Huber, found between the rings of the abdomen — Contradictions of Huber — Wax a crude production of nature, confirmed by Mr. Knight — Objections to that hy- pothesis — Huber's description of the bees secreting wax — Festoons of bees — Errors disseminated by the " Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge" — The bee a solitary worker — Different labours of the bees — The wax secreted exteriorly to the hive — Construction of a cell by a bee, according to the vision of Huber — Progress of the forma- tion of a comb — The structure of a cell never yet observed — System adopted by the bees in the formation of a comb — Enormous comb made by the bees, according to Huber — General si <:e of the combs— The comb of Huber a direct impossibility — An unlimited space not favourable to the works of the bees — Restriction of their limits, exemplified in the forests of Poland and the Ukraine— Swarms, ac- cording to Huber, do not bring home pollen — Disproved by experience — Arguments in favour of the formation of wax from pollen — A cell never entirely filled with pollen — The edges of the combs, according to Huber, made with propolis— The colour of the combs not caused by heat — XXVI CONTENTS. PAGE Cause of the edges of the combs being of a deeper colour than the interior of the ceil— Hypothesis of L'Abbe della Rocca— Experiments of Reaumur— Singular opinion ad- vanced by Ducouedic— Investigation of that opinion— Origin of wax according to the u Encyclopedic Me'thodique" 380 CHAPTER XX. ON THE NATURE OF PROPOLIS. The hypothesis of Huber relative to the nature and origin of propolis not founded on truth — Supposed to be gathered from certain plants — The cells of the bees lined and soldered with propolis — Arguments against that hypo- thesis — Experiments to determine the affinity of wax and propolis — Propolis a vegetable substance — Wax an animal substance — Experiment to determine the nature of pro- polis — Not carried into the hive as a separate substance — The effect of temperature upon it — Position of the bees constructing a comb — The foundation of a comb deter- mined to be wax —Experiment to determine the existence of two separate substances— Concluding reflections 402 CHAPTER XXI. ON THE TRANSPORTATION OF HIVES. Profit resulting from the removal of hives — Additional weight of hives by removal to heath — Removal of hives in Scotland — Objections to the removal— Advantages of removal to weak hives — Removal of hives in the autumn and the spring — Hives to be removed to the vicinity of furze — Transportation of hives in Egypt — Practised' by the Greeks and Chinese— Plan adopted in Piedmont — Manner of transporting the hives in France— Rules laid down by M. Bomare— Different systems of removal— The plan of transportation disapproved by Ducarne — His opin- ion examined — Removal of hives recommended in this country • 409 CHAPTER XXII. ON THE EXTENT OF THE FLIGHT OF BEES, AND THE COUNTRIES MOST SUITABLE TO THEIR CULTURE. Importance of the question of the extent of the flight f the bee-Advantages of the proximity of food— Causes of the CONTENTS. XXV11 PAGE short life of the bee — Establishment of an apiary at Brighton — Causes of its failure — The extent of the Wight of, the bee, according to the encyclopedists, determined by the colour of the farina — Experiment to determine the night of the bee — Visit to the Isle of Bas — Bees found on the island — Extraordinary power of instinct in the bee — Opinion of L'Abbe della Rocca — Erroneous opinion of Dr. Chambers and Mr. Hunter — Travelling apiaries of Ger- many — Errors in the calculation of a German mile — Opi- nion of Huber — An apiary not to be supported by artificial means — Cultivated flowers of little use to the bee— The particular produce of a country to be studied by every keeper of bees — Number of hives which any given tract of country can maintain — Danger of overstocking a country — Average number of hives of the English apiaries — Ex- tensive apiary at Cobham, in Kent — Eccentric conduct of the proprietor — Extent of the number of hives to be kept in any apiary— Opinion of M. La Grenee — The same re- futed — Analogy between cattle and hives of bees 41!) CHAPTER XX1TI. THE BEE-MASTER'S MONTHLY MANUAL. Page 430. CHAPTER XXIV. GENERAL MAXIMS TO BE OBSERVED BY EVERY KEEPER OF BEES. Page 445. CHAPTER XXV. A COMPARATIVE EXHIBIT OF THE SYSTEMS OF HUBER AND HUISH. Page 451. THE BEE : ATy sal u a§T® kv AND MANAGEMENT. FIRST CHAPTER. THE COMMON BEE. general character op the bee — huber's account of the bee — butler's female monarchy — skill of the bees in music — powers given to the bees by huber system of schirach objections to it — the queen bee lays every egg in the hive — contrariety of opinion respecting the bee — opinions of the german apiarians — german bee gardens — erroneous management of bushman eonner's discovery of little drones — the common bees take no part in the multiplication of their species — the common bee, according to huber, is a female — arguments against it — the common bee a decided neuter — different species of befs — their history according to huber — the working bees are endowed with ovaries — eggs generated in some and not in others — the administration of the royal jelly — efficacy of the royal jelly — the female workers, according to huber, lay only male eggs — discovery of mademoiselle jurine — common bees are im- perfect females — their imperfection investigated — discovery of mr. epignes — organization of the common bee — erroneous statement op huber in regard to the collection of farina its refutation — the honey bag— the venom vesicle — description of the sting remedies for it — prussian remedy for the sting opinion of lombard — bonner not affected by the sting of bees — opinion of l'abbe della rocca — hives of bees made use of as instruments of war — opinion of pigneron — only one species of bees in england — its general characteristics — its division of labour according to huber his discovery of black bees — the opinion of renn1e and kirby respecting them — the existence of the black bees said by kirby to be confirmed by thorley — the same refuted — the superficial knowledge op kirby of the natural history of the bee — the existence of the black bees admitted by duncan — the system of huber in regard to the existence of several species of bees — not founded on truth — difference in the size of the bees accounted for — singular hypothesis of huber in regard to the nurse bee — examination of the disputed points — examination of the senses of the bees — study of the natural history" of the bee by the ancients — by swammerdam, miraldi, reaumur, bonner, and schirach — interest attached to the study of the bee. B 10 EARLY HISTORY OF THE BEE. The Bee is the most active and industri- ous of all insects, and it is to its labour that we are indebted for the honey and wax, which form not only an important branch of our rural economy, but are very valuable articles of our import trade. The order, which predominates in the different avocations of the honey bees, — their mode of government — their indefatigable industry — the exquisite skill displayed by them in the con- struction of their works, and the acknowledged utility of their labours, have attracted towards them the attention of both ancient and modern philosophers, some of whom have employed the greater part of their life in the study and con- templation of their nature and mysteries. Some individuals, however, allowing themselves to be led away by the seduc- tive power of enthusiasm, have endowed the common bees with the faculty of performing the most extraordinary miracles, and amongst that class, Huber certainly holds the most prominent rank. Tn the dark and unenlightened age, in which Butler wrote his female monarchy, science had made but few and very slow advances on the road to truth ; — the faint glimmer of its light was seen breaking through the dark clouds of despotism and superstition, and shining to future ages as the harbinger of a glorious day : — we are therefore, disposed to look upon the works of the writers of those days, with the eye of lenity and indulgence ; but when in the enlightened era of the nineteenth century, we meet with individuals, who, having the fountains of knowledge, science, and research flowing profusely around them, and to whom the road is distinctly and clearly pointed out, by which they can confirm or refute the results of that research, by means of personal observation and experience : we repeat it, that when we meet with individuals, who, under such favourable circumstances, can still allow themselves to be led away by spurious and fallacious authorities, and thereby DISCOVERIES OF HUBER. 11 becoming the reprehensible promulgators of a series of errors and absurdities, at variance with all the results of positive experience, and, consequently, committing an irreparable injury to the cause of science, we confess that we feel dis- posed to treat such individuals with mere derision and ridi- cule. The skill of the bees in music, and particularly in solfaing, as advanced by Butler, may have obtained credence in the unenlightened age in which he lived, but where is the individual of the present day, gifted with even common un- derstanding, who would not reject a notion so preposterous and absurd, and treat it as the wild effervescence of a vi- sionary brain ? And yet, strange to say, the powers with which Huber invests his bees, extend to a far greater diversity of miraculous operations, and are deeper involved in absurdity and fallacy, than the wildest extravagances of Columella or of Butler. The erection of fortifications — the administration of the royal jelly — the art of colouring the combs — the warming of apartments and green-houses by the heat of hives — the faculty of the queen to strike the bees motionless, and the murderous duels of the queens, form, indeed, but a small portion of the miraculous discoveries of Huber, and for which such a spurious fame has been awarded to him. Of all the early naturalists, the system of Schirach, in regard to the natural history of the bee, deserves the most particular notice, as, in reality, it differs very little from that which is acknowledged at the present day, with the excep- tion of the different kinds of bees invented by Huber, and on the admission of which depend the truth and validity of his system. It will, however, be seen on analyzing the follow- ing system of Schirach, that Huber himself, is but an echoist of that naturalist, as they agree in many of the fundamental points, although they differ widely in the minutiae. Schirach considered the hive to consist of three kinds of bees, (1) the queen — (2) the drones, being the males — and (3) an intermediate sex, the working bees, to whom he b 2 12 SYSTEM OF SCHIRACH. awarded a greater affinity to the female than the male sex ; but who, nevertheless, were held to be destitute of any procreating power, nor possessing any direct influence on the multiplication of their species. On this classification he founded the following system :— From every egg that would produce a working bee, if it remained in the small cell till its maturity, and being nourished in the usual man- ner, a queen bee would always result therefrom, if the bees gave to each egg an enlargement of the cell, in which the worm and the nymph could properly expand themselves : and also if the bees provided it with richer food, and in a more abundant quantity. It was also a leading feature of his system, that the parts which belonged to the queen bee, lay concealed in exquisite minuteness, in the liquid principle of the egg, but that as soon as those parts obtained the neces- sary space for their expansion, they increased in size, and the development gradually proceeded, until the queen attained her full size and beauty. Finally, he affirmed that all the common bees were females and virgins, devoted to perpetual celibacy : and, although possessing in themselves the power of procreating, yet that it was never allowed to be called into action. The following, therefore, may be taken as the programme of his system ; — 1 The Queen. 2 Drones. 3 Working Bees, a Fruitful. b Unfruitful. Drones. This system, however, met with very great and just oppo- sition, for the very circumstance of the existence of a fruit- ful ovarium, never procreating, nor producing any of the species natural to it, threw the whole system into disrepute, and at once established its fallacy. Nevertheless, it excited a considerable sensation amongst the entomologists of the day, and some of the opponents of Schirach extended their OPINIONS OP THE EARLY APIARIANS. 13 dissent so far, as to assert, that all trie working bees pos- sessed the power of procreation ; and in corroboration of their hypothesis, they appealed to the alleged fact, that hives des- titute of their queen, will continue the process of breeding, and even produce a brood of drones. It was, however, a part of the theory of Schirach, that the drones were not an individual species, but that they originated from some spuri- ous or corrupted eggs, or in other words, that they were natural abortions. In order, however, to consider the history of the bee in its most essential relations, there are certain premises which must be laid down as the basis of that history, although we are well aware that some apiarians, particularly of the Huberian school, will not admit of their validity, and, in fact, it must be allowed, that it is that very contrariety of opinion, which subsists in regard to the natural history of the bee, enveloped, as it is, in almost impenetrable mystery, that renders the attainment of truth so difficult. It must, in the first place, be conceded, that the queen bee lays every egg in the hive : she is, in fact, the only female, although Huber, Jurine, Humel, Forlani, with a few English apiarians, as their adherents, have revived the obsolete idea, that the working bees are themselves females, although not perfectly formed. Such, indeed, was the opinion of the early German apiarians, who characterized the common bees as unvollkommene Weibchen (imperfect little females or mo- thers), and some indistinct procreating power was given to them, but, at the same time, it was so extravagant and confused, that the generic character of the insect could not be accurately ascertained. The general notions of the German apiarians, respecting the natural history of the bee, were altogether indefinite and paradoxical; and it is universally allowed, that even those individuals, who were appointed by several of the reigning princes of Germany, to superintend their apiaries, or bee-gardens, were as grossly b 3 14 DISCOVERY OF BONNER. ignorant of the subject on which they presumed to teach, as the individuals whom they were appointed to instruct The majority of them were of opinion, that each species in the hive generated their like ; and from this wild hypothesis arose the discovery of Bonner (subsequently promulgated), of the existence of little drones, which he affirms to have discovered amongst the common bees, and to which he awarded the procreating power of the male. It must, never- theless, be confessed, that the merit is due to the German apiarians, of having been the foremost to eradicate many of the ridiculous prejudices, which had crept into the natural history of the bee, and that it is on the basis of their experi- mental discoveries, that the different theories of the English apiarians have been erected. We will not hesitate to declare it as our most decided opinion, that the common bees take no share whatever in the procreation of their species ; although they may, by their reciprocal heat contribute greatly to the nourishment of the brood. Huber, however, in the plenitude of his inventive powers, not only establishes the gender of the common bee, but he has even bestowed upon it an ovarium, and on that point we are decidedly at issue. If the common bees be females, according to the hypothesis of Huber, it ought to be considered as an essential point in the natural history of the insect, to ascertain in what manner those pretended females assist in the propagation of their species ? If nature * Bushman, the superintendent of the apiaries in the imperial gardens of Vienna, was, in the year 1830, so ignorant of the proper management of the bee, that, acting upon the system of Huber, he instructed his attendants to kill the greater portion of the drones, immediately on their appearance, on the principle that as one drone was sufficient for the fecundation of the queen, the massacre of the remainder was an act of prudence and good management, by ridding the hive of a number of superfluous mouths, who were feeding at the expense of the community. The consequence of this gross mismanagement was the loss of three fourths of the hives, which, as i s generally the case, was attributed to some malignant influence, and not to tho hi„„.* • ' """• liUL to tne blundering ignorance of the practitioner. THE COMMON BEE A DECIDED NEUTER. 15 has endowed the common bee with an ovarium, in which no egg was ever discovered, nor which was ever known to be fructified by any sexual coition, the question then na- turally presents itself, for what purpose was this ovarium given to the bee ? We, however, deny in the most unequi- vocal manner, that any ovarium exists in the common bee ; for, after the most minute and frequently repeated anato- mical experiments, we never could discover the slightest indication of such an organ — nor is it consistent with the universal operations of nature, that an organ should be given to an insect, which is not necessary for its support, and the positive use of which is at variance with its individual nature. If Huber, in the support of his theory, could have adduced a single instance, in which the common bee exercised the power of procreation — if he could have furnished us with one indubitable proof of an egg ever having been discovered in the ovarium of the common bee — if he could so far have extended his anatomical researches, as to have discovered a generating organ in the common bee — we would have hailed his discoveries as most valuable adjuncts to the na- tural history of the insect. We are, indeed, fully inclined to admit that the existence of a neuter in animal life, par- takes of the character of a direct phenomenon, and that it requires proofs to substantiate its existence, amounting in force to a mathematical demonstration, before the mind can be induced to admit the anomaly ; nevertheless, we are au- thorized, after the most extended anatomical researches and a series of the most difficult experiments, to denominate the common bee a decided neuter, or in other words, wholly destitute of any organic power of propagating its species. In the investigation of this important part of the natural history of the bee, the existence of the different species of bees in a hive, ought to be fully established and admitted by all parties as the basis of the inquiry, but even on this head, the most conflicting opinions are maintained. We are B 4 16 OVARIES OF THE WORKING BEES. informed by Huber, that, independently of the drones, there are imprimis, working bees, which are divided into two important classes, viz. nurse bees and wax workers; but the most extraordinary and marvellous feature in the nature of the latter is, that although they make the combs, still they make no wax— a contradiction, which it would puzzle Huber himself, and all his adherents, with Mr. Ren- nie at their head, to solve satisfactorily. It has the same relation with truth, as if he had informed us, that although the silkworm spins its cocoon, still it makes no silk. These working bees, however, according to Huber, may be con- sidered in the character of masons or bricklayers, to whom the materials for the construction of their works are brought by other labourers. We shall, however, have occasion to enter more fully into this subject, when we come to treat of the construction of the combs. Consistently with the authority of Huber, we are further taught to believe that the entire race of workers are females, and that these procreating workers lay none but male eggs. Here we are admitted to a new insight into the natural history of the bee ; for, according to this system, we have twelve or fifteen thousand females in a hive, all laying male eggs, although Huber designedly forgets, at the same time, to inform us, what is the real produce of those eggs, or in what manner they are fecundated. He, however, does in- form us that these procreating workers possess ovaries, and that in their nature, they resemble the queens, whose fecun- dation has been retarded. The result of this system, there- fore, is as follows ; — In the first place, we have a female insect, self-fecundated, or what is still more preposterous and unnatural, fecundated by an exterior principle, emanat- ing from a female itself! ! a female fecundating a female ! !! Is it not to be deplored that a doctrine of this kind should meet with any advocates in the present enlightened state of human knowledge ? THEORY OF HUBER, 17 In the second place, these female workers lay eggs, from which some kind of a male originates, which male, however, has never been seen nor ever known of in the hive. Thus we have paradox upon paradox, irreconcileable with common sense, and which must naturally expose the author of them to the severest criticism. It is curious to observe the manner in which Huber ac- counts for the absence of the procreating power of the com- mon bee, and certainly his inventive faculty must have been nearly exhausted, when he ventured upon the following definition of it. Having, in his opinion, undeniably esta- blished the fact of the common bee being a female, the next thing which he had to do, was to account for the de- struction of its procreating power ; for, certainly, the circum- stance of the existence of 12 or 15000 females in a hive, and all of them sterile, required some explanation from an indivi- dual, who had penetrated so deeply, and with such eminent success, into their natural history. Huber, therefore, very properly proceeds to inform us, that at the time of the de- position of the egg by the queen, from which a working bee was to spring, it possessed all the inherent principles of the female sex ; but that on account of the contracted state of the cell in which it was deposited, the larva underwent such a degree of acute pain, that the productive organs were destroyed, and, consequently, that on the bee emerging from the cell, it was neither a male nor a female, but a species of nondescript creature, not belonging to any class whatever hitherto laid down by the physiologists. This may appear very plausible, and no doubt, highly satisfactory to the admirers of Huber, but then how is the contradiction to be solved into which he subsequently falls, in which he states, that some of the workers have ovaries, in which male eggs have been discovered, from which we are authorized to infer, that all the larvae do not experience such an extreme of jmin as to destroy their productive organs ? It would appear, how- b 5 18 huber's discovery of the royal jelly. ever, that that inference on our part is rather gratuitous, for Huber subsequently informs us that those workers, who have retained their productive organs, must have had a greater quantity of succulent food administered to them, which acted as a balsam to the pain, and enabled the bee to spring into life, with all its natural powers in full strength and vigour. It is, however, but just to give Huber the full benefit of his discoveries ; although we shall distinctly show that the further he proceeds, the deeper he involves himself in con- tradiction and inconsistency. According to his accurate observation, which with many it is heresy to dispute, all the working bees possess ovaries, but all the ovaries do not con- tain eggs. It was necessary, therefore, that he should tax his ingenuity, in order to devise some means or principle, by which eggs may be generated in some of these ovaries, and not in others ; for he distinctly perceived, great as his reliance might be on the credulity of his readers, that if he gave to every worker an ovarium with eggs, the absurdity of the system would be so manifest, that the whole of it would fall to pieces at once. He has, therefore, recourse to the all-powerful panacea of a peculiar liquid, designated by him royal jellv * ; and we are consequently informed, that if the worms of the workers be favoured with a small modi- cum of the jelly, its efficacy is so astounding, that the ovarium becomes instantly capable of generating eggs : which eggs, however, produce nothing but males, but of the manner of their fecundation, Huber very modestly and properly ac- knowledges his ignorance. Still, however, in one ovarium * By the French apiarians, this truly wonderful and efficacious liquid is ca led bottillie koyale j considering, however, that it is administered solely m the manufacture of queens, we opined, that royal jelly would be far more becoming and respectful than royal broth ; although, after all the French apiarians may perhaps be in the right, knowing, most probably, the ingredient, of winch it is made, but of which we most candidly confess our entire ignorance. MALE EGGS LAID BY FEMALE WORKERS. 19 he found eleven eggs, and in another four — but in what cells those eggs were laid, or what might be the destination of their produce, we are left to the benefit of our own conclu- sions. It is, however, evident from Huber's own showing, that it is only under certain conditions and circumstances, that eggs are generated in the ovarium of the common bee, or in other words, that it is rendered capable of generating them; which conditions and circumstances, however, are not the result of any determined or fixed natural habit or principle of the insect itself, but the entire phenomenon is to be ascribed to the mere accident of a certain modicum of royal jelly being dropped upon them in the state of larvse. Thus, the exist- ence of these ovi-positing workers is not indispensable to a hive, for, if they be the offspring of mere accident, it is a proof that the machinery of the hive would work equally well without them, and consequently, that they can only be looked upon as one of the wild freaks of nature, in which she appears sometimes to delight. It is acknowledged by all apiarians, and confirmed by Huber himself, that it is the queen only, who lays those eggs in the hive from which proceed the queen, the drones, and the common bees ; and, had he contented himself with that information, the merit would have been awarded to him of having adhered to the tests of experience ; but, he proceeds to inform us, that it is only the female workers, who lay male eggs, from which we are entitled to draw the inference, that the queen, according to his own showing, does not lay all the eggs in the hive, and consequently, that he was decidedly in error, when he says that both the queen and the female workers lay male eggs. In order, however, to be consistent, and to have given his system one single solid foot to stand upon, Huber should have informed us of the exact issue of these male eggs, for he, surely, could not have meant to im- pose upon us with the fiction, that these eggs produce male bees, which copulate with the female workers ; for, some- b 6 20 THEORY OF MADEMOISELLE JURINE. thing of that kind must take place, seeing that the creation of some thousands of males in a hive cannot be designed by nature without apportioning to them some particular func- tions ; nor is it less strange that the produce of these eggs should be restricted to the masculine gender, leaving the queen to produce the female eggs and another kind of male (the drones), which she, for some particular reason, mono- polizes to herself. Are these fertile workers, (for Huber is silent on the subject) at the same time, virgins and mothers ? Do they, in imitation of their queen, retire with their para- mours to the woods, or the upper regions of the air, for the purpose of being fecundated ? for in no part of Huber's works do we find that he makes the slightest mention of the manner in which these eggs are fecundated, nor of the kind of cell in which they are bred, nor of the precise functions or destination of their issue. The whole is, in fact, a farrago of paradox, inconsistency, and contradiction ; but, neverthe- less, it is received, on the authority of Huber, into the natural history of the bee, as an indisputable fact. In defence of Huber it must be acknowledged that Made- moiselle Jurine determines the common bees to be imper- fect females, for which discovery she is highly extolled by Mr. Rennie, late Professor of Natural History of King's College, London. In despite, however, of the eulogium of the worthy professor, we will venture to affirm, that the the- ory of Mademoiselle Jurine is of a very antiquated date, and promulgated a few hundred years before Mademoiselle took upon herself the arduous task of the anatomy of the bee : she has, however, like her great prototype, forgotten to in- form us in what particular relations of the bee that imperfec- tion lies. Taking, however, Huber and Jurine as our au- thorities, we consider that it lies in the existence of an ovarium of no utility whatever, in which no eggs were ever found or ever known to exist, unless expanded by the accidental ad- ministration of a modicum of royal jelly; but nevertheless, HYPOTHESIS OF MONS. EPIGNES. 21 that eggs are still deposited, unfecundated, from which, how- ever, springs a kind of male, which has never been seen, and the uses of which are wrapt in an insoluble mystery. Thus is the imperfection of Huber and Jurine satisfactorily ac- counted for. Having thus expounded the theory of Huber and Made- moiselle Jurine respecting the common bee, we will notice the extraordinary discovery of M. Epignes, a member of the Linnean Society of Bourcleaux, who in a volume of their Transactions, has published his researches into the natural history of the bee, and therein has decided the point, accord- ing to his own opinion, beyond the power of refutation, that the common bee is a decided male. Mons. Epignes, how- ever, possesses sufficient candour to confess, that in the con- firmation of this disputed point, he sees himself environed by difficulties, from which he cannot extricate himself. The existence of ten or twelve thousand males in a hive, without any female to procreate their species, appears to him to be in such direct opposition to the established laws and opera- tions of nature, that he cannot be induced to admit it, with- out committing an actual violation upon his reason. Not so with Huber, however, for he bounds over those difficul- ties with the agility of a chamois over the rocks of his native mountains, and for which reason, he often tumbles into a quagmire, from which neither he, nor his adherents, can possibly extricate him. On a general principle, however, there is very little difference between 10,000 females without a male, according to Huber, or 10,000 males without a female, according to M. Epignes ; there exists, however, an essential difference between the females of Huber, and the males of M. Epignes. The former procreate, although their issue has never been known ; whereas the latter do not procreate at all, having no female with whom to asso- ciate. Without, however, attaching our assent in the slight- est degree to the hypothesis of M. Epignes, we may venture 22 ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMON BEE. to ask, what now becomes of the highly vaunted anatomical researches of Mademoiselle Jurine, whose opinion on the sexual character of the common bee is so warmly espoused by the editor of the Insect Architecture, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge ? Is it pos- sible, we may ask, that the ovaries of Huber could have escaped the investigation of M. Epignes, if any such ovaries had been actually in existence ? An organ of that kind, so necessary and indispensable to a female insect, must, at once, have been so apparent, as to have excited the imme- diate notice of the anatomist; no such organ, however, having presented itself to the observation of M. Epignes, he considers himself authorized to deny its existence in toto. Thus, it is most curious to remark, that nearly in the middle of the nineteenth century, notwithstanding the most minute and extended researches by men of the profoundest talent of all ages and of all countries, the sexual character of the common bee remains still a disputed point, and its real nature, but imperfectly understood. In the organization of the common bees, there are three essential characters, which demand our notice. The first is the head, the second, the middle of the body, and the third, the belly or the abdomen. In the head are two sets of jaws, which open and close laterally, and it is by this organ that it is enabled to collect the farina of the plants, to form it into wax, to construct the combs with it — and to carry to or from the hive whatever is necessary or detrimental to it. On a further examination of the head, a proboscis is perceptible, highly flexible, which the insect puts forth and draws in at pleasure, and it is by means of this organ that the. bees collect the honey from the flowers, and imbibe their own nourishment. In the middle of the body are the breast and the two stomachs, the common bee having always two, one as the receptacle of the honey, and the other in which the wax is COLLECTION OF FARINA. 23 elaborated. Each insect has four wings, two larger and two smaller, the latter being nearest to the head. It has six feet, on the two hinder of which are two triangular cavities, in which the bee by degrees collects the minute particles of the farina from the flowers. According to Huber, the bee in search of the farina, rolls itself in the cavity of the flowers, and having secured the treasure, hastens to the hive, and on reaching it, enters one of the cells head foremost, takes the pellets from the cavities of the hinder legs, and which being moistened and mixed with a small portion of honey are kneaded into a substance, called bee bread, a proper supply of which is necessary to the strength and health of the bees during the winter, and without which, they would become consumptive and die. These statements of Huber are wholly without founda- tion*. The bee does not roll itself in the cavity of the flower ; it collects the farina with its forceps or pincers, and having collected a certain quantity, it takes to its wings, hovering over the flower, during which time, by means of the fore and middle legs, it conveys the farina to the cavities of the hinder legs, and then lights upon the flower again to obtain a fresh supply. The bee in unloading itself does not enter the cell head foremost, but directly the reverse. It places its hinder feet in the cell, and with the other feet detaches the pellets from the cavities, and then with its hinder legs kneads the pollen at the bottom of the cell. The pellets of farina are never moistened nor mixed with any portion of honey whatever. It is deposited in its crude * It is really deplorable to observe the manner in -which these fictions of Huber are introduced into almost all our Encyclopedias, and elementary works on Natural History. Thus, for instance, in Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, we find a Mr. and Mrs. Elwood instructing their children in the Natural History of the Bee, the whole of which instruction, based on the supposed discoveries of Huber, is surcharged with error, and the sole ten- dency of which is to lead the infant mind astray. 24 INTERNAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE BEE. state, as it is gathered, and it has acquired the name of bee bread, on the supposition that it formed a part of the suste- nance of the bee, but, so far from its being conducive to the strength and health of the bees during the winter— they will perish, rather than partake of it. In regard to its preven- tion of consumption, as alleged by Huber, we can positively affirm, that it is a disease unknown to the English bees, however prevalent it may be according to the observation of Huber, amongst the Genevese. The body of the bee, or the abdominal part is attached to the breast by a kind of thread, and is composed of six scaly rings. The whole body of the bee appears, even to the naked eye, to be covered with a kind of hairy down. Age makes some difference in them, in regard to the colour of the insect ; at its egress from the cell, it is of a greyish hue, but the bee that has been the tenant of a hive for a year or two, is of a dark brown, and the extent of its labour is known by the wear and tear of its wings, which appear torn and fringed. On the breast, and at the roots of the wings, are observed small orifices or pores in the shape of a mouth by which the bee respires, and which are technically called stygmates. The body is covered with six rings lapping over each other like the scales of a fish. The interior consists of four parts— the intestines — the honey bag — the venom ve- sicle—and the sting. The intestines, as in other animals, serve for the digestion of the food, and the retention of the faeces. The honey vesicle, when it is full, is of the size of a small pea, and sufficiently transparent to ascertain the colour of the honey which it contains. The vesicle which contains the venom, is at the root of the sting, the latter is hollow like a tube, and at the time of its infliction, the venom passes down it, and is diffused into the wound. The sting is about two lines in length, and is darted into the skin with great violence, by means of certain muscles, which are placed very near to the sting, and are very REMEDIES FOR THE STING. 25 perceptible on squeezing the hinder part of the bee — its extremity is barbed like an arrow, and when examined by a microscope, the whole of the sting appears like a saw with very sharp incisions, which render the extraction of the sting a matter of great difficulty to the bee, in fact, in the gene- rality of cases, the act of withdrawing the sting is fatal to the insect, as from its barbed nature, it cannot be drawn out, without bringing along with it, a portion of the intestines, the consequence of which is, the death of the bee. In all cases, the sting should be extracted as soon as possible, for the longer it remains, the more painful will be the wound, on account of the venom continuing to flow down the hol- low of the tube, and thereby increasing the virulence of the pain. In regard to the remedy for the sting of a bee, many have been prescribed, such as vinegar, urine, laudanum, goulard- water, the juice of certain plants, as the dandelion, dock and others, and oil of olives, which is said to be a remedy even for the bite of a viper. The most simple and efficacious of all remedies, however, is an immediate application of cold spring water. A piece of linen soaked in water, and applied to the wound, will in a very short time assuage the pain, and diminish the inflammation. It must, however, be admitted, that the remedy greatly depends upon the bodily constitu- tion of the individual, and the particular state of his blood ; thus, laudanum with some persons, will afford immediate relief, whilst with others, it will be wholly inefficacious*. We have met with some individuals, on whom the venom of the bee appeared to be deprived of its painful qualities ; thus, Bonner for instance, seemed to be almost venom-proof; we * Lombard is of opinion that the more frequently a person is stung, the milder is the pain which he experiences. This must be a great satisfaction to the young apiarian, who can consequently congratulate himself, that, in time he may be enabled to carry on his operations with his bees, without the attendant dread of their stings. Lombard was, however, a fanciful naturalist, and the above was one of the, not least, remarkable of his conceits. 26 BEES USED AS INSTRUMENTS OF WAR. have seen his head, which was very bald, literally studded with stings, and yet no swelling took place, nor were they attended with any pain ; but had any other person experienced a twentieth part of those stings, death would most probably have been the result. The following is a Prussian recipe for the sting of a bee, or any other venomous insect ; — Beat an onion on a hard body to extract the juice, to which add a pinch of salt ; apply the mixture to the sting, and the pain and inflammation will instantly cease. In regard to this, and other remedies, we can only say, that although they may possess in themselves a certain degree of efficacy, yet the articles of which they are made, are not always within the command of the sufferer ; whereas cold water is generally within the immediate reach of every one. L'Abbe Delia Rocca, who resided in the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, as well as in the department of the Seine-et-Oise, in France, affirms that the bees of the latter are much less vicious than those of the former, and which he attributes to the difference of the climate. He mentions two instances in which bees have been made use of as instru- ments of war ; the first was that of a small corsair, which, with a crew of forty or fifty men, and having on board some hives of bees, formed the daring project of boarding a galley with a crew of five hundred men, which was in pursuit of it. The corsair from the bowsprit threw the hives on the deck of the Turkish galley. The Turks, not being able to protect themselves from the stings of the enraged insects, became so alarmed, that they tried every means of sheltering them- selves from their fury; the crew of the corsair, however, being provided with gloves and masks, boarded the galley, sword in hand, and obtained possession of the vessel, with scarcely any opposition. The second case was that of Amurath, Emperor of the Turks, who besieged Abba, in Greece, and having made a breach in the walls, found it INTELLIGENCE AND UNION OF THE BEES. 27 defended by bees, the hives of which were placed on the ruins. The Janissaries, although the bravest of the Ottoman troops, were never able to overcome this obstacle. Pigneron relates that the Spaniards experienced the fury of the bees at the siege of Tanly. When they were pre- paring to make the assault, the besieged placed a number of hives in the breaches, which attacked the besiegers so furiously that they were obliged to retire. We are acquainted in England but with one sort of bees, as the fabricators of honey and wax, although the foreign naturalists mention three, one of which is said to be rather numerous in the Archipelago, but they are by no means domesticated, being a kind of marauding vagabonds, who make war upon the produce of the domesticated bees. The labour of the bees appears to be regulated on the most extraordinary and undeviating principles, and has from the earliest ages excited the attention of the philosopher and naturalist *. An undisturbed harmony — a perfect intelligence and union reign amongst all the bees of the same hive, in whom no want of concert is ever perceptible, nor any dis- union, but by accident. If they be attacked by any of the neighbouring bees, or by other insects, they appear to be animated by the same zeal — the same ardour — the same vivacity of spirit, in the common defence of their property and habitation, and will rather sacrifice their lives, than yield the palm of victory to their opponents. The mutual services which the bees render to each other, and the assistance which they administer to those who stand in need of it, prove incontestibly the great friendship which reigns amongst them. If the bees, who return from the fields be wet, or covered with dust, the insects at the * Pliny, as well as Mathiolus, relate some marvellous things in the economy of the bees, and the philosopher Aristomachus employed sixty years in the study of them. They however haffled him, as they have done every subse- quent naturalist, who has attempted to wrest their secrets from them. 28 LABOUR OF THE BEE. entrance of the hive proceed to dry and clean them, before they be permitted to enter the hive. If they be in want of food, it is pleasing to behold with what solicitude they ad- minister to the wants of their famished companions, project- ing their proboscis towards them, on which the globule of honey is distinctly perceptible. The regular distribution of labour amongst the bees is a circumstance so very surprising, that it would scarcely be credited, except by those who have bestowed the most minute attention upon their actions. Some of them perform the duty of sentinels at the entrance, preventing the ingress of all strangers and enemies ; others are employed in traversing the fields in search of their winter stores, or collecting the materials wherewith to construct their combs ; whilst others employ themselves at home in the erection of their cells, according to the most correct geometrical proportions, and with a skill, which far exceeds the utmost extent of human ingenuity. " Labor omnibus unus, Mane ruunt portis, nusquam mora." Huber has discovered that a certain number of bees are regularly appointed as the body-guard of the queen, follow- ing her in her travels through her dominions, and assisting her majesty in any predicament into which she may have fallen. They have also a supply of provisions always ready at hand, to administer to her majesty, should she be hungry ; but on the other hand, these guards, according to Huber, behave sometimes in a most impudent manner to their royal mistress, such as would not be tolerated in any other mo- narchy, than that of the bees. We will, however, leave this discovery to the consideration of those, who have sufficient credulity to believe in it, but for ourselves, we treat it as an absurd and ridiculous fiction. The most incessant labour appears to be the leading prin- ciple of action of the bees ; from the first glimpse of light to SAGACITY OF THE BEE. 29 almost total darkness, they are to be seen scouring the country in all directions, extending their flight sometimes to the distance of three or four miles, and returning not, until their vesicle be filled with honey. As these incomparable insects entertain a decided aversion from all filth and un- cleanliness, it is impossible to witness a structure more beautifully clean and neat, than is exhibited by the interior of a hive. Nothing that has the slightest approach to infection is allowed to remain in it j every dead bee is im- mediately carried out of it, and the abortive brood is torn from the cells and instantly removed from the hive. There is scarcely any insect which has more enemies than the bee, and they are generally of the most cunning and insidious character, stealing into the hive under the coverture of dark- ness, when they carry on their depredations without the fear of detection. In regard to the snail and the mouse, the bees often display a degree of sagacity which is truly wonderful in so small an insect. A mouse stands a poor chance against half a dozen bees; but having killed him, their united strength is not able to drag him out of the hive, but rather than endure the annoyance of his putrifying body, they will cover it with a coat of wax, which completely prevents all effluvia from ascending to the combs. The bee must not be considered as an offensive insect, but almost universally acting upon the defensive. It is true that it possesses the sagacity of discovering a weak hive, and will attempt to pillage the property of its neighbours ; but the very manner in which it goes about the business, shows that it is perfectly aware that it is committing an act of injustice. A pillaging bee, bold and resolute as he may show himself in the defence of his own property, generally shows himself a coward when he goes forth on a marauding expedition. It must, however, be observed, that in propor- tion as the weakness of a hive increases, so does also the spirit diminish with which the bee is naturally prone to 30 OPINIONS OF MR. DUNCAN. defend his property, and an attacking bee has therefore the greater chance of succeeding in his design. Eager as we are in our inquiries after truth in everything appertaining to the bee, we cannot refrain from admitting into our pages, the following singular statements of Mr. Duncan. Speaking of the labours of the bee, he says, " their labours appear unceasing, yet do the weary labourers sometimes snatch an interval of repose : during the busy season, we have seen hundreds of the workers retiring into their cells and exhibiting all the marks of profound sleep; this fact is very easily observ- able, especially in those cells which are constructed, as some- times, againstthe glass, and when that substance forms one side of the cell. There they are, the fatigued labourers stretched at full length with their heads at the bottom, and every limb apparently in a relaxed state, while the little body is seen heaving gently from the process of respiration j" and could Mr. Dun- can suppose for a moment that he could succeed in imposing such an extraordinary fiction as the actual truth upon his readers, that the bees enter the cells for the purpose of tak- ing a nap ? We know that there are only two purposes for which the bee enters a cell, and the most probable reason of the hundreds entering the cells, as witnessed by Mr. Duncan, was for the purpose of disgorging the honey which they had collected in the fields, but even Huber in the most extrava- gant of his apiarian visions never ventured so far as to make his bees go to sleep. " There they are," says Mr. Duncan, " stretched at full length with their heads at the bottom," and when, we will presume to ask Mr. Duncan, did he everbehold a bee, stretched at full length with his head at the bottom ? The position of the sleeping bees, as described by Duncan, is the natural one of the bees on degurgitating the honey, but as to sleep, no bee ever yet fell asleep in a cell, or out of a cell. The bees will rest from their labours, huddled closely together, but the cells of a hive were never yet applied to the uses of a dormitory, and we will venture to affirm that sleep 8 THE BLACK BEES OF HUBER. 31 is as great a stranger to the eye of the bee, as it is to that of a herring*. It was one of the crotchets of Huber, that every bee has its appointed department of labour, to which it is by nature confined, and, consequently, that it is not governed by any positive concert of action. Accordingly, he divides the bees into several classes or communities, in the first place, we have the nurse bees — secondly, the wax makers — thirdly, the wax ivorkers— fourthly, the jelly makers — and fifthly, those who may be regarded in the household economy of the hive, as bees of all work. Not contented, however, with this classification, on which we shall have occasion to enter fur- ther into detail, in a subsequent part of this work, he has discovered other inmates of the hive, which are brought into existence for no other purpose, than to be unceremoniously driven out of the hive, either to be starved to death, or to be killed in dire conflict with the more favoured portion of the community. These truly unfortunate insects, which are only born to be killed, are by Huber styled black bees, as they are, however, determined by him to be of no use whatever, he did not waste his valuable time in examining their sexual character, or the origin of their existence. J\lr. Rennie, however declares the discovery of these black bees, to be most miraculous, in which we most cordially agree with him, as that which is miraculous, is always contrary to, or beyond the ordinary operations of nature. Kirby supposes these black bees to be toil-worn, superannuated workers, and con- sequently of no further use to the community. One mo- * If Mr. Duncan can derive any satisfaction from the knowledge that he does not stand singly amongst the apiarians, in his hypothesis respecting the sleep of bees, we refer him to a work printed at Saragossa in 1621, entitled, Perfecta y curiosa declaration de los provechos grandes que dan las colmenas, bene adminislr ados, y alabancas de las abejas ; par Jaime Gil, Natural de Magal- lone. En Saragoza, 1621. — This author informs us that the bees sleep during the night, and especially on fast days, and he further informs us, that bees cannot possibly thrive without being copiously sprinkled with holy water. The priests are of the same opinion, because it is a source of revenue to them. 32 HYPOTHESIS OF K1RBY. merit's reflection, however, or a very limited degree of actual experience, would have taught that entomologist, that the notion of a superannuated worker turning black, and there- fore condemned to be killed, is at direct variance with the well known habits of the bee. Huber, however, carries his hypothesis still further than Kirby ; for consistently with his experience, they are in themselves a distinct species, having no interest in the general concerns of the hive, and no one having any interest in them. It is affirmed by Kirby that Thorley confirms the exist- ence of these black bees ; but we cannot find any such confirmation in the works of that writer. Thorley merely says, " that in the month of July, you will perceive many bees of a dark colour, with wings rent and torn ; but that in September, not one of them is to be seen." Now there are some parts of the foregoing observation, which are perfectly agreeable to experience, for it is well known to every apiarian, that an old resident in the hive, is of a much darker colour, than one that has just emerged from the cell. He has lived, as it were, during the whole of his life, in the hot and dense atmosphere of the hive, and like the combs, which were originally white, but which have assumed a blackish hue, owing to the internal heat of the hive, he exhibits a deeper and blacker hue, than his newly-born brother. In no part, however, of Thorley's work do we find that there are black bees in the hive, which form a distinct species, but such is the affirmation of Huber, and, accordingly, it is given in Kirby's entomology, as an accredited fact in the natural his- tory of the bee. As one proof, however, of the very gross ignorance of Kirby in the natural history of the bee, he says, " that it ap- pears to be the law of their nature to rid their community of all supernumerary and useless members," and he founds this erroneous opinion upon the annual destruction of the drones. When, however, did Kirby, or any other naturalist ever KIRBY S HYPOTHESIS. 33 witness the massacre of a working bee by the members of its own community, on the ground of its superannuation ? Nothing can be more directly contrary to the general prin- ciple of action, which is established amongst them. A bee will kill a stranger bee, who attempts to force his way into the hive ; but, it cannot have escaped the observation of every scientific keeper of bees, that there appear to exist, through- out their whole community, an affection and attachment for each other, which are not to be found in any other society of insects. If Kirby, instead of his conjectures as to the character and ultimate destination of these black bees, had denied their existence in toto, or treated them as one of the extra- vagances of Huber's fancy, he would have given us some reason to suppose, that he was guided by the power of his own experience, when he compiled his history of the bee in his introduction to entomology ; he, however, fully agrees with Huber in their existence, but differs from him in the cause of their destruction. In justice to Kirby it must, however, be stated, that he stands not alone in his opinion, for he is propped up in his hypothesis by the editor of the Insect Archi- tecture, who says, " that the very great number of these black bees, which sometimes appear, does not well accord with the opinion of Kirby and Spence." Without attempting to dis- perse the obscurity of this passage, we shall briefly remark, that of the two hypotheses of Huber and Kirby, we should be inclined to give the preference to that of the latter entomo- logist, for there is something more plausible and less object- ionable in the massacre of a few useless, superannuated members of the hive, than that, according to Huber, like the ephemera, they should be born to a mere diurnal existence, endowed with no property of utility, and doomed to be starved to death by the community at large. In opposition, however, to the experience of the most cele- brated apiarians of the present day, native and foreign, Mr. 34 COMPARATIVE SIZE OF THE COMMON BEE. Duncan persists in his belief of the existence of these black bees, for he says, " we have noticed them, though rarely, perhaps not more than one or two in a season. The other bees did not molest them as far as we observed, nor indeed seemed in any way sensible of their presence." If Mr. Dun- can will transmit to us one of these black bees, we will in return send him the best hive of honey in our apiary. The whole system of Huber, however, in regard to the existence of several species of working bees in the hive, has in reality not the slightest foundation in truth. There are, in fact, but three species in the hive, viz. the queen, the drone, and the working bee. In regard to the latter, there may, indeed, at times, be a slight difference in the size ; but this circumstance is satisfactorily accounted for by the par- ticular cell in which a bee is bred. The bee which comes out of a cell, in which no bee has been previously bred, will be larger than the bee, which emanates from a cell in which two or three have been bred before it ; and this arises from a slight film, which the young bee leaves behind it on issu- ing from the cell, which consequently becomes contracted, in proportion to the number of films which have been left in it. It belongs, however, to the crude theory of Huber, not only to have given several distinct natural characters to his bees, but also to have apportioned to them a separate kind of labour, according to the respective species to which they belong. We might have remained satisfied, had he confined himself merely to the latter part of his theory, for it is con- sistent with probability, that a common bee cannot be a nurse bee, and a wax worker, or a wax maker, and a jelly maker at the same time ; on the same principle, that an Irish labourer cannot be a hodman and a bricklayer at the same moment, although, if occasion required, he could perhaps perform either operations with equal ability. It is not, how- ever, in this particular only, that the paradoxes of Huber exhibit themselves in their fullest force, for, in speaking of SINGULAR PARADOX OF HUBER. 35 the nurse bees, he says, that they are rather smaller than the wax workers, and when gorged with honey, their belly does not appear, as in others, distended. Here we have a direct rever- sion of the law of fluids, for we know it to be an established principle, that in all elastic bodies, the extension or expansion of them is equal to the volume of the fluid received, but in the present case, that principle is completely nullified; for we are gravely informed that a common bee, simply be- cause it is a nurse bee, shall actually gorge itself with honey, so as to fill the vesicle or bladder in which it is contained, but, nevertheless, that such vesicle or bladder shall not, according to the law of fluids, be extended ac- cording to the volume of the liquid received. Whereas, on the other hand, if the same quantity of liquid be received into the vesicle of the wax workers, that such vesicle becomes very naturally distended ; and this gross, this glaring, and palpable contradiction has been promulgated and actually acquiesced in, as the positive result of the personal experience of an individual, who must have entertained a most con- temptible opinion of the sense and judgment of those, on whom he attempted to impose so great an absurdity. We will, however, put an important question to the adherents of Huber. Is not the nurse bee (granting for a moment that there be such a distinct species) a collector of honey? Does it not range the fields in quest of the mellifluous juices ? and on its return, has no distension of its vesicle taken place according to the quantity of honey which it has gathered ? Or is the nature of the nurse bee so wonderfully constituted, that its honey bag shall distend under certain circumstances, and not under others ? According to our experience, it is this very distension of the body, which is, and always has been considered, as the criterion of the vesicle of the bee being filled with honey. The body then assumes the shape of an elongated cylinder, the division of the rings becomes more fully displayed, and the action of respiration is more violent c 2 36 DIFFERENCE OF ORGANIC STRUCTURE. and frequent. In order, however, to bolster up this rotten theory, Huber has deemed it necessary, in defiance of the truth, to alter the organic structure of the two kinds of bees, by giving to one a stomach which is capable of distension, and to the other, one which is not, although the same or a greater quantity of liquid be received into it. There is, however, another and more insoluble difficulty, which the Huberians have to surmount, in support of this part of their theory, which is, at what particular stage of the life of the bee, was that difference in its organic structure imparted to it ? Was the principle of that difference inherent in the egg, or did the change in its structure take place after its emerging from the cell ? It is but just that the Huber- ians should solve this knotty question ; although, perhaps, they are not aware of the dilemma in which they are involved, by attributing a positive difference of organical structure in an individual species of insect, to which also a different sys- tem of action, and a direct diversity of animal functions are attached. It certainly will not be denied by the Huberians, that the principle of the organic structure of either bird or insect is inherent in the egg from which it is to spring ; if then, according to Huber, there be a difference in the organic structure of the bees, that is, in the nurse bee and the wax worker, the principle of that difference must have existed in the egg, when deposited in the cell by the queen ; and here we arrive at one of the gross contradictions of Huber. He admits that the queen lays but three kinds of eggs ; that is, the queen eggs, the drone eggs, and the eggs of the common bees ; yet, that from the latter originate four or five kinds of insects, differing from each other in their organic structure. Huber saw the difficulty of this dilemma, and in order to escape from it, he informs us, in the full spirit of contradiction, that the queen does not lay all the eggs in the hive, for that he once entrapped a common worker depositing its egg, from which he supposes that a male bee is to spring. THE SENSES OF THE BEE. 37 He even favours us with a drawing of the ovary of the com- mon bee, which is, in reality, nothing more than two small ducts, through which the excremental matter passes, and which possesses not the slightest affinity with the ovarium of the queen. If, however, the principle of the organic struc- ture of the two kinds of bees be not inherent in the egg, Huber must have recourse to another still more untenable theory, namely, that the common bees, amongst other miraculous powers, with which he has invested them, possess also the astonishing faculty of altering their nature by their own individual powers, and contrary to that which they actually received in their embryo state in the egg. In regard to the senses of the bees, endless has been the controversy respecting them, and whilst almost every naturalist has seen himself obliged to admit the extreme acuteness of the majority of them, yet the actual locality of their organs is a problem that still remains to be solved. Thus the locality of the organ of hearing has never been ascertained, from which Huber and his adherents have considered themselves authorized to deny to the bees altogether the possession of that particular sense ; whereas a very limited experience with their natural habits must have confirmed its existence in the most unquestionable manner. In no part, however, of the history of the bee, has Huber fallen into greater inconsistency, than when treating of the existence of the senses, and the locality of their organs. In regard to the non-existence of the sense of hearing, we confess that he has many respectable authorities to support him in his opinion ; and although amongst those authorities may be classed the scientific names of Aristotle, Linnaeus, Bonner, and others of equal celebrity ; yet, on the other hand, Huber ought to have been able from his own experience to have decided the question, affirmatively or negatively, without being obliged to have recourse to the opinion or experience of others. He does, indeed, in a c 3 38 SENSE OF HEARING. cursory manner give us the result of his experience, but in the end, he leaves the subject in its original doubt and uncertainty. If, however, we enter upon a close analysis of the opinions and statements of Huber on this particular sub- ject, we find them as usual attended with the grossest contra- diction ; and yet, amongst all the naturalists, who have ven- tured upon the discussion of this most difficult department of the history of the bee, there is no one, who ought less to have denied to the bee the sense of hearing, than Huber ; for in some very essential points, the actual truth and validity of his system depend upon the existence of that sense, and with- out it the whole machinery of the hive would be thrown into disorder. The following instances will verify the foregoing remark. According to the repeated experience of Huber, all the young queens, when they are incarcerated in their cells by the rebellious spirit of their subjects, are distinctly heard by Huber to make a clacking or a humming noise, and it puzzled him for a long time (of the truth of which we have not the smallest doubt,) to discover for what intent the queens emitted such a dolorous cry. After suggesting many cases, one perhaps as possible and plausible as the other, he at last alighted upon one, which he thought the most probable of all probable ones, which was, that the queens, from their long imprisonment, wanted something to eat. His grounds for warranting him in forming that con- jecture were, that the queens had not emitted the sound beyond the period of a minute, before several bees were seen to hasten to the assistance of the young queens, and it was distinctly visible to Mr. Huber, that the queens projected their proboscis out of the cell, and were immediately sup- plied by the bees with the food for which they were craving. Now in the description of this comico-farcical scene, does not Huber clearly admit the sense of hearing to be actually existing in the common bee ? for where would be the utility of the queens uttering a particular sound, if the bees were SENSE OF HEARING. 39 destitute of the power of hearing it ? But Huber un- equivocally admits that they do hear it, and further, that it is a language which they perfectly understand, the meaning of which was, that the hunger of the clamorous queens was great, and that they called upon their subjects immediately to satisfy it : now if the bees were by nature deaf, as Huber alleges, the queens might have clacked till they fainted, and been in the end literally starved to death. We will now proceed to adduce another instance. It appears from the ocular experience of Huber, that the bees, under particular circumstances, behave in a most rude and indecorous manner to the queen regnant, amounting almost to a treasonable attempt upon her life ; one of which circum- stances is, when the queen is in her passions so cold and phlegmatic, or so culpably indifferent to the interests of her monarchy, as to refuse to leave the hive for the purpose of being fecundated in the open air by her favourite drone. On such occasions, according to the valuable and accredited discoveries of Huber, the bees become outrageously im- pudent, following the queen in all directions, and biting and teasing her in the most merciless manner ; by which ungracious treatment, the life of the queen would be put in the greatest jeopardy, had not nature kindly provided her with the means of checking their rudeness, by investing her with the power of uttering a particular sound, which when accompanied by a certain attitude, which the queen can assume at pleasure, strikes the bees instantly motionless, and they hang their heads, confounded with the sense of their indecorous behaviour. Now Huber in the above statement positively and unequivocally awards to the bees the sense of hearing ; the effect of the sound uttered by the queen is truly astonishing upon them : and yet, notwith- standing the minuteness with which Huber describes these occurrences ; notwithstanding the existence of the sense of hearing in the bees is actually indispensable in order to c 4 40 ABSURD STATEMENTS OF HUBER. obtain for these statements of Huber the slightest credi- bility, he yet hesitates to give to the bees that sense, merely because the locality of its organ cannot be discovered. We will adduce a third instance, and most reluctantly do we introduce it, as it is a specimen of the grossest absurdity which was ever admitted into the pages of an author, pro- fessing from actual experience to elucidate any of the con- troversial points of natural history. Consistently with the oracular experience of Mr. Huber, the vernacular tongue of his queen bees is the French ; and he affirms, that when they condescend to speak it, the meaning thereof is dis- tinctly understood by the common bees, which is a direct implication that they do possess the sense of hearing. It was generally affirmed by the early apiarians, that the queens, previously to swarming, were heard to emit a sound resembling, chip, chip, which sound, however, was never yet emitted by any queen bee within the British dominions ; although many credulous people, acting upon the above- mentioned affirmation, still incline their ear to their hives for the purpose of catching the welcome sound, as it is believed to be an announcement of the departure of a swarm on the following day. We do not, however, hesitate to affirm, that neither the queen bee, nor the common bees, possess the faculty of articulating any particular sound, and after this positive affirmation, in what light must we view the assertion of Huber, founded on his oracular evidence, that he has frequently heard his queen bees exclaim, " Je suis ici ! je suis id ! I am here ! I am here !" and that the said exclamation was no sooner heard by the common bees, than they flocked in crowds to ascertain the meaning of the exclamation, and to execute whatever commands her majesty might be pleased to issue ? We have thus adduced three instances, in which Huber as- serts, that the bees,/rom his own evidence, did positively hear a particular sound ; further, that their actions were immedi- SENSE OF HEARING. 41 ately regulated by that sound ; and yet after these unqualified admissions, he still ventures to express his doubt, as to the bees being vested with the faculty of hearing. On this subject, however, Huber very justly observes, that it was a matter of great astonishment to him, to hear the queen bees speak the French language ; and we may be allowed to add, that our astonishment exceeds that of Huber, that any individual can be found at the present day, who can give the slightest credence to the many absurdities, which he has promulgated relative to the natural history of the bee. For the purpose, however, of setting at rest the question of the sense of hearing existing in the common bee, and deciding it in the affirmative, let the following experiment be tried. Drive about two or three hundred bees out of the hive into an empty one. Place the back of a chair or a piece of board parallel with the entrance of the hive, and throw a table cloth over it. Shake the bees upon the cloth, and then with the feathered end of a goose-quill, or any other instrument conveniently at hand, guide about half a dozen bees to the entrance of the hive. They will no sooner be sensible of the odour of the hive, than they will set up a loud humming noise, accompanied with the quick tremulous motion of their wings so well known to apiarians, which noise will be no sooner heard by the remaining bees, than they will instantly flock towards the entrance with their cus- tomary token of joy, and in less than half a minute not a bee will be seen on the cloth. In regard to the locality of the organ of hearing, we fear that it will ever remain a disputed point ; it has hitherto baffled the researches of the most acute anatomical skill, and the positive existence of the sense is all that can be at present definitely determined. It has been long a subject of inquiry amongst apiarians, as to the particular sense by which the bee is guided, in directing its course to its distant fields of pasture, and in the c 5 42 SENSE OF SMELL. unerring certainty with which it retraces its flight to its hive It is allowed by all naturalists, that the acuteness of the sense of smell in the bee is greater perhaps than in any other animal, but there are many circumstances which can be adduced, which go to prove that it cannot possibly be the sense of smell which guides the bee in its labours, and, consequently, the conjecture is perhaps not ill founded, that that particular property of the bee must be resolved at last into the mere effect of a powerful instinct, the principles of which cannot be defined. We cannot adduce a more apposite illustration of the foregoing remarks, than the cir- cumstance witnessed by ourselves in company with Bonner, on an excursion which we made to the isle of Bas at the entrance of the Forth, on which there is not a single human dwelling, and which presents nothing more than one un- broken surface of heath, without the slightest vestige of cultivation. It was, however, a matter of great surprise to us both, to observe the heath covered with bees, actively extracting the mellifluous juices, at the same time that we knew that there was not a single hive of bees on the island. It must therefore have been from the nearest land, the East Lothians, that the bees had winged their flight across several miles of ocean to collect the treasures which the heath of the island afforded them. Here then was a subject of curious and interesting inquiry. It could not be admitted that the bees had been guided to the island by the sense of smell, for the exhalations of the ocean were quite powerful enough to neutralize any odour which might issue from the heath ; nor could the bee be guided by the sense of sight, for even supposing that the vision of the bee was powerful enough to bring the distant island within its range, it does not thence follow that the bees would enter upon a perilous speculative journey over the ocean, on the mere chance of finding some- thing to repay them for their risk and trouble. No doubt whatever can exist that the antenna? are the THE ANTENNAE. 43 organs of smell in the bee, and numerous experiments have been instituted for the purpose of ascertaining the possibility of the bee performing its usual functions, were it to be de- prived of them. It is, however, a fact now well known to all apiarians, that to deprive a bee of its antennae is to render it to all the purposes of the hive a useless member of the community. Huber coincides in that opinion, but Duncan dissents from it. Thus the former says, " a queen or a working bee, which has had one of its antenna? cut off is no longer able to perform its ordinary avocations; if both be cut off, it is obliged to leave the hive, as being of no use whatever to the community." In opposition to the above, on referring to Duncan we read, " that the queen leading off a first swarm in one year has been marked by depriving her of one of her antenna?, and she has been found at the head of a first swarm the following year." Thus, according to Duncan, a queen bee, although shorn of one of her an- tennae, is not only, in opposition to the opinion of Huber, capable of performing all her ordinary avocations, but actually to put herself at the head of a swarm, as if no mutilation whatever of her body had taken place. In regard, however, to the antennae, Huber has discovered that it is by means of that organ that the bees communicate to each other any disastrous event that has befallen them, particularly the loss of the queen. In this instance, how- ever, the inconsistency of Huber is most striking ; for in one place he confesses that he cannot discover the means by which the bees communicate their intelligence either favorable or unfavorable to each other; but, directly afterwards, the light suddenly bursts upon him, and he says, that on one occasion the bees flew with the utmost rapidity to impart the doleful news of the loss of the queen, which he discovered was effected by the bees reciprocally crossing their antenna and then striking them. In order to prove that this notable discovery was no baseless fiction, Huber c6 44 THE ANTENNA. says, that he saw the bees crossing their antennae in every direction, some crossing them, some striking them ; and by this method was the loss of the queen imparted to the whole community ; the immediate result of which was, that the bees were plunged into a state of the most pitiable despair and despondency. According to the statement of Huber, this crossing of the antennae of the bees may be considered as somewhat analo- gous to the manual salutation of two men; but we are wholly at a loss to divine what Huber means by striking the antennae, and as we never witnessed the operation, we must leave it in its original obscurity. It is however very pro- bable that as the antennae of the bees are in constant mo- tion, they might, on encountering one another, appear to Mr. Huber, as if they were designedly crossed ; but that it is one of the natural habits of the bee for the purpose of communicating any disastrous intelligence, is not the least of the many fictions for which that naturalist is so celebrated. In regard to the crossing of the antennae being a fixed habit of the bee for some specific purpose, he would have been just as near the truth had he informed us, that two bulls cross their horns for the purpose of informing each another of the death of a cow. There is, however, another point in which we totally differ from Huber in regard to the use of the antennae, for he makes them not only the organs of smell, but also of sight, and he extends this hypothesis so far as to assert, that it is by means of the antennae acting as instruments of vision, that the bees are able to construct their combs in the darkness of night, besides other important uses to which they are applied. Mr. Duncan, instead of putting a decided negative upon this statement of Huber, tacitly acquiesces in it, for he says " that Huber was probably not wrong in ascribing to the antennae an important share in those opera- tions ;" but let us ask Mr. Duncan whether the interior of a THE ANTENNAE. 45 hive even at midday be not in complete darkness, nor is that darkness in any manner increased even at midnight. If therefore the principle be admitted, that the interior of a hive be in the same state of darkness at midday as it is at midnight, it follows thence as a natural conclusion, that if the common vision of the bee be all that is requisite for the prosecution of its labours in the interior of the hive during the day, it is equally sufficient for the prosecution of its nocturnal labours, leaving the problem after all without any solution, whether the bees are actually devoid of sight in their in-door operations; at all events, the fact is universally admitted, that the bees will only work in complete darkness, and that the smallest admission of light throws them into disorder and confusion. There is not any doubt that it is by means of the antennae that the bees recognize each other, that is, by the peculiar odour emitted by them. It is not by any identity of person that the bees recognize a friend or a foe; but every hive has an odour peculiar to itself, and the antennas or the organ of smell are no sooner applied to a bee, than the discovery is immediately made, as to whether it belongs to the hive, which it is about to enter, or whether it be a marauding vagabond from some other hive. It is, however, not a little singular, that notwithstanding all the experiments of Huber, and his alleged profound re- searches into the natural history of the bee, he appears at the close of them to be in as great doubt and uncertainty as to the locality of the organs of the senses as when he set out upon his discoveries ; and so far from coinciding with the eminent naturalists who preceded him, as to the locality of the organ of smell, he disseminates the untenable hypothesis of that sense being resident in the mouth : and no one can peruse the account of the experiment which he instituted to determine that point, without experiencing a deep sense of regret at so preposterous a notion being 46 SENSE OF SIGHT. introduced and admitted by certain individuals, as accredited facts in the natural history of the bee. It appears that Huber dipped a camel's hair brush into some turpentine, and applied it to various parts of the body, without the bee betraying any symptoms of an uneasy feeling. He applied it to the antennae, and the eyes without any visible effect ; we have done the same, but so far from the bee not betray- ing any symptoms of an uneasy feeling, the bee was dead in three minutes afterwards. The bee, however, on which Huber tried his experiment appears to have escaped that heavy infliction ; but, according to his statement, when the turpentine was applied to the mouth, the bee started, and well indeed it might, for it was a species of aliment by no means congenial to its taste— it forsook the honey on which it had been previously regaling, and was preparing to take to its wings, when the turpentine was withdrawn. The climax, however, of this experiment is yet to come ; for Huber having obtained some paste, proceeded to close up the mouth of the bee, when he discovered that the bee appeared to have lost the sense of smell altogether ; from which the inference is drawn that the mouth is the organ of smell : in which most extraordinary opinion Mr. Duncan coincides, for he says, the organ of smell therefore appears to reside in the mouth, or in the parts depending on it j and Mr. Duncan closes his remarks with the following sagacious advice, which is, that, should any one be desirous of repeating this experiment, the first step to be taken is to cut off the sting of the bee ; and we may add, if the experimentalist wishes to kill the bee, paste up his mouth, and the act will very soon be accomplished. In regard to the sense of sight, the bee has two reticulated eyes placed on either side of the head, consisting of a number of hexagonal surfaces thickly studded with hairs, which protect them from exterior injury. Some naturalists have given them also three stemmata or coronetted eyes, SENSE OF SIGHT. 47 which, according to the hypothesis of Blumenbach and Reaumur, are solely appropriated to vertical vision, the reticulated eyes being used for horizontal vision. We must, however, in opposition to the opinion of two such celebrated naturalists, presume to affirm that these coro- netted holes or cavities have no relation whatever with the power of vision, and we are rather inclined to consider them as the organs of hearing, than those of sight. We, no doubt, shall be accused of treating the highly vaunted discoveries of Huber with levity and an unbecoming severity ; but when the experiments on which he founds those discoveries are revolting to common sense, and at variance with all probability, the mind naturally feels in- dignant at the imposition that is attempted to be practised upon it, and feels a pride in the exposure of the offender. Thus Huber, in order to ascertain the visionary power of the coronetted holes, fell upon the extraordinary experiment of blindfolding the reticulated eyes of the bees, but by what means that extraordinary act was accomplished, Huber is most provokingly silent. The result of this experiment however was, that although the blindfolding was supposed to be complete, still the bee was not wholly deprived of sight, but its flight, instead of being horizontal, was vertical. Thus the important decision was arrived at, that the bee possesses two kinds of vision, one, that enables it to fly straightforward, and another that enables it to fly upwards. A decision, which as far as truth is concerned, is wholly valueless. The late Sir Joseph Banks was severely flagellated with the lash of ridicule for boiling fleas to ascertain if, like lobsters, they would turn red, but that experiment dwindles into positive insignificance, when compared with that of blindfolding a bee to determine the power of its vision. The bee is not an insect to remain docile or passive during the performance of the operation, and delicate indeed must have been the hand, that 48 SENSE OF TASTE. attempted its execution. In the performance of the act of pasting up the mouth, Mr. Duncan recommends the cutting off the sting, and we recommend the same plan to be adopted when the bee is blindfolded, or the expe- rimentalist will most probably pay dearly for his temerity. On the whole, we are greatly disposed to call in question the validity or the veracity of those pretended discoveries, which are built on such improbable, and almost impracti- cable experiments ; for the man who will attempt to blind- fold a bee, must have a peculiar method of handling that insect, to which we profess ourselves to be decided strangers. In regard to the sense of taste, it is perhaps the most defective and the most indefinite of all the senses of the bees, and the general habits of the insect prompt the belief that it cannot be reduced to any fixed principle, and it is rather singular that scarcely one of the modern naturalists has ventured upon determining its locality. All that has hitherto been done is to establish its claim to purity, and even on that point several very eminent naturalists hold a contrary opinion. Huber considers the taste of the bee to be very depraved, on account of its partaking of offensive liquids ; but in this instance, Huber was rather begging the question, for of what offensive or fetid liquids do the bees partake ? We are not aware of any ; on the contrary, we know of only one liquid of which they partake, independently of their natural food, honey, and that is water. Huber, however, is according to his usual custom guilty of gross inconsistency in regard to the purity of the taste of the bee, for he attempts in the first instance to demonstrate the defective taste of the bee, arising from its imbibing the impure fluid from corrupt places, and then, in the second instance, to prove from various circumstances the extreme purity of its taste. Mr. Duncan, however, in order to establish the defective SENSE OF TASTE. 49 state of the taste, says, that the bees towards the close of the year, when flowers become scarce, and in those parts of the country where alders abound, and where onions and leeks are cultivated on a large scale, and allowed to run to seed, the bees from taste, or necessity, or from anxiety to complete their winter store, are seen to feed on those plants, which communicate to the honey a very disagreeable flavor. Tn answer to the above, we will merely state, that if Mr. Duncan had searched the whole vegetable kingdom, he could not have selected two plants more obnoxious and offensive to the bee than the onion and the leek, and we will fearlessly challenge Mr. Duncan to au- thenticate a single instance in which the bees were known to feed on the umbellee of either the onion or the leek, neither of them yielding the slightest drop of honey, nor a particle of farina which the bees could gather. There is, however, another circumstance which will invalidate this statement of Mr. Duncan, which is, that the onions and leeks are said to run to seed when the flowers have become scarce. Now, the seed of those bulbs ripen, and are gathered in July and August, when some of the flowers richest in honey are in full bloom, and in fact at a time when the harvest of the bees is in its most flourishing state ; and will the bees condescend to visit the fetid coronets of the onion and leek, when they can regale themselves on the odoriferous mignonette ? And as to the alders — what does, or what can the bee obtain from that cheerless and barren shrub ? A forest of alders would not yield a single drop of honey, nor are the bees ever seen to alight upon their leaves, except as a temporary resting-place. The taste of the bee may be considered as twofold, that of the proboscis, and that of the mouth ; the former being applied solely to honey as its principal aliment, and the latter to the mastication of the farina wherewith to make 50 SENSE OF TOUCH. the wax, nor can it be considered as very acute, as it is simply employed on one substance, without perhaps any great diversity in its constituent principles. The sense of feeling or touch has been very erroneously supposed to exist in the antennae, and in order to confirm that hypothesis, Hubert instituted an experiment, in which he confined a queen, so that her subjects could not recognize her immediate presence, which occasioned so great a despondency at the supposed loss of their monarch, that, by the aid of a little royal jelly which happened to be very conveniently at hand, they began to manufacture another queen. On a sudden, however, the wire grating, which had hitherto concealed her majesty, was so far withdrawn, as to allow her to project her antennae, and the bees immediately recognized their former monarch and the affairs of the monarchy went on as usual. Now, we are at a loss to conjecture on what grounds Mr. Huber can from the foregoing experiment draw the inference, that the antennae are the organ of feeling; for it is but a confirmation of the hypothesis, that the antennae are the organ of smell, but that they have no relation with either the sense of feeling or touch. Indeed the locality of those senses may be con- sidered as general, like the majority of all other animal bodies, and not confined to any particular organ. In the earlier period of the history of the bee, Swammer- dam, Maraldi, Reaumur, Bonner, and Shirach certainly divested it of much that was marvellous, ridiculous, and incongruous, and they rendered the study of it more easy and interesting, by the establishment of many truths, and the promulgation of new and various phenomena which came under their immediate observation. In the vast field, however, which they traversed, notwithstanding the abundance and richness of their harvest, there yet remained much to glean. Since their time, science has been gradually unlocking her stores, and the mists of prejudice have been INTEREST ATTACHED TO THE STUDY OF THE BEE. 51 dispersed by the penetrating rays of philosophy. The treasures of nature are inexhaustible, and there is certainly no department in her vast domain, in which curiosity and amusement are more intimately blended, than in the study of the bee. Let it not, however, be supposed that it is a study attended with facility, or that the hopes of success are in proportion to the time and talent that are expended upon it. In the majority of experiments, disappointment follows so closely upon dis- appointment, that even the most enthusiastic admirers of the bee frequently become discouraged, and retire from any farther research, with the conviction on their mind, that suc- cess is not attainable, and that that which has baffled the most celebrated naturalists of all countries and of all ages, will continue to baffle them. In many of the disputed points of natural history, analogical reasoning has been found to be the surest guide to the discovery of truth, but in the physio- logy of the bee analogy is of little or no use : the bee, in the animal world, stands singly, in its characteristics, its relations, and natural habits, nor can we call in the aid of science to assist us in the elucidation of the mysteries in which its natural history is enveloped. We stand in the present age, but, as it were, in the vestibule of apiarian knowledge, and Mr. Duncan never penned a passage more consistent with truth, than when he says, " Some of the discoveries which have been blazoned in publications both at home and abroad will be found, on strict examination, to have no existence but in the warm fancy or blind enthusiasm of the observer." What an extraordinary confession from an adherent of the blind Huber ! ! 52 THE QUEEN BEE. SECOND CHAPTER. THE QUEEN BEE. THE QUEEN BEE THE MOTHER OF ALL THE INMATES OF A HIVE ORGANIC STRUCTURE OF THE QUEEN BEE — POSITION OF THE EGGS IN HER OVA- RIUM — INVESTIGATIONS OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH APIARIANS THE FECUNDATION OF THE QUEEN ACCORDING TO THE SYSTEM OF HUBER DIFFICULTY ATTENDING THAT SYSTEM — THE QUEEN BEGINS TO LAY HER EGGS IN JANUARY — BOSTEL AN ADVOCATE FOR THE SELF- FECUNDATION OF THE QUEEN — THE DRONE DETERMINED TO BE THE MALE BEE — THE OVARIUM OF THE QUEEN, ACCORDING TO HUBER, FECUNDATED FOR THE WHOLE OF HER LIFE BY A SINGLE ACT OF COITION WITH THE DRONE — NUMERICAL FECUNDITY OF THE QUEEN BEE (Note.) — NUMBER OF OVI- DUCTS IN THE OVARIUM OF THE QUEEN — NUMBER OF EGGS IN THE OVARIUM — THE EARLIEST APPEARANCE OF EGGS IN THE OVARIUM — SOME DRONES SURVIVE THE WINTER, ACCORDING TO BONNER — DENIED BY SIR JOHN SINCLAIR — THE SEXUAL INTERCOURSE OF THE QUEEN AND THE DRONE ADVANCED BY THE FRENCH APIARIANS — REMARKS OF THE MONTHLY REVIEWERS (Note.) — NUMBER OF EGGS LAID BY THE QUEEN IN ONE HOUR — LUTTICHAU AN EYE-WITNESS OF THE ACT OF COITION — DETECTION OF THE DRONE IN THE FECUNDATION OF THE EGG — MICRO- SCOPICAL EXAMINATION OF THE SEMINAL MATTER — THE FECUNDATION OF THE EGG IN THE CELL CONFIRMED BY DEBRAW — THEORY OF SWAM- MERDAM — THE HYPOTHESIS OF L'ABBE DELLA ROCCA RELATIVE TO THE COPULATION OF THE QUEEN AND THE DRONE (Note.) — -THE QUEEN BEE NEVER LEAVES THE HIVE — THE CONTRARY ASSERTED BY HUBER — THE PERIOD OF HER ABSENCE FROM THE HIVE — EFFECT OF HER ABSENCE ON THE BEES — THE DRONE, ACCORDING TO HUBER, DIES AFTER COPULATION — SINGULAR DISCOVERY OF HUBER IN REGARD TO THE DRONE — EXPERI- MENT OF HUBER WITH SOME YOUNG QUEENS — THE YOUNG QUEENS DEPART WITH THE SWARMS — CONFIRMED BY SWAMMERDAM — CONTRA- DICTION OF HUBER RELATIVE TO THE OLD AND Y'OUNG QUEENS — THE YOUNG QUEEN BEE COMMENCES TO LAY HER EGGS IMMEDIATELY AFTER BEING SETTLED IN THE HIVE — EXPERIMENT TO DETERMINE THE SAME — EXPERIMENT OF HUBER WITH THE QUEENS AND DRONES — INCONSIS- TENCY OF THE EXPERIMENT — QUEEN BEES, ACCORDING TO HUBER, BRED IN OCTOBER — EXPERIMENT THEREON — ITS FALLACY — THE SY'STEM OF RETARDED IMPREGNATION — ITS EFFECTS ON THE EARLY' OR LATE OVIPOSITING OF THE QUEEN — THE DISPROPORTION OF MALES TO FE- MALES IN A HIVE CONSIDERED — THE YOUNG QUEEN LEAVES THE HIVE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS AFTER HER BIRTH — OPINION OF MILES — CON- STRUCTION OF THE CELL IN WHICH A QUEEN IS BORN — EXACT POSITION OF THE CELL IN THE HIVE — DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE GROWTH OF A QUEEN — PERIOD OF A BEE ARRIVING AT MATURIIY — MANNER IN WHICH THE QUEEN BEE LAY'S HER EGGS — THE SYSTEM OF THE EGG FECUND- ATED IN THE CELL BY THE DRONE — ANALOGY BETWEEN THE BEE AND THK WASP — EXPERIMENTS TO DETERMINE THE FECUNDATION OF THE EGG — HYPOTHESIS OF MR. DUNBAR — FRUCTIFIED EcGS REMAIN IN THE HIVE IN THE BROOD COMBS DURING THE WINTER — THE QUEEN BEE LEAVES THE HIVE IF THERE BE NO VACANT CELLS IN WHICH TO DE- POSIT HER EGGS— REMEDY FOR THAT DEFECT— REPUGN ANCE OF THE QUE F.N BEE TO STING— ATTACHMENT OF THE BEES TO THEIR QUEEN — THE CEREMONY OF LAYING THE EGGS ACCORDING TO HUBER — ESTAB- LISHMENT OF THE GUARDS — PERIOD OF DEPOSITING THE EGGS— TEM- PERATURE OF THE HIVE— NUTT ON THE TEMPERATURE OF A HIVE— THE EGGS HATCHED THE THIRD DAY AFTER THEIR DEPOSITION— PROGRESS OF THE BEE TO MATURITY. NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE QUEEN BEE. 53 The Queen, or Mother Bee, holds the first rank in the colony ; — she is the parent of all the young queens, drones, and work- ing bees : in fine, of the whole family, who emigrate from an old hive to found a new establishment, and form for themselves a colony in another place. The make of this wonderful insect is wholly different from that of the other bees. Like the drones, she has no triangular cavities in her hinder legs, which are appropriated, in the common bee, to the re- ception of the farina of plants. Her teeth are smaller than those of the common bee, but larger than those of the drones, and she has no brushy substance at the end of her feet; — in regard to her body, she is longer and more taper than the drone, but the most decided characteristic of the queen bee, is the shortness of her wings, which extend only to the third ring of her body, whilst the wings of the work- ing bees, and especially those of the drones, extend almost the whole length of the body. From this comparative short- ness of her wings, the ^g# queen flies with greater JmP tllWlttwfkiA* difficulty than the wor king bee, and, indeed, I during her life, it sel- " dom happens that she I has any occasion for | them. The under part f of her body is of a golden colour, and the upper part of a brighter brown, than that of the common bee. In the interior of her body the eggs are distributed 54 FECUNDATION OF THE QUEEN BEE BY THE DRONE. in two ovaria, each ovarium being an assemblage of an asto- nishing number of ducts, terminating in one common chan- nel, and all of which are filled with eggs during the breeding season. The fecundity of the queen bee is most astonishing, and scarcely to be equalled in any other insect or animal, with the exception offish. She lays her eggs as long as there is a cell in which to deposit them, and the first question to be decided is, in what manner and at what time are those eggs fecun- dated? There is not, perhaps, any subject in the whole physiology of the bee, on which a greater contrariety of opinion has been held, or to which a more minute attention has been paid. Hypothesis has been heaped upon hypo- thesis, each, perhaps, more absurd and untenable than the other. Systems of the most extravagant nature have been adopted, and the whole force of human sagacity and inge- nuity has been taxed to discover this great secret in the works of nature ; but after all these exertions, the same doubt exists as at the commencement of the investigation. The English apiarians, Thorley, Varder, Wildman, Bonner, Keys, &c, have each had his respective system, and each fancied that he was the fortunate discoverer of the secret. The French apiarians have studied this matter more scienti- fically and profoundly, but in some of their systems, the greatest inconsistency and contradiction prevail. According to the system of Huber, the queen is fecun- dated by a single act of coition with a single drone, but the very circumstance by which this fecundation takes place, namely, by a casual rencontre in the open air, verges very nearly upon the impossible. Huber does not affirm that the queen takes the drone with her, but that they encounter each other by chance, and that from this one act of coition, the ovarium of the queen is sufficiently fecundated for the whole season, and not only for the current year, but for the re- mainder of her life. There is something directly contrary FECUNDATION OF THE EGGS. 55 to reason in this hypothesis, for nature never or seldom creates an object in vain, and therefore it is not to be sup- posed that she would have created eight hundred or a thou- sand drones in a hive, when one was all-sufficient for the purpose for which they are called into existence. Huber clearly perceived that although he advocated the system of a sexual intercourse, the notion could not be tolerated that such intercourse took place in the hive *, and therefore he was driven to the necessity, in order to prop up his theory, to send the queen on a roving expedition with a single drone as her paramour into the upper regions of the air. There is, however, one difficulty in the system of Huber, regarding the fecundation of the queen, which we predict that his most enthusiastic adherents will be perplexed to solve ; and we candidly confess that it is a difficulty, which belongs not only to the system of Huber, but to almost every other system, which has been founded respecting the fecundation of the eggs of the queen. She generally begins to lay her eggs by the latter end of January, when there is not a single drone in the hive ; her ovaria have been empty during the whole of the winter, and the question then naturally presents itself by what prolific power have those eggs which are laid in the spring been fecundated ? There was not any drone ex- isting to accompany the queen to the woods, and conse- quently there was not any power active in the hive by which either her ovarium could be fecundated, or the eggs fructi- fied after their deposition in the cell. It was this difficulty, which gave rise to the notion, that the queen possessed the * Lombard says, " In the hive, the drones testify a perfect indifference to- wards their queen, and this he designates as the result of an admirable order, for," he continues, " were it otherwise, there being at one time of the year from 1500 to 2000 drones, the queen would have no repose, all would be has- tening to enjoy her, and she would not find time to eat, nor to lay her eggs : her rencontre and copulation with the drone take place exteriorly to the hive, and whilst they are on the wing. It is similarly constituted with the whole family of flies." 56 ERRORS IN THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BEE. power of self-fecundation*, or that she was in the strictest sense, a virgin mother queen. The fact, however, having been indisputably established, that the drone is a male, in- vested with the organs of generation, it had an immediate tendency to invalidate the hypothesis of self- fecundation ; for, although the direct manner in which the procreating power of the male was exercised could not be discovered, yet the existence of a number of males being established, it was a natural deduction, that the queen was fecundated, either by sexual coition, or that the egg was fructified after its deposition in the cell. Several almost insuperable ob- jections exist to the former, some of which have a direct tendency to disentitle it to the slightest support ; indeed, we look in vain for any analogy existing in nature confirma- tory of the system as laid down by Huber. The fructifica- tion of an ovarium by a single act of coition with the male, the spirit of which is to operate on every egg, not only then existing in it, but which might be engendered in it for two or three successive years, or even during the whole life of the queen, carries with it, in its very principle, such a gross and manifest absurdity, that bold indeed must have been the individual, who could send it forth as the result of experi- ence, and unbounded, indeed, must have been the credulity of those, who could attach the slightest credence to such a romantic fiction, and yet, strange to relate, it forms one of * Bostel is an advocate for the self- fecundation of the queen, as he deprives the drones of the prerogative of being the male in the hive, hut at the same time omits to tell us what they really are. His hypothesis, however, is grounded on the following experiment ; — take the opportunity, when the supernumerary queens have perished ; deprive the swarm of the only queen bee that is in it, and then by means of the bath, invented by Reaumur, take away all the drones that can be found,— then for the queen, which you have taken away, put another at the moment when she is about to pierce the covering of her cell, and place your swarm at such a distance from the other hives, that the drones cannot have access to it, the virginity of the queen is then placed beyond all suspicion, and yet this swarm will nevertheless produce brood, working bees, drones, and queens. We need scarcely add, that there are points in the above system, which would baffle the skill of all the apiarians in the kingdom. OBJECTIONS TO HUBEr's SYSTEM. 57 the chief pillars of Huber's system. It has been quoted, as a verified case, in the elementary works on entomology ; it stands in the pages of all the Encyclopaedias, with the excep- tion of the Cyclopaedia Edinensis, and the London Cyclo- paedia, as a principal feature in the natural history of the bee ; whereas such a startling proposition as a perpetually fecun- dated ovarium should have made the compilers of those works hesitate, before they admitted into their pages such an incoherent stretch of fancy, at the sacrifice of truth and common sense. Huber was not insensible to the force of the objection, which was raised to the fecundation of the queen by a single drone, and the consequent inutility of eight hundred or a thousand drones being born, when a single one was sufficient for all the procreating purposes of the hive, and not only for that particular season, but for the whole life of the queen. In order, therefore, to supersede that objection, Huber ob- serves, that it is actually necessary that the males should be numerous, in order that the queen may have the chance of meeting with one of them, and, thus, nature is made to create nine hundred and ninety-nine useless creatures, in order to enable the queen, in her aerial excursions, to come into con- tact with the remaining one of the thousand. Supposing, however, according to the dictum of Huber, that the single act of coition be sufficient to fecundate the ovarium of the queen for the present year, and thereby fructify every egg, that may be generated in it, we are then entitled to draw the conclusion, that in the subsequent spring, a fresh act of coition would be requisite in order to fecundate the eggs of the current year; but this condition according to Huber is by no means necessary, for although nine hundred or a thou- sand drones may be born, the queen has no occasion what- ever for their services ; her ovarium having been fecundated the preceding year, and as the vivifying principle is still active, the same process of multiplication would go on, D 58 OVIDUCTS OF THE QUEEN. although there was not a single drone in the hive. It is very easy for the mind to conceive a cluster of eggs to be fecundated by a single act of the male, as is witnessed in the fish and the frog, and, indeed, in almost all insects ; but it must, indeed, be a wild bound of the imagination which can entertain the doctrine of an almost infinite number of eggs being fructified in the ovarium of an insect, in the year 1837, which eggs, however, were actually at that time not in existence, by an act of the male committed in 1835 or 1836*. In the case of the silkworm, and of almost all flies, the eggs in the ovarium of the female are fructified by a single act of the male, and we would most readily accede the point, that analogically considered, the same case might take place with the eggs in the ovarium of the queen bee, but there exists a wide difference in the nature of the two insects. At the time when the act of coition takes place between the moths of the silkworms, all the eggs which the female will lay are existing in her ovarium, their number at that time are definite, and no after-growth or accumulation takes place, but it is otherwise constituted with the queen bee ; from the moment that she begins to lay her eggs, they are in a state of gradual production and growth. We once counted three hundred and five oviducts in a queen bee, and in each oviduct there were eighteen eggs, thus, three hundred and five multiplied by eighteen, gives the enormous sum of five thousand nine hundred and forty eggs in one female insect, and yet all of them so differing in size, that the rudiments of the last were scarcely perceptible. Consistently, there- fore, with this experience, the eggs which are laid in the month of May were not in the ovarium of the queen in the * It must be admitted that Huber does not exactly affirm that the eggs are n the ovarium, but the system on that very account becomes still more diffi- cult of comprehension and belief. An everlastingly fecundated ovarium by a single act of the male, and the hypothesis of self-fecundation, stand nearly upon similar grounds of authenticity. FECUNDITY OF THE QUEEN. 59 month of March ; consequently, if the act of coition with the drone took place in the latter month, we naturally inquire, by what power were the eggs fecundated in the month of May ? This was a question which Huber no doubt put to himself, and perceiving that it would not be consistent with his theory, to allow of any act of coition, subsequently to the first, he fell upon the extraordinary conceit of one single act of coition being all-sufficient to fructify the ovarium of the queen for the whole remaining period of her life. The ovarium of the queen is entirely empty during the winter months, and the earliest period that we ever knew of the appearance of an egg in it, was the 20th of January. The growth of these eggs is so exceedingly rapid, that by the 27th, some of them were laid in the cells * ; and now arises one of the most difficult points in the whole natural history of the bee. In what manner are the eggs so laid in January rendered prolific, there not being a single male in the hive, either to copulate with the queen, or to fructify the egg in the cell ? Bonner, in order to surmount that difficulty, invented a number of little drones, which were by courtesy * A correct idea may be formed of the wonderful fecundity of the queen bee by the following statement, taken from an actual calculation of the number of insects composing the population of the original hive, and of a first swarm, every egg of which has been laid by the queen. One full grown queen bee in the original hive - - 1 One full-grown queen in the swarm - 1 Queens in cells of the original hive ... 9 Full-grown working bees in the original hive - - 8,494 Full-grown working bees in the swarm - - 2,433 Full-grown drones in the original b.ive - - - 693 Full-grown males in the swarm - - - - 278 Nymphs of queens - 5 Nymphs and worms of working bees - 6,468 Nymphs and worms of drones - 858 The numher of cells in a hive are about 23,000. At one time we counted 6468 sealed cells, 210 of which had brood. The cells, in which bees had already been hatched, amounted to 7814. According to the above statement the population of a hive amounts to about 10,000. D 2 60 OPINION OF THE FRENCH NATURALISTS. allowed to remain in the hive for the express purpose of fecundating these eggs j but as Sir John Sinclair very pointedly expressed himself, they were no where to be found, but in the brain of the worthy enthusiast. For the same reason, Huber invented his everlastingly fecundated ovarium, and it must be admitted that the latter invention, as far as originality is concerned, has the advantage over that of the enthusiastic Scot. The falsity of the former is subject to immediate detection— the latter can only be sub- verted by reason and analogy, based on an extensive expe- rience in all the habits of the insect. The everlastingly fecundated ovarium of Huber has been justly denounced by the foreign naturalists, as unworthy of the slightest consi- deration, and they have rightly determined that it ought to be exploded, as a direct chimera, from the natural history of the bee. Nevertheless, amongst the scientific men of France, there are many advocates for the sexual intercourse of the queen and the drone, as they consider it more consistent with the analogies of nature, than the theory of the fructifi- cation of the egg in the cell *. The rapid manner in which the queen lays her eggs, combined with other circumstances, gives almost a decided negative to that hypothesis, it being admitted, as in the case with fowls and all other oviparous animals, that every egg, previously to its deposition, receives the prolific principle of the male. Now, concurrent with the testimony of Huber himself, and we may add with the majority of apiarians, the queen bee hastens from cell to cell, in which she oviposits, without coming in contact with any * In the review of the first edition of my Treatise on Bees, in the Monthly Review, the critic says, that my system of the fructification of the egg, after its deposition in the cell, is contrary to the analogies of nature. In the preface to the second edition, those objections were refuted, by adducing the fish and the frog, as instances of the eggs being fructified after their emission from the body of the female. I confess my inability to trace any analogy in the insect tribe, but in that respect, the system of Huber and my own stand exactly upon a par. THE EGGS FRUCTIFIED IN THE CELL. 61 drone. We have known a queen bee lay from fifteen to twenty eggs in a quarter of an hour, and consequently, we have only two hypotheses to guide us ; either, that an act of coition takes place between the deposition of every egg, or that a number of eggs are fructified at one time, as it were, by wholesale. The former comes scarcely within the range of possibility, and is at direct variance with experience. We have examined a hive under every relation and circumstance, and we never yet succeeded in entrapping the queen in the state of actual coition with the drone *. But we have suc- ceeded in several instances in detecting the drone with his body in a cell, and on cutting out that part of the comb, we always found the egg at the bottom of the cell, and the seminal fluid enveloping it. We submitted this fluid, which was of a whitish hue, to a powerful microscope, and we ob- served a number of animalculee floating in it, of the annexed ^ form. It thus became, as it were, demonstrated ffi^iiW'fo'* t0 ns > tna * n0 sexual intercourse takes place 'k f, A;' t V' t °° ' ) from ° ne t0 Three Hundred KERAGK or v7rux^ y J X0 S™*sion: also, TABLES of COMMISSION, BRO- £nl£ ■ £' EXCHANGE, from One-dghth to Five per Cent., and of Income Salary, Expences &c. by the Day, Week, Month, or Year. A Time Table of the' Number ot Days, from any Day in the Year to the 31st of December the period Lat rnvMo" fHn S OnVve aU r a,CU,atea; ° r ° f the Number of Days fVoma^y Day of anyMorith in One Year to any g,ven Day in the following Year : and several use- By THOMls , BS C WYV R t V rra- Tables of Declination, Right Ascension, Ascentional Difference, and Polar Elevation : also Tables of Houses for London and Liverpool. Computed by ZADKIEL, for the Grammar of Astrolog v. Price 9s. 6d. LILLY'S INTRODUCTION to ASTROLOGY ; being the whole of that celebrated Author's Rules (or the Practice of Horary Astrology; wherein the superstitions of the 17th century have been expunged, and the whole art rendered plain and familiar : particularly fitted for the use of learners, and accordant with the improved science of the present day. The easy Rules given in this Work will enable searchers after truth to decide on the reality of Astrology, in a few weeks, by practising Horary Questions. Edited by ZADKIEL, Author of the Grammar of Astrology, Astrological Almanac, &c. 8vo. price 10s. 6d. boards. NB The former editions of William Lilly's Astrology are long since out of print ' and only to be met with at very high prices. This is printed from the edi- tion of 1647, and contains all the Schemes, Facsimiles of the Hieroglyphics of the Plague and Fire of London, and a Portrait of the Author. Future Events. RAPHAEL'S ROYAL BOOK of FATE; QUEEN ELIZABETH'S ORACLE of FUTURE EVENTS!!! 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Crifttiagr, ©fjcg& & SSraugfjtsL CRIBBAGE-PLAYER'S TEXT-BOOK: being a New and complete Treatise and ea3y Guide to a perfect knowledge of that Intellectual Game, ia all its varieties ; including Anthony Pasquin's scientific work on Five-Card Cribbage, By G. WALKER. Price 3s. 6rf. bound and gilt, with a Coloured Frontispiece. CHESS MADE EASY •. a New Introduction to the Rudiments of that Scientific and Popular Game, exclusively for Beginners. Elegantly printed, and illustrated with numerous Diagrams. By G. WALKER. Price 3*. 6d. gilt edges. " He (Mr. Walker) has done more for Chess than any other man now living; nothing could or better arranged, or explained, than ii the matter of this little Treatise."— Metropolitan Magatixt. ^EW TREATISE on CHESS. The Rudiments of the Game explained on Scientific Principles ; with the best Methods of Playing the most brilliant Openings and difficult Ends of Gaines; including' numerous original Positions, and a Selection of Fifty New Chess Problems. By G.WALKER. Third Edition, corrected and improved. SELECT GAMES at CHESS, as actually plaved by PHILIDOR and his CONTEMPORARIES. Now first published, from the 'original Manuscripts, with Notes and Additions, by G. WALKER. Price bs. cloth. STU RGBS' GUIDE to the GAME of DRAUGHTS, in which the whole Theory and Practice of that scientific Recreation are clearly illustrated ; including many Hundred Gaines Played Out, and One Hundred and Fifty Curiou* Positions displayed on Diagrams. Revised and improved by G. WALKERi Price is. Gd. cloth. '• Joshua Sturges was the best writer on Draughts that ever appeared. He spent his whole leisure in the cultivation of his favourite pursuit. The Game of Draughts was to him all in all; and the boot is a charming book of its kind. Those who are curious in the matter cannot do better tbag tr» iomt of the critical ' positions.' We promise them abundance of sport."— Atlas. j£§.OYLE'S CARD GAMES, complete, comprehending Twenty Onmes, including WHIST, CRIBBAGE, ALL FOURS, &c. &c. By T. HCGHES. I*. Books printed for Sherwood and Co. Paternoster-Row. 1 1 Sporting !3ooft& AND WORKS ON AGRICULTURE. THE SHOOTER'S ANNUAL PRESENT; containing PRAC TICAL ADVICE to the YOUNG SPORTSMAN, in every thing relating to tbe FOWLING-PIECE and SHOOTING, and of Training- POINTERS and SETTERS. Also, full Instructions regarding- a SPORTSMAN'S DRESS, and his Comfort, during the Shooting Season ; Natural History and Habits of all those Animals which con- stitute the Objects of Pursuit. Illustrated with Plates by Landseer, and numerous Woodcuts. By T. B. JOHNSON. Third Edit, neatly bound and lettered, 9*. Johnson's Sportsman's Dictionary. A NEW AND ORIGINAL WORK, entitled, THE SPORTSMAN'S CYCLOPEDIA; com- prehending the Scientific Operations of the Chase, the Course, and of all those Diversions and Amusements which have uniformly marked the British character, and which are so extensively pursued by the present generation ; including the Natural History of all those Animals which are the objects of pursuit: with illustrative Anec- dotes. By T. B. JOHNSON, Author of the " Shooter's Companion," &c. In one large volume, 8vn. illustrated with numerous highly-finished and emblematical Engravings, price 31*. 6d. bound in cloth. The Alphabetical Arrangement of this work will afford every facility to the reader, and its leading features will be found to contain the whole art of HORSEMANSHIP, or the Science of Riding. — The DOG, in all his Varieties, with his Diseases, manner of Cure, and the mode of Breeding and Training him for the different Pursuits ; Direc- tions for entering Hounds and HUNTING the Fox, Hare, Stag, &c— The Science and Practice of SHOOTING FLYING ; as well as every information relative to the use of the FOWLING-PIECE. -COURSING : with Notices of celebrated Greyhounds.— The RACE-COURSE, with its Operations, in all their Varieties ; of Breeding and Training ihe Racer; with particular Notices of the most distinguished Running Horses. — The COCK-PIT, and Management of Game Cocks.— The whole art of ANGLING and FISHING, in all their different forms, itc. *'** For the accommodation of the Public, the Sportsman's Cyclopaedia may be had iu 12 Parts, by one or more at a time, price 2s. Crf. each. THE GAMEKEEPER'S DIRECTORY, & COMPLETE VERMIN DESTROYER: containing Instructions for taking or killing all kinds of four-fooled and winged Vermin ; Instructions for the Preservation of G.titne ; of Hatching tbo Eggs of Partridges and Pheasants, and rearing the Young; tnking Wild Fowl and Fen Birds; Means of preventing Poaching. By T. B. JOHNSON. With Illustrative Enffravings. t>rice 6s.Crf. boards. ] 2 Books printed for Sherwood and Co. Paternoster-Row. JTOHNSON'S HUNTING DIRECTORY; containing Instructions for Breeding and Managing the various kinds of Hounds, particularly Fox-Hounds ; their Diseases, with a certain Cure for the Distemper. The Pursuit of the Fox, the Hare, the Stag, &c. The Nature of Scent considered and elucidated. Also, Notices of the Wolf and Boar Hunting in France ; with a variety of Illustrative Observations. Handsomely printed in 8vo. price 93. boards. THE TURF GUIDE & EXPOSITOR; containing Advice for Breed- ing and Training for the Turf ; Remarks on Training, Trainers, Jockeys; Cock- tails, and the System of Cocktail Racing illustrated ; the Turf and its Abuses; the Science of Betting, so as always to come off a Winner, elucidated by a variety of Examples ; and every other Information connected with the Turf. By C. F. BROWN. Price 6s. A DISSERTATION on the NATURE of SOILS, and the PROPERTIES of MANURE; with full Instructions for making Sixteen Varieties of a Universal Compost, which will toe found a valuable substitute to supply the place of Dung, as a Dressing for all Descriptions of Soil, and which renders Arable and Pasture Lands fruitful, keeps the Ground clean, in good Heart, and in a healthy Condition; which is managed in the most easy manner, at One-tenth Cost of Manuring with Dung. Price 6s. *** From the extreme simplicity in making this " Universal Compost,"the mode- rate expense at which it can be obtained, and the benefit it will confer on the industrious Husbandman, its general use in every part of the British Empire may, with certainty, be anticipated ; and if Experimental Farms were established in different districts throughout Great Britain, under the fostering care of Govern- ment, the plan here laid down would do much towards improving the internal state of the country.— British Farmer's Mag. Practical hints for laying down or improving MEADOW and PASTURE LAND. Illustrated with coloured Plates of such Grasses as are of the most nutritious Property, and best adapted for Dairy Pastures, Hay, Green food, or for feeding and fattening Stocks ; with full Instructions for Sowing, and the best Seasons for performing it. By WILLIAM CURTIS. Price 8*. Sir John Sinclair on Agriculture. THE CODE of AGRICULTURE; including Observations on Gardens, Orchards, Woods, and Plantations. By the Right Hon. Sir JOHN SINCLAIR, Bait. Fourth Edition, in one large vol. 8vo. price \l. in boards. This Edition is considerably improved by a number of valuable Remarks, communi- cated to the Author by some of the most intelligent Farmers in England and Scotland. The subjects particularly considered are — 1. The Preliminary Points which a Farmer ought to ascertain before he undertakes to occupy any extent of Laud. 2. The Means of Cultivation which are essential to ensure its success. 3. The various Modes of improving Land. I. The various Modes of occupying Land, fi. The Means of improving a Country. Books printed for Sherwood and Co. Paternoster-Row. 13 BRITISH FIELD SPORTS ; embracing Practical Instruc- tions in Shooting, Hunting, Coursing, Racing, Fishing, &c; with Observations on the Breaking and Training of Dogs and Horses ; also, the Management of Fowling- pieces, and all other Sporting Implements. By WILLIAM HENRY SCOTT. *** This work is beautifully printed on fine paper, and illustrated with upwards of Fifty highly-finished Engravings , Thirty-four on Copper, executed in the most characteristic style of excellence, by those Eminent Artists, Scott, Warren, Greig, Tookey, Davenport, R.anson, and Webb, from Paintings by Reinagle, Clennell, Elmer, and Barrenger; the remainder cut on Wood by Clennell, Thompson, Austin, and Bewick. The author's object has been to present, in as compressed a form as real utility would admit, Instructions in all the various Field Sports in Modern Practice ; thereby forming a Book of General Reference on the subject, and including in one volume what could not otherwise be obtained without purchasing many and expensive ones. — In demy 8vo. price 12. 18s.; or in royal 8vo. 3L 3s. boards. THE SPORTSMAN'S REPOSITORY: comprising a Series of highly-finished Engravings, representing the Horse and the Dog in all their varie- ties, accompanied with a Comprehensive Historical and Systematic Description of the different Species of each, their Appropriate Uses, Management, Improvement, &c; interspersed with interesting Anecdotes of the most celebrated Horses and Dogs, and their Owners ; likewise a great variety of Practical Information on Training, and the Amusements of the Field. By the Author of " British Field Sports." Price 21. 12*. (id. boards; or with Plates on India paper, U. is. bound in russia. Just published, O OW TO BUY A HORSE ; containing Instructions for the choice or rejection of a Horse from his Shape, Appearance, Action, Soundness, or Defects : an exposition of the tricks frequently practised in the sale of Unsound Horses, and Practi- cal Directions for the improvement and maintenance of condition by Feeding, Stable Management, Exercise, &c. ; Illustrated by Woodcuts showing the nature of several diseases to which the Horse is subject. Small 8vo. 6s. cloth. Shellett's Complete Cow-Doctor. A PRACTICAL TREATISE on the BREEDING COW, and PXTRAfTION of the CALF, before and at the time of CALVING; in which the „,f* t i.„ ,. f .lifficult Parturition is considered in all its bearings, with reference to Pacts d experience? including Observations on the Disease of Neat Cattle generally. Containing profitable Instructions to the Breeding Farmer, Cow- keener and Grazier, for attending to their own Cattle during Illness according To the most approved modern Methods of Treatment, and the Application of long- Known and skilful Prescriptions and Remedies for every Disorder incident to known aimsBiuu adapted to the present improved state of Veterinary PrSe? mustrateV V1 th Thirteen highly^nished Engravings By .EDWARD SKELLETT, Professor of that part of the Veterinary Art. Price 18*. plain, U. Is. coloured. . _ , u e „ ..= n „„ri which will be found a very useful addition to the Farmer's " We have now before us a work which w i oe io no , j » evi(Jeilt | [he resuU f long expe- Library ; it is communicated ,n a plain . ind nam ur slyu, an cl J d wj(h Live stock shoula rience and observation .made by a P^Ve erinary Practitioner it is invaluable." be acquainted with its contemn, urn iv ui<- »• i farmer's Journal. 14 Books printed for Sherwood and Co. Paternoster-Row. THE GRAZIER'S READY RECKONER; or, a Useful Guide for Buyin- and Selling Cattle; being a complete Set of Tables, distinctly pointing out the Weight of Black Cattle, Sheep, and Swine, from Three to One Hundred and Thirty Stones, by Measurement; with Directions showing the particular Parts where theCaltleare to be measured. By GEORGE RENTON, Farmer. New Edition, sorrected, price 2*. 6d. A TREATISE on the TEETH of the HORSE; showing its Age by the Changes the Teeth undergo, from a Foal up to Twenty-Three Years Old, especially after the Eigth Year. Translated from the French of M. GIRARD, Director of the Royal Veterinary School at A Word, by T. J. GANLY, V.S. 11th Light Dragoons. Price 3s. 6d. ; or with the Plates coloured, 4s. 6d. boards. *** This work is strongly recommended by Professor Coleman, in his Lectures, to the attention of persons studying the Veterinary Profession, and who may wish t« be well acquainted with the Horse's Age. " The above useful Treatise is calculated to be of considerable service in Ihe present state of oui knowledge. We recommend the work to the Amateur, the Practitioner, and the Veteriuary Siudeut."— Lancet. THE GROOM'S ORACLE, and POCKET STABLE DIREC- TORY ; in which the Management of Horses generally, as to Health, Dieting 1 , an. I Exercise, are considered, in a Series of Familiar Dialogues between two Grooms engaged in Training Horses to their Work, as well for the Road as the Chase and Turf. With an Appendix, including the Receipt-Book of John Hinds, V.S. Second Edition, considerably improved, embellished with an elegant Froutispiece,painted by S. Aiken, price 7*. cloth. *»>* This enlarged edition of the "Groom's Oracle" contains a good number ot new points connected with training prime horses; and the owners of \vorkiD£ cattle, also, will find their profit in consulting the practical remarks that are applicable to their teams; on the principle that health preserved is belter thai) disease removed. Outlines of the veterinary art ; or, a treatisi on the ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, and CURATIVE TREATMENT of the DIS EASES of the HORSE, and, subordinately, of those of Neat Cattle aud Sheei j Illustrated by Surgical and Anatomical Plates. By DELABERE BL-Y1NE. TUfc Fifth Edition, considerably improved awil increased by the introduction ofmany new and important subjects, Liotii in the Foreign and British practices of the art and by the addition of some new Figures. 8vo. 21s. cloth. CANINE PATHOLOGY; or, a Description of the DISEASES oi DOGS, Nosologically arranged, with their Causes, Symptoms, and Curative Treat- ment; and a copious Detail of the Rabid Malady: preceded by a Sketch of the Natural History of the Dog, his Varieties and Qualities ; with practical Directit n on the Breeding, Rearing, and salutary Treatment of these Animals. Fourti Edit, revise J, corrected, and improved- By DELABERE BLAINE. 8vo.9s.bi>. Buchnall on Fruit Trees, and the Husbandry of Orchards. THE ORCHARDIST; or, a System of Close Pruning and Medi- cation for Establishing the Science of Orcharding: containing full Instructions for the making of Manure, preventing the Blight, Caterpillars, and for the preserving Trees from the effects of the Canker, as patronized by the Society for the Encou- ragement of Arts, Manufactures, aud Commerce. By the late T.S. D. BUCRNALL Esq. M.P. In Svo. price 5s. boards. *** This work obtained for the Author the Prize Medal and Thanks of tha abova Society. Only very few copies remain on hand. Books printed for Sherwood and Co. Paternoster-Row. 15 FOR EVERY HOUSE AND FAMILY. Jennings' Cook's Guide. Just published, TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRKD Practical RECEIPTS in every branch of FAMILY COOKERY; in which the art of preparing Food and Drink for the Human Stomach is simplified and explained, in accordance to the best know- ledge of the age, and most conducive to the health and happiness of our species; with proper Directions for Stewing I Sauces j Confectionary I Potting I Brewing Soups Gravies Conserves Medicinal MadeVVine* Made Dishes | Puddings | Pickling | Cookery | Distillation <5fC. fyfi. 8)C. With an Historical Introduction on the Art of Cookery, from the earliest periods to the present time: On the Duties of Conks and other Servants; Observations on the Implements, &<:. employed in Cooking; Instructions in the Art of Carving, for Marketing, und for Trussing. By JAMES JENNINGS, Author of the Family Cycla- predia. Containing nearly 600 pages, price 7s. fid. cloth. Roasting 1 Frying Boiling Baking Broiling | Hashing Moubray on Poultry, Pigs, and Cows. A PRACTICAL TREATISE on BREEDING, REARING, nnd FATTENING all KINDS of DOMESTIC POULTRY, PIGEONS, and RABBITS: also on Breeding, Feeding, and Managing Swine, Milch Cows, and Bees. By BONINGTON MOUBRAY, Esq. Seventh Edition, enlarged by a treatise on Brew- in- on makin°- British Wines, Cider, Butter, and Cheese, and Country Concerns ee'nerallv - adapted to the Use and Domestic Comforts of Private Families. Illustrated with new and original Drawings from Life, coloured from Nature, of the various breeds of Fowls and Animals. Is. 6d. cloth boards. English and Foreign Funds. COMPENDIUM of the ENGLISH and FOREIGN FUNDS, V^V/.vji lii 11 " ■" . f.. m i 1 „«„R 1) ;inmi> of the various obiects 16 Books printed for Sherwood and Co. Paternoster-Row. A Valuable Present for Servant Maids. FEMALE SERVANT'S GUIDE and ADVISER; or, the SEaviCE INSTRUCTOR. Illustrated with Plates, exhibiting the Method of Setting- nut Dinner Tables. Price 3s. This work has an emphatical claim to the sanction of Masters and Mistresses, as, by its direction and instructions, Servants are enabled to perform the various occu- pations of service in an efficient and satisfactory manner, and are informed of the methods of occasioning 1 Large Savings in the Management and Use of their Employ- ers' Household Property and Provisions: in fact, it embraces the interest and welfare of the great family of Mankind— MASTERS and SERVANTS. " By the present of a copy of the work to each of their servants, employers may safely calculate on the saving of many pounds a year in their expenditure"— Taunton Courier. EVERY MAN HIS OWN BREWER. A Practical Treatise on BREWING, adapted to the Means of Private Families. By BONINGTON MOUBRAY, Esq. Price Is. sewed. FAMILY DYER and SCOURER ; being a Complete Treatise on the Arts of Dyeing and Cleaning every Article of Dress. By WILLIAM TUCKER late Dyer and Scourer in the Metropolis. Fourth Edition, considerably improved, 4s. 6d. bds. " ' The Family Dyer and Scourer' contains much valuable informaiion relative to dyeing and clean- ing every article of dress, whether made of Wool, Cotton, Silk, Flax, or Hair ; also, Bed and Window Furniture, Carpets, Hearth-Hugs, Counterpanes, Bonnets, Feathers, &c. In all of which a very con- siderable saving will be observed, if the rules laid down be adopted ; as it is frequently the case that clothes and furniture are thrown aside in a dirty state as useless, which, by being dyed and cleaned, may be worn or useil much longer." — Taunton Courier. FAMILY CYCLOPEDIA; a Code of USEFUL and NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE in DOMESTIC ECONOMY, AGRICULTURE, CHE- MISTRY,and the ARTS ; including the most approved Modes of Treatment of DISEASES, ACCIDENTS, and CASUALTIES. By JAMES JENNINGS, Esq. In one large volume, 8vo. price 11. is. in boards. This very useful work contains upwards of fourteen hundred closely-printed pages, comprising as much matter as is frequently contained in six ordinary-sized octavo volumes. The following are the opinions of the Reviewers on its merits :— " As a book of daily reference the FAMILY CYCLOPEDIA is really invaluable- it forms a portable Library of Useful Knowledge, of easy reference, and contains a great variety of information not to be fouud in other works of similar pretensions and ot greater magnitude." ' " It contains a large mass of information on subjects connected with the Domestic Economy of Life. In matters of Science and the Ails, the selections are all from sources of the best authority, and treated in a clear and familiar manner. As a book of daily reference in the common concerns of life, its great practical utility will no doubt ensure it a ready introduction, and a favourable reception in every intelligent family." " The able manner in which this work is executed affords satisfactory evidence that the editor is thoroughly acquainted with the subject. It is a valuable multum in parvo." ART of BREWING on SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES. Adapted to the Use of Brewers and Private Families; with the value and im portance of the Saccharometer. The whole system of Ale, Table Beer and" Porter Brewing, and the Names and Proportions of the various Ine-redients' used by Porter Brewers (but prohibited by the Excise) made public. To which are added, Directions for Family Brewing ; making Cider, Perry, Home-made Win™ &c. &c. Price 3s. 6d. J ' c u " jae vines, » A great body of practical information compressed into a small volume.''-^™^ Critical flaz. Books printed for Sherwood Sf Co. Paternoster-Row. 17 Shaw's Domestic Lawyer. EVERY MAN HIS OWN LAWYER ; a Practical and Popular Exposition of the Laws of England: containing the requisite Legal Information relative to every possible Circumstance and Situation in which Persons can be placed in the ordinary occurrences of Trade and Social Life. Particularly those relative to Landlord, Tenants and Lodgers, Arrest and Distress. Marriage, Seduction, Adultery, Divorce, and Bigamy. Husband and Wife, Parentand Child, Guardian and Ward. Wills and Codicils, Executors, Administrators, and Legatees. Auctioneers, Appraisers, Contractors, Principal, Agent or Factor. Clergy, Churchwardens, Overseers, Constables, Highway, and Poor. Insurance on Lives, Fire, and Marine. Partnerships, Masters, Apprentices, Servants, and Workmen. Felonies, Forgeries, Embezzlement, and Blasphemy. Bankrupts, Insolvents, Trustees, and Bills of Exchange. Hawkers and Pedlars, Carriers, Warehousemen, and Wharfingers. Average, Arbitration, Award,and Set-Off. Real Property, Innkeepers, and Game Laws. Including the important Acts of last Session. By JAMES SHAW, Esq. Price 9s. bound in cloth. S HAW'S CONSTABLE & POLICE-OFFICER'S COMPANION and GUIDE; containing the Duties, Powers, Responsibilities, Indemnity, Remu- neration, and Expenses of those Officers. Price is. COTTAGER'S FRIENDLY GUIDE in Domestic Economy: compiled for the use of the Industrious Poor. Price 6d. or Ss. per dozen. " We feel it our duty to call on all persons who are interested in alleviating: the afflictions, and compensating the privations of their suffering- fellow creatures; on all who would wish to see a res- toration of that right feeling of one class of society towards another, on which their preservation ot social order depends— we call on all such to rouse themselves from the culpable apathy which ha! hitherto restrained them from virtuous and necessary exertion, to co-operate in the distribution of a unrk such as this, and to furnish means for the practical application of its useful lessons." British Farmer's Mgazine, Feb. 1632* Universal, commercial, and polite letter- WRITER; or a complete and interesting Course of Familiar and Useful Correspon- dence. In Four Parts : — 1st. Education. — Epistolary Rules ; Observations on Style, Grammar, &c.j In- structions for Addressing Persons of all Ranks; Forms of Complimentary Cards : Juvenile Correspondence, &c. in a Series of Original Letters, from Parents, Teachers, Pupils, &c. 2nd. Business.— Useful Forms in Law, Forms of Bonds, Indentures, Deeds, Letters of Attorney, Wills, Petitions, &c. : in a Series of Letters from Merchants, Tradesmen, Creditors, Debtors, &c. 3rd. Miscellaneous.— Public Correspondence on various Topics, partly original and partly selected. 4th. Familiar Subjects, Love, Courtship, Marriage, &c. Adapted to the use of both Sexes. By the Rev. JOSEPH POTTS, M.A. 2s. 6d. bound. Dr. Scott's Family Medical Adviser. THE VILLAGE DOCTOR; or, Family Medical Adviser, describing, in a plain and familiar manner, the Symptoms of all the Disorders to which the Human Frame is subject, including the Diseases of Women and Children ; with a Method of Treatment; containing Four Hundred Prescriptions, arranged for Domestic Economy and general convenience. E.ghth Edition, considerably improved, 5s. By JAMES SCOTT, M.D. 18mo. bs. cloth. 18 Books printed for Shertvood <$f Co. Paternoster-Row . A PLAIN and PRACTICAL EXPOSITION of the LAW of LANDLORD and TENANT; with a Summary of the Statutes and Decided Case* relative to Assessed Taxes, the Poor, Sewer, Watching, Lighting, Paving, Highway, County, and Church Rates. With Precedents of Leases, Agreements, Assignments, Notices, &c. &c. &c. By CHARLES JOHN COPLEY, Esq. of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. Price 5s. 6d. *** This work is distinguished for its clear arrangement and its plain and unaffected style; and, from the completeness of the information it affords, is adapted for the use of the Profession of the Law, as well as for that of the public in general. In it the many erroneous misapprehensions generally but improperly received and admitted as Law, as to Landlords' Rights and Authority, and Tenants* Liabilities, are shewn to be unfounded and illegal. Dickson's Law of Wills and Executors. PLAIN and PRACTICAL EXPOSITION of the LAW of WILLS ; with an ABSTRACT of the NEW L4W, I. VICTORIA c. 2fi j with necessary INSTRUCTIONS and useful ADVICE to TESTATORS, EXECUTORS, ADMl- NISTRATOKS, and LEGATEES; and of tlie Consequences of Intestacy; also, Directions respecting- the Probate of Wills, and the taking" out Letters of Administration; the Method of obtaining a return of the Administration and Probate Duty, if overpaid; and Forms of Inventories to be taken by Executors ; with Precedents for making Wills, Codicils, Republications, &c. By R. DICKSON, Esq. of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn. New and Improved Edition, 5*. 6d. " We rccard Mr. Dickson's publication as a book which no family above the lowest grade in society should be without. And to the lawyer as well as the general reader, it will be found a useful ap j valuable publication."— Alhensum. Guide to the Public Funds. FORTUNE'S EPITOM E of the STOCKS and PUBLIC FUNDS ; containing facts and events relative to the Stocks, Funds, and other Government Secu- rities, necessary to be known by all persons connected therewith, or who are desirous of investing their capital ; with every necessary information for perfectly understanding the nature of these Securities, and the mode of doing Business therein; including a full Account of every Foreign Fund and Loan, the Dividends of which are payable in London. Fourteenth Edition, revised and corrected by J. FIELD, Jun. of the Stock- Exchange. Price 6s. cloth. Printed uniform with the Million of Facts. ARTS of LIFE and CIVILIZATION; with Accounts of all the USEFUL PRODUCTS of NATURE and INDUSTRY, and Practical Details of Processes in Manufactures, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Building, Mechanics, and other Social Sciences, alphabetically arranged, according to the best Authorities and latest Discoveries. In 1400 columns of Nonpareil type, forming a very thick volume Ui duodecimo. By SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS. Price 14*. cloth. It is a work of Processes, and of Practical Details relative to whatever men do in Society; and il applies, in a satisfactory manner, to every pursuit of Profit, Industry, and Production, from the Workshop to the Laboratory, from the Kitchen to the Boudoir, and from the Farm to the Ornamental Garden. On all these sub- ject* it is a perfect Library of Indispensable and Constant Reference. " I have often regretted that we have not such a Dictionary of the Chemical, Me- chanical, and Useful Arts, practised in civilised Society, as would enable a willing Savage, or a barbarous People, at once to profit by all our discoveries."— Franklin. Books printed for Sherwood Sf Co. Paternoster-Row. 19 Letters to a Mother. JliUPZRDIA, (ilie felicity of having- healthy children,) being- LETTERS to a MOTHER, on the WATCHFUL CARE of her INFANT, in T^» e ^iT^ the NURSE > COLD, DAMP, the OPEN AIR, and CLOTHING; of 1JN*ANIILE DISEASES in general, and the Remedies: containing cogent rea- sons for the mother being- the nurse of her own children. By a PHiTSIClAN Price 3*. 6d. bound anil gilt. " This may be considered as the book of physical Education, and embraces a subject of the highest importance to every mother. Although the volume appears to have been written en desbouts detemps, there is, nevertheless, ' much method in it;' and, what is of some importance in a work of this kind, a degree of freedom, which shows it to have been written, ' coti amore,' with a perfect knowledge of the subject by the author. The duties of a mother and wet-nurse are succinctly and briefly laid down; and the chapters on the earlv detection of infantile disease are calculated to afford much valuable information on points of vital importance to the young. A philosophic and Christian spirit breathes through the work : and there are none who are, or who are likely to become mothers, but will be interested in ito contents ; we therefore cordially recommend it to all ' sorts and conditions' of women."— Educational Magazine, April 1836. " It is a little volume exernpt from quackery, and admirably calculated to impress upon a mother not merely the duties to her infant, but to teach her a great variety of lessons, which every a$«v tiooate bosom will delight to'sludy and cherish."— Monthly Review, April 183S. Death Blow to Fraud and Adulteration. 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Books printed for Sherwood and Co. Paternoster-Row. 21 Rev. W. D. Conybeare's Lectures. Elementary course of theological lectures, in Three Parts — Part I. On the Evidences of Religion, natural and revealed.— II. On the Criticism and Interpretation of the Bible.— [II. On the peculiar Doc- trines of Christianity. Delivered in Bristol College, by the Rev. W. D. CONYBEARE, F. R. S., Corresponding- Member of the Institute of France, &c. &c. A New Edition, considerably improved, price 8s. cloth, lettered. " Wc are glad to see the waxing popularity of this volume : it speaks well for the public. Such a work every man of any education should read, for every man may understand, and almost every man can afford to obtain it." — Gentleman's Magazine. " Mr. Conybeare has collected much valuable information in a small compass, and his work will be found of service to Biblical students." — ChrislianObserver. " The critical Lectures of ihe Rev. \V. D. 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