"First of the throng, and foremost of the whole
One stands confest the sovereign and the soul."
She is usually designated by the name of queen; and as she suffers no rival near her throne, she may be regarded as an absolute queen. She varies considerably in her appearance from the working bees, still more so in her functions. She is both larger and longer than the workers; their relative proportions are very fairly given in the plate upon the table; from which you will perceive that, though the queen's body is longer than that of a worker, her wings are about the same length, so that they Call considerably short of covering her body. Her movements are more slow and graceful than those of the workers. The under parts of her body are of a copper colour, so likewise are her thighs, but they are not furnished with baskets; for she has never occasion for any, being always waited upon by the workers. The sting of the working bee is quite strait; that of the queen is somewhat curved; and the tube which encloses it, besides its utility, as a sheath for the sting, affords a passage for the eggs which she lays; and, by its telescopic construction, she is able so to extend it as to deposit her eggs at the very bottom of the brood cells; and this object is still further facilitated by the tapering form of her hinder part. These eggs, at the height of the season, she deposits at the rate of 200 a-day, and thus becomes the fertile mother of many thousands annually, consisting of workers, drones, and a few scions of royalty. So fast indeed does her progeny increase at this season as to render fit necessary that their numbers should be diminished either by the issue of swarms, or by affording the family additional room. I have now a few words to offer on the remaining members of the family of bees,—those which have been denominated by Shakspere as "the lazy yawning drones." These are the gentlemen of the hive; and truly do they deserve that name, for they do no work, and never venture abroad but in fine weather, when they can enjoy the sunshine and philander with the royal ladies. They are nearly the same length as the queen, but more bulky, and very clumsily formed, and they are not armed with a sting. Superficially regarded, it would seem as if they came into the world merely to consume the produce of others' industry. They must not be hastily condemned, however, for not being gifted with the organs necessary either to collect or to convey food; they ought not to be reproached on that score, and as we know some of their uses, we may fairly give them credit for others.
Having in the former portion of my lecture referred to the very early period at which the attention of man was drawn to the honey-bee; to the profit which may be derived from a judicious culture of that valuable insect; to the various members of which a family of bees consists; to their very great powers of increase; and to the very curious and wonderful contrivances exhibited in their anatomical structure; I now proceed to detail to you one of the most curious and astonishing facts which their marvellous history affords, viz., the power they possess of supplying the place of a lost queen. When such a misfortune befals them, provided there be any eggs in the worker-cells, or even grubs that are not more than three days old, they immediately break down three worker-cells, destroy two of the eggs or grubs, as the case may be, surround the third with the walls of a cell peculiarly appropriate for raising queens, and by administering to the inmate a particular food called royal jelly, they are enabled to raise up a bee possessing every attribute of royalty, which, but for the peculiar diet and the large royal cradle with which it was supplied, would have turned out simply a working bee. A knowledge of this power in the bee has long been familiar to a few foreigners, though for a time discredited in this country. In consequence of this discovery, apiarians have been enabled to increase their stocks of bees by means of what has been called artificial swarming. Should there be no suitable egg or grub in the hive from which to replace a lost sovereign, so heavily is the calamity felt, that she is mourned over with so fervent and sincere a regret that it would seem as if a disaster had befallen them of so dire a nature as to threaten the dissolution of the community, and, for a time, no successor that could be presented to them would be acceptable. Still this exhibition of grief is not of long continuance; for though within the first twenty-four or thirty hours they are so inconsolable as not only to reject, but even to sacrifice, any other queen that might be presented for their acceptance, yet, after the expiration of the period I have named, their sorrow becomes mitigated, so that, on being presented with a stranger queen, she is no longer treated as a stranger, but even cordially received, and joyfully admitted to the honors of sovereignty. If the family have neither a queen presented to them, nor eggs, nor grabs of a suitable age, they either pine gradually away or join some other establishment, transferring their allegiance to the sovereign thereof, and rewarding their new associates for their hospitality by an importation of the stores of the deserted hive. Before I take leave of the all-important lady I have been describing, I will just refer to the time the eggs which she respectively lays require for their full development as perfect bees. The egg of the working bee is hatched in about four days, when it becomes a grub, in which state it is fed for about five days more, according to the temperature of the season; when it has increased so as to fill the cell, it is covered in by its nurses with a waxen lid. It now spins round itself a silken web, called a cocoon, in which it is occupied for about thirty-six hours. After this its various members become gradually developed, till, on the 21st day from the laying of the eggs it comes forth a winged insect. As respects the embryo queen, in her case every stage of the progression is shortened, and she is ready to emerge as a full-grown queen upon the sixteenth day. The progression of the drone is the slowest, four-and-twenty days being occupied before he arrives at maturity. In the respective periods of their adult existence, there is a still greater relative difference than in that of their embryo state. I have told you already that the length of life allotted to the working bee does not extend beyond six or eight months; that of the drone seldom exceeds four months, whilst the queen's life is usually extended to three or four years. It has been a question to what distance bees will fly when exploring the fields, and it has been ascertained that the usual extent of their flight from home is about a mile and a half; but if within that range they do not find what they seek for, they have been known to exceed more than double that distance.
Having now presented you with a sketch of the history and physiology of the bee itself, I shall proceed to notice that miracle of insect architectural skill, a honey-comb, without which any lecture on its artificers would be very incomplete. A honey-comb is universally allowed to be one of the most striking achievements of insect industry, and a most admirable specimen of insect architecture. Every comb in a hive is composed of two ranges of cells backed against each other, and each cell is constructed with the strictest mathematical correctness. According as they are designed for the cradles of working bees or of drones, they vary somewhat in dimensions, but in each size the strictest uniformity is preserved. For storing honey both sizes are constructed and used indiscriminately; but for whatever purposes intended, one or other of those two sizes is invariably adhered to, and they are so contrived as to make them contain the greatest possible quantity in the smallest possible space, and with the smallest possible quantity of materials. Specimens of drone as well as of worker-cells, full and empty, are upon the table. On observing the full ones, it will be perceived that every cell is sealed over, so as to prevent the external air from having access to the honey; and this may serve as a hint to those who wish to preserve their honey in as pure a state as possible, that it should from first to last be as little exposed as possible to the external air. The cells are all of them of an hexagonal shape, that having been found by some of the profoundest geometrical scholars to be the one which most perfectly accomplishes the results which I have specified. What an astonishing coincidence is this! Several celebrated mathematicians occupy themselves in solving an intricate problem, and, after the exercise of the highest ingenuity and the deepest thought, find their conclusions made manifest in the operations of the bee! Not only are the cells thus curiously constructed with the strictest regard, to the economy of space and materials, but so as to afford the utmost available degree of strength for though the cells are formed in doable rows, back to back, you will perceive, on examining the specimens before you, that no two cells are directly opposed to each other, but that every separate cell is fortified by having the walls of three others running across the bottom of it, and all three meeting in its centre! Such wonderful specimens of constructive skill in the bee, as well as in some other members of the insect race, might well have excited the astonishment of Solomon and have called forth the apostrophes of David, and have led him to exclaim, when contemplating them, "Marvellous are thy works, O God! in wisdom hast thou made them all!"
I have given you a description of the curiously-constructed cells which constitute a honey-comb, and have told you what steps the bees take when they have to supply the loss of a queen. This gave me occasion to advert to one of the modes in which they prepare a royal cell. In such an emergency the usual mode of proceeding is departed from, the royal cradle being built round the egg or grab, and therefore having its site wherever that egg or grub may happen to be, not, therefore, upon the edge of a comb; whilst in the regular course of nature the royal cell is constructed, not where the egg has been laid, but where it is proposed that it shall be laid, and in that case always upon the edge of a comb, its dimensions increasing progressively, as the royal insect increases in size, and requires increased accommodation. This proceeding always commences a short time previous to the intended issue of a swarm. The wood-cut on the table will give a tolerable notion of the relative appearance of every description of cell, and in every state. At the top of the comb may be seen cells filled with honey and sealed over with fattish waxen lids (specimens of which are afforded by the plate of stored honey-comb); somewhat lower down are cells containing brood in an advanced state, sealed over with convex lids; lower still are represented open cells, containing grubs in every state of progression, the whole being encompassed by open cells, ready to be occupied either with honey or brood, as may be required. There is also a specimen of a full-sized royal cell upon the table, in the state which precedes a queen's emergence from it; and likewise a half-finished cell of the same description. In the formation of the common cells, you will be struck with the lightness of their structure, the wax expended upon them being employed with the strictest regard to economy, not a gram more being used than is barely necessary; whilst in fashioning the royal cradle, economy of materials would seem to be the last thing thought of. This has been so well expressed by an accomplished apiarian friend, the late Dr. Evans, of Shrewsbury, that I cannot forbear quoting his very words:—
"No more with wary thriftiness imprest,
They grace with lavish pomp their royal guest;
Nor heed the wasted wax nor rifted cell,
To bid with fretted round th' imperial palace swell."
You will perceive that the walls of these regal edifices, instead of being like those of the other cells, as thin as paper, to compare great things with small, are as substantial as the walls of a palace, the very title conferred upon them by Dr. Evans.
The source from which wax is produced, though it had been imperfectly glanced at by one or two old apiarians, was not determined satisfactorily till within the last sixty or seventy years, it having been almost universally imagined that the substance which the bees import upon their thighs, viz., farina, formed its chief constituent; whereas it is now clearly ascertained that farina does not enter at all into the composition of wax, but that it is imported solely as food for embryo bees, and that wax is a secretion from between the scales, on the under parts of the bee's body, from which it is thrown off in thin layers. The little creatures, when wax is needed, distend their stomachs with honey and remain in a quiescent state for about twenty-four hours, within which time the honey becomes changed in its nature, and oozes out between the scales in thin flakes ready for use. These the little artists remove with their hind legs, carry them forward to their mouths, and then mincing them up with a frothy liquor till the mass becomes glutinous, reduce it to a state which admits of its being easily moulded into honey-combs or any other form.
I have now endeavoured to fix your attention upon several of the wonderful proceedings of the bee—proceedings which are generally regarded as the result of instinct, though some of them would almost incline us to award to it the same attribute that has been applied to a creature of much greater magnitude, and to speak of the half-reasoning bee as well as of the half-reasoning elephant. Indeed the enlightened Boyle, when contemplating the various wonders of nature, has declared his astonishment to have been more excited by the mite than by the elephant, and that his admiration dwelt not so much upon the clocks as upon the watches of creation. In support of what I have felt disposed to designate as a half-reasoning power, many very striking illustrations might be adduced, shall on this occasion confine myself to one, in addition to those I have already detailed to you; and I do so the rather as it occurred to an old friend of mine, who ended his days in this city. I allude to the Rev. Richd. Walond, one of the former Treasurers of our Cathedral, and Rector of Weston-under-Penyard. As he was inspecting one of his bee-boxes one day towards the end of October, he perceived that a centre comb loaded with honey had become separated from its attachments, and was leaning against another comb, so as to prevent the passage of the bees between them. This accident excited great activity in the colony, but its precise nature could not be ascertained at the time. At the end of a few days, the weather being cold, and the bees clustered closely together, Mr. Walond observed through the window of the box that they had constructed two horizontal bars between the combs alluded to, and had removed so much of the honey and wax from the top of each as to allow a free passage to a bee. In about ten days the bees had effected an uninterrupted thoroughfare; the detached comb at its upper part had been secured by a strong barrier, and fastened to the window. This being accomplished, the horizontal pillars, first constructed, being of no further use, were demolished. Had such expedients been had recourse to by human beings, they would have been regarded as affording evidence of a continued chain of reasoning, for the most intelligent architect could not have more judiciously propped up a tottering fabric till it could be effectually secured.
Let me now bespeak your attention to the practical management of bees, and I shall precede my observations, thereon by addressing a few words to you upon the subject of swarming, though in all probability it is a proceeding familiar to most of you. I have already stated that in the winter and the early spring the queen and the working bees constitute the whole family; but in April and May, in mild weather much earlier, so great a number of eggs is deposited, chiefly worker-eggs, but some portion also of drone-eggs, as, when hatched and brought to maturity, to encumber the hive so much by their numbers and the overpowering heat they produce, unless additional room be afforded them, as to cause the emigration of a large portion of the family. In this case, one division issues from the hive, accompanied by the old queen, leaving the other division in the parent hive. These latter transfer their allegiance to a new queen, one or more being always either ripe or in embryo, some days prior to the swarm's issuing. The same stock will occasionally throw off several swarms in the season, each successive swarm being always accompanied by the princess royal In general all the younger-princesses are kept imprisoned in their cells, till all further intention to swarm is given up, when those that are not required the queen regnant is allowed to destroy, which her jealousy is ever prompting her to do, whether they be required or not, and which nothing but the sedulous guard kept over them by the workers could prevent. If two or more of these royal ladies should happen to be at liberty at the same time, there is always a contest, which continues till fatal to all but one. A swarm consists of a queen, several thousands of working bees of all ages, generally also of a few hundreds of drones. When all things are prepared for their issuing forth, storing themselves, for instance, with honey sufficient for a few days' consumption, and, according to the opinion of some apiarians (myself among the rest), having made choice of a future residence, there arises great commotion in the hive, and those bees that have, by previous concert, decided upon emigrating, sally forth through the entrance of the hive in a rapid and tumultuous manner, and with so loud a buzz as to be audible at some distance. After hovering rather diffusely for some minutes in the air, they gradually congregate and settle round their queen, usually upon a tree or bush, from which, as soon as they have become tolerably quiet, they are shaken into a hive held beneath them; the hive is then instantly inverted, and placed on a table covered with a cloth upon which two sticks have been laid to prop up the hive sufficiently to allow a free passage for the bees. The whole is then well sheltered from the sun by green boughs or some other protection. If the hive prove agreeable to the bees, they soon recover from the commotion, and as soon as they have become tolerably quiet, they should be carried to the place where they are intended to remain permanently, from whence they will soon begin to roam the fields in search of materials to furnish their new home. It is customary among the cottagers to make a noise when bees are swarming, generally by striking a frying-pan smartly with a large key. This they do from a notion that it will charm the bees down, but the experience of all intelligent apiarians has proved this to be a useless practice. While furnishing their hive with combs the great bulk of the bees suspend themselves from its roof, in a cluster, consisting of a succession of semicircular festoons, one within the other, and they keep up such a degree of warmth as to render their waxen materials soft enough to be easily moulded. To enable themselves to form this cluster, they cling to each other by their claws, the fore feet of one bee hanging upon the hind legs of the one above it. This clustering prevents their earliest proceedings from being witnessed in hives of the usual form. This, however, is a difficulty which ingenious apiarians have found means to overcome, by the use of a unicomb or mirror hive, one of which I shall be well pleased to show any lady or gentleman who may feel inclined to see the construction of it, and the facilities it affords for observation.