TERMS APPLIED TO YOUNG BEES.
The young bee, when it first leaves the egg, is termed grub, maggot, worm, or larva; from this state it changes to the shape of the perfect bee, which is said to be three days after finishing the cocoon; from the time of this change, till it is ready to leave the cell, the terms nymph, pupa, and chrysalis, are applied. The lid of the drone's cell is rather more convex than that of the worker's, and when removed by the young bee to work its way out, is left nearly perfect; being cut off around the edges, a good coat or lining of silk keeps it whole; while the covering of the worker's cell is mostly wax, and is pretty well cut to pieces by the time the bee gets out. The covering to the queen's cell is like the drone's, but larger in diameter, and thicker, being lined with a little more silk.
DISCREPANCY IN TIME IN REARING BROOD AS GIVEN BY HUBER.
We are told by most writers, the period of time necessary to perfect from the egg, the three different kinds of bees. Huber leads the way, and the rest, supposing him to be right, repeat in substance his account as follows: That the whole time necessary to perfect a queen from the egg is sixteen days, the worker twenty, and the drone twenty-four days; Huber (as quoted by Harpers) gives the time of each stage of development belonging to each kind of bee; but is rather unfortunate in arithmetic; the items, or stages, when added together, "do not prove," as the school-boys say; that is, he gains time by making his bee by degrees. He says, first, of the worker, "It remains three days in the egg, five in the grub state, it is thirty-six hours in spinning its cocoon; in three days it changes to a nymph, passes six in that form, and then comes forth a perfect bee." How do the items add?
The egg, 3 days. Grub, 5 " Spinning cocoon, 1-1/2 " Changing to a nymph, 3 " In that form, 6 " ———- 18-1/2 days.
One and a half days short. We will next see how the figures with the royal insect match; recollect sixteen days are all she has allowed; then, of the different stages, "three days in the egg, is five a worm, when the bees close its cell, and it immediately begins its cocoon, which is finished in twenty-four hours. During eleven days, and even sixteen hours of the twelfth, it remains in a state of complete repose. Its transformation into a nymph then takes place, in which state four days and part of the fifth are passed." Now let us add the items:
The egg, 3 days. A worm, 5 " Spinning a cocoon, (24 hours), 1 " Reposes eleven days and 16 hours, 11-2/3 " A nymph four days, and part of the fifth, 4-1/3 " ———- 25 days.
Now, reader, what do you make of such palpable blundering guess-work? A difference of nine days—the merest school-boy ought to know better! Can we rely on such history? Does it not prove the necessity of going over the whole ground, applying a test to every assertion, and a revision of the whole matter throughout? My object is not to find fault, but to get at facts. When I see such guess-work as the above published to the world, in this enlightened age, gravely told to the rising generation, as a portion of natural history, I feel it a duty not to resist the inclination to expose the absurdity.
THE NUMBER OF EGGS DEPOSITED BY THE QUEEN GUESSED AT.
The number of eggs that a queen will deposit is often another point of guess-work. When the estimate does not exceed 200 per diem, I have no reason to dispute it; the number will probably fall short in some cases, and exceed it in others. Some writers suppose that this number "would never produce a swarm, as the bees that are lost daily amount to, or even exceed that number," and give us instead from eight hundred to four thousand eggs in a day, from one queen. The only way to test the matter accurately, is by actually counting, in an observatory hive, or in one with sufficient empty combs to hold all the eggs she will deposit for a few days, when, by removing the bees, and counting carefully, we might ascertain, and yet several would have to be examined, before we could get at the average. The nearest I ever came to knowing anything about it happened as follows: A swarm left, and the queen from some cause was unable to cluster with it, and was found, after some trouble, in the grass a few rods off. She was put in the hive with the swarm about 11 o'clock, a.m.; the next morning, at sunrise, I found on the bottom-board, among the scales of wax, 118 eggs that had been discharged in that time. Probably a few escaped notice, as the color is the same as wax scales; also, they might already have had combs containing some. I have several times found a few the next morning, under swarms hived the day previous, but never over thirty, except in this one instance. The reason of this queen not being able to fly well might have been an unusual burden of eggs. Perhaps it would be as well to mention here, that in all cases where eggs are found in this way, that they must be first swarms which are accompanied by the old queens.