A charlatan is an impostor who lives by the folly of those who are imposed upon.
[For the American Bee Journal.]
Comments on Querist No. 7.
On page 83, Vol. V., of your most valuable journal, Querist seems to be at variance with our position in an article on page 55, of the same volume, where we assumed, as we yet maintain, that “the first and highest law of nature in insects is self-preservation in caring for offspring, &c. The honey bee seems to be endowed with this instinct for the purpose of preserving the brood in the hive.” Querist asks—“Now, is this statement correct? If the preservation of offspring is the strongest instinct that governs the honey bee, then why does she remove unsealed larvæ from the cells, to make room for a rich honey harvest? Mr. Otis, of Wisconsin, claims that the strongest instinct of the working bee is the love of storing honey. So it seems the position assumed by Mr. Seay, is at variance with that of Mr. Otis, and one or the other must of necessity be wrong.”
As to being at variance with some eminent beeologist, we have not a doubt that it is so, but you know, Mr. Editor, great men will differ. I deny emphatically that the workers will destroy the unsealed larvæ for the purpose of storing honey. I have never seen any evidence of it among my bees, and should be pleased if some correspondent (if he thinks such is the case) would take the affirmative and give the evidence.
To satisfy himself, that the first and highest law of nature in the honey bee is self preservation and the perpetuation of the species, Querist need only have a fair open contest with a hive of bees. Why do they sting? For self-preservation and the defence or preservation of their colony (species). Injure a single bee in the hive, and the whole colony is instantly exasperated. Cause the honey to run out without injury to any of the bees, and the effect is somewhat different. Tear the comb containing sealed brood, and the bees are at once enraged. And for what purpose? For self-preservation as a colony, in caring for the offspring. Why do they gather honey? For self-preservation and perpetuation of the species.
Is there nothing in all this to demonstrate the fact that the first and highest law of nature in the honey bee is self-preservation and the perpetuation of the species?
If this principle did not pervade the universe, everything would be chaos and confusion. It enters into and becomes the fundamental principle upon which the human family, the animal creation, and the vegetable kingdom have their existence. What causes the mother to care for her infant? It can be nothing less than this. If Querist were hemmed in some corner by an assassin who sought to take his life, and he had power to save himself by killing his antagonist, would he not do it? What causes the animal to care for its young, as the cow for her calf, or the sow for her pigs, or the birds for their unfledged young? What causes the bee to sting when the hive is improperly treated, or the smallest pismire to bite when its tenement is disturbed? You may pass from the human family down through the entire animal creation to the smallest animalculæ, and this (as it were) immutable principle pervades the whole series. Every once living thing that has become extinct as a species upon this earth, failed from some unknown cause, to comply with this grand fundamental principle—self-preservation and perpetuation of species.