Amongst the early blossoming flowers most in request with the bees, and which therefore seem to be great favourites, we find the chickweed (Alsine media), the primrose, and the catkins of the sallow; and these in succession are followed by all the flowers of the spring, summer, and autumn. Their greatest favourites would appear to be the Amentaceæ, or catkin-bearing shrubs and trees, the willow, hazel, osier, etc., from the male flowers of which they obtain the pollen, and from the female the honey; all the Rosaceæ, especially the dog-rose, and Primulaceæ, the Orchideæ, Caryophyllaceæ, Polygoneæ, and the balsamic lilies; clover is very attractive to them, as are also tares; and the spots on those leaves of the bean which appear before the flower, and exude a sweet secretion; also the flowers of all the cabbage tribe. Beneath the shade of the lime, when in flower, may be heard above one intense hum of thrifty industry. The blossoms of all the fruit-trees and shrubs, standard or wall, and all aromatic plants are highly agreeable to them, such as lavender, lemon-thyme, mignonette, indeed all the resedas; also sage, borage, etc. etc.; but the especial favourites of particular genera and species I shall have occasion subsequently to notice in their series; but to mention separately all the flowers they frequent would be to compile almost a complete flora. Bees are also endowed with an instinct that teaches them to avoid certain plants that might be dangerous to them. Thus, they neither frequent the oleander (Nerium Oleander) nor the crown imperial (Fritillaria imperialis), and they also avoid the Ranunculaceæ, on account of some poisonous property; and although the Melianthus major drops with honey, it is not sought. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and may be attractive only to the bees indigenous to the country, which is also the case with other greenhouse plants equally rich in honey, but which not being natives, possibly from that cause the instincts of native insects have no affinity with them.
Bees may be further consorted with flowers by the analogy and parallelism of their stages of existence. Thus, the egg is the equivalent to the seed; the larva to the germination and growth; the pupa to the bud; and the imago to the flower. The flower dies as soon as the seed is fully formed, which is then disseminated by many wonderful contrivances to a propitious soil; and the wild bees die as soon as the store of eggs is as wonderfully deposited, according to their several instincts, in fitting receptacles, and provision furnished to sustain the development of the progeny. Thus, each secures perpetuity to its species, but individually ceases; whereas the unfecundated plant and the celibate insect may, severally, prolong for a short but indefinite period, a brief existence, to terminate in total extinction. Nature thus vindicates her rights, for nothing remains sterile with impunity.
CHAPTER II
GENERAL HISTORY OF BEES.
THE EGG.—THE LARVA.—THE PUPA.—THE IMAGO.
Although the preceding pages have been written upon the assumption that the reader knows what a bee is, now that we are gradually approaching the more special and technical portion of the subject it will be desirable to conform a little to the ordinary usages of scientific treatment.
The bees constitute a family of the order Hymenoptera, viz. insects ordinarily, but in the case of bees always, with four transparent wings, which are variously but partially traversed longitudinally and transversely with threads, called nervures, supposed to be tubular, the relative position of which, together with the areas they enclose, called cells, help to give characters to the genera.
Most of the Hymenoptera further possess some kind of an ovipositor,—of course restricted to the females,—varying considerably in the different families. This is sometimes external, but is often seated within the apex of the abdomen, whence it can be protruded for the purpose of depositing the egg in its right nidus. In our insect this organ is converted into a weapon of defence and offence, and forms a sting, supplied by glands with a very virulent poison, which the bee can inject into the wound it inflicts. It is not certain that this organ is used by the bee as an ovipositor, although it is evident it is its analogue. This brief description of the essential peculiarities of the family will, for the present, suffice. In the notice of the imago, I shall enlarge upon the general structure, and then particularize those portions of it which may facilitate further progress.
The Egg.—Although the egg of the parent is the source of the origin of the bee, we cannot abruptly commence from this point, for the preliminary labours of the mother are indispensable to the evolution of its offspring. This egg has to be placed in a suitable depository, together with the requisite food for the sustenance of the vermicule that will be disclosed from it.
Instinct instructs the parent where and how to form the nidus for its egg. These depositories differ considerably in the several genera, but, as a general rule, they are tubes burrowed by the mother either in earth, sand, decaying or soft wood, branches of plants having a pith, the halm of grain, cavities already existing in many substances, and even within the shells of dead snails. These perforations are sometimes simple, and sometimes they have divergent and ramifying channels. Sometimes they are carefully lined with a silky membrane secreted by the insect, and sometimes they are hung with a tapestry of pieces of leaves, cut methodically from plants, but some leave their walls entirely bare. All these particulars I shall have ample opportunity to note in the special descriptions of the genera. I merely indicate them to show how various are the receptacles for the offspring of our bees.