How long our little active creatures repose before they take a second excursion I cannot precisely say. In a hive the greatest part of the inhabitants generally appear in repose, lying together, says Reaumur, but this probably for a short time. Huber tells us, that bees may always be observed in a hive with the head and thorax inserted into cells that contain eggs, and sometimes into empty ones: and that they remain in this situation fifteen or twenty minutes so motionless, that did not the dilatation of the segments of the abdomen prove the contrary, they might be mistaken for dead. He supposes their object is repose from their labours[240]. The queen, for this purpose, enters the large cells of the males, and continues in them without motion a very long time. Even then the workers form a circle round her, and brush the uncovered part of her abdomen. The drones while reposing do not enter the cells, but cluster in the combs, and sometimes remain without stirring a limb for eighteen or twenty hours[241].
Reaumur observes, that in a hive the population of which amounts to 18,000, the number that enter the hive in a minute is a hundred; which, allowing fourteen hours in the day for their labour, makes 84,000: thus every individual must make four excursions daily, and some five. In hives where the population was smaller, the numbers that entered were comparatively greater, so as to give six excursions or more to each bee[242]. But in this calculation Reaumur does not seem to take into the account those that are employed within the hive in building or feeding the young brood; which must render the excursions of each bee still more numerous. He proceeds further to ground upon this statement a calculation of the quantity of bee-bread that may be collected in one day by such a hive; and he found, supposing only half the number to collect it, that it would amount to more than a pound; so that in one season, one such hive might collect a hundred pounds[243]. What a wonderful idea does this give of the industry and activity of these little useful creatures! And what a lesson do they read to the members of societies that have both reason and religion to guide their exertions for the common good! Adorable is that Great Being who has gifted them with instincts, which render them as instructive to us, if we will condescend to listen to them, as they are profitable.
While I am upon this part of the story of bees, I cannot pass over the account Reaumur has given from Maillet of the transportation of hives in Egypt from one place to another, before alluded to[244], to enable them to make in greater abundance their collections of honey, &c. Towards the end of October, when the inundations of the Nile have ceased, and the husbandmen can sow their land, saintfoin is one of the first things that is sown; and as Upper Egypt is warmer than the Lower, the saintfoin gets there first into blossom. At this time, bee-hives are transported in boats from all parts of Egypt into the upper district, and are there heaped in pyramids upon the boats prepared to receive them; each being numbered by the individual to whom it belongs. In this station they remain some days; and when they are judged to have got in the harvest of honey and pollen that is to be collected there, they are removed two or three leagues lower down, where they remain the same time; and so they proceed till towards the middle of February, when having traversed Egypt, they arrive at the sea, from whence they are dispersed to their several owners.
John Hunter observes, that when the season for laying is over, that for collecting honey comes on (he means, probably, for making the principal collection of it); and that when the last pupa is disclosed, the cell it deserts, after being cleaned, is immediately filled with it; and as soon as full is covered with pure wax: but this only holds with respect to the cells containing honey for winter use, those destined to receive that which forms their food when bad weather prevents them from going out, being left open[245]. Sometimes, when the year is remarkably favourable for collecting honey, the bees will destroy many of the larvæ to make room for it; but they never meddle with the pupæ. When no more honey is to be collected, they remain quiet in the hive for the winter. Mr. Hunter found that a hive grew lighter in a cold than in a warm week; he found also, that in three months (from November 10th to February 9th) a single hive lost 72 oz. 1½ dram[246].
Water is a thing of the first necessity to these insects; but they are not very delicate as to its quality, but rather the reverse; often preferring what is stagnant and putrescent, to that of a running stream[247]. I have frequently observed them busy in corners moist with urine; perhaps this is for the sake of the saline particles to be there collected.
A new-born bee, as soon as it is able to use its wings, seems perfectly aware, without any previous instruction, what are to be its duties and employments for the rest of its life. It appears to know that it is born for society, and not for selfish pursuits; and therefore it invariably devotes itself and its labours to the benefit of the community to which it belongs. Walking upon the combs, it seeks for the door of the hive, that it may sally forth and be useful. Full of life and activity, it then takes its first flight; and, unconducted but by its instinct, visits like the rest the subjects of Flora, absorbs their nectar, covers itself with their ambrosial dust, which it kneads into a mass and packs upon its hind legs; and if need be, gathers propolis, and returns unembarrassed to its own hive[248].
Instances of the expedition with which our little favourites accomplish their various objects you have had several; but this is never more remarkable than when they settle in a new hive. At this time, in twenty-four hours they will sometimes construct a comb twenty inches long by seven or eight wide; and the hive will be half filled in five or six days; so that in the first fifteen days as much wax is made as in the whole year besides[249].
In treating of the various employments of the bees, I must not omit one of the greatest importance to them—the ventilation of their abode. When you consider the numbers contained in so confined a space; the high temperature to which its atmosphere is raised; and the small aperture at which the air principally enters, you will readily conceive how soon it must be rendered unfit for respiration, and be convinced that there must be some means of constantly renewing it. If you feel disposed to think that the ventilation takes place, as in our apartments, by natural means, resulting from the rarefaction of the air by the heat of the hive, and the consequent establishment of an interior and exterior current—a simple experiment will satisfy you that this cannot be. Take a vessel of the size of a bee-hive, with a similar or even somewhat larger aperture—introduce a lighted taper, and if the temperature be raised to more than 140°, it will go out in a short time. We must therefore admit, as Huber observes[250], that the bees possess the astonishing faculty of attracting the external air, and at the same time of expelling that which has become corrupted by their respiration.
What would you say, should I tell you that the bees upon this occasion have recourse to the same instrument which ladies use to cool themselves when an apartment is overheated? Yet it is strictly the case. By means of their marginal hooks, they unite each pair of wings into one plane slightly concave, thus acting upon the air by a surface nearly as large as possible, and forming for them a pair of very ample fans, which in their vibrations describe an arch of 90°. These vibrations are so rapid as to render the wings almost invisible. When they are engaged in ventilation, the bees by means of their feet and claws fix themselves as firmly as possible to the place they stand upon. The first pair of legs is stretched out before; the second extended to the right and left; whilst the third, placed very near each other, are perpendicular to the abdomen, so as to give that part considerable elevation.
Maraldi, and after him Reaumur, long ago noticed this action of the bees; but they attributed to it an effect the reverse of that which it really produces; the former imagining it to occasion directly the high temperature of the hive, and the latter indirectly[251]. It was reserved for Huber to discover the true cause of it; and from him the chief of what I have to say upon the subject will be derived[252].