Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/337

 QUE

more, and this is at that time covered with a glutinous mat- ter, which fattens it to the place where it is laid : from this cell the female paffes to feveral others, where ihe depofits her eggs in the fame manner.

Some authors who have written of the polity of bees, have ■reprcfented the time of the female bee's laying her eggs as a feafon of leftivity and rejoicing in the hive ; but this does not at all appear to be the cafe, the few bees winch attend her on this occafion feera the only ones that know anything of the matter, and their behaviour favours more of homage and re- fpeft than of joy : they are continually ftroking and brufhing her clean with their legs and with their trunks, and offer her from their own mouths the fincft honey, when me has occa- fion for food". The reft are ail employed in their proper offi- ces and the work of the hive goes on as ufual ; and, indeed, it is well that it does fo, for this time of rejoicing would be of very bad confequence to the affairs of the hive, if carried on as fupnofjd, fince the female bee is thus employed, more or lefs during the whole fummer months.

Whui the female bee has kid fix or feven eggs, fhe always takes a time of refpite or repofe ; and during this time, the bees which form her levee are doubly bufy in their careffes, fame brufhing her head and breaft with their trunk, but 'eve- ral being always employed together to cleanfe the hinder ring- of the body, which have been fouled by being thruft into the cells. When this is done, fhe begins again ; but Mr. Reau- mur obferves, that he n>ver could fee a female lay more than ten or twelve eggs at one time : he fuppofes that his prefence difturbed the creature, and finally drove her into the inner parts of the' hive, where fhe might continue her works in cells' lefs expoflrd. It is not difficult to compute the number of eggs which the female lays every day, from the fwarm which is"ready to leave the hive at the end of May : this fwarm ufually amounts to at leaft twelve thoufand, and as the hive out of which thefe depart is not the lefs peopled by their lofs, it is evident that they were all the produce of the eggs de pofited by the female in the preceding months of April, with a part of March, and a few of the firft days of May. On' a moderate computation on thefe principles it will appear, that the female bee cannot lay lefs than two hundred eggs every day, for a long fpace of time together ; and this, tho' feem- Jngly a monftrous increafe, is yet much lefs than that of fome other of the winged infe£ts, in one of which, a two-winged fly, that author counted no lefs than twenty thoufand living worms, ail ready to be deposited by the parent, and to be- come flies of the fame kind.

It has been ftrongly objected aga'inft this fyflem, that tho' the female bee lays eggs, fhe is not the only one that lays j and many will not give up the opinion of the common bees alfo laying fome eggs tho' but a few in number ; obferving, that if each of thefe lay only four or five eggs, it would be enough to give birth to a whole fwarm, without fuppofing that this prodigious fcecuiidity belonged to the female bee alone: but this is running into the old error of the female producing only females like herfelf; whereas if we obferve the cells in which we fee the female depofit ber eggs, we fhall in the fequel find the common bees produced from thefe eggs, and iffu'mg out of thefe cells: this is a fufficient proof to any fair reafoner, fince it appears very plain, that if the female produces them, they do not produce one another. It is alfo evident, that not only thefe common, or working bees, but alfo the drones, or male bees, are produced from the eggs of this fame female j and there is this remarkable forecaft in the female, that fhe always depofits the eggs which are to give origin to thefe, in peculiar cells, proper for the reception of the worms which are to be hatched from them. It is to be obferved, in examin- ing a hive, that there are always fome combs, or fome parts at^leaft of combs, the cells of which are much larger than thofe of the other parts or combs : thefe large cells are de- fiined for the refidence of the larger worms, which are to pro- duce the drones or male bees It has been obferved as a mi- raculous fingularity by fome, that the female bee always knows before hand, whether the egg fhe is going to lay will produce a male or a common bee ; and that according to this know- ledge, fhe never depofits the eggs for a male in a fmaller cell, nor" that of a common bee in a large one ; but there is, in reality, lefs wonder in this than isfuppofed, for the eggs of which the drones are to be hatched are much larger while in the body of the female than thofe of which the common bees are to be produced, and the whole occafvon of this choice in regard to the placing of them is, that when the creature finds a large egg coming forth, fhe feeks one of the large cells to depofit it fn ; and when the common fmall eggs are coming, file contents herfelf with the common cells. It is very r.atural-to believe, that the female bee lays a third kind of eggs; and that befides producing many thoufand com- mon, or working bees, and many hundreds of the males or drones, fhe ought to lay one egg at leaft capable of producing a female like herfelf, which is to be the mother of a future progeny, and the queen of the prefent race ; fince without fuch a one for their leader, the young brood would never leave the hive in nature of a colony, and fettle themfelves elfewhcre. What we thus perceive ought to be the cafe, is alfo found in reality to be fo, and the female, befides the other kinds of

QUE

egg=> is found by a ftria obfervation to lay alfo e»gs of this kind. We might perhaps only expefl one female bee to be produced for each fwarm, but as nature has feemed every where prodfal in the manner of the increafe of her works, (a it is in this cafe alfo. What millions of feeds are produced on a common elm-tree, for one that ftrikes and fucceeds fo well as to grow up to be a tree? And of the number of youn» produced from the fpawn of a carp, how few live to the fize of a parent? Thus it alio is in regard to the female beesj nature, tho' it has allotted only one of this kind, as abfolutely necefTary to the new fwarm, yet has given abundance of chances for that one to fucceed, by the female's ufually laying at leaft ten eggs for the production of the female offspring, and often not lefs than twenty : there are, indeed, fome feafons When not one femjle is produced ; but in thefe feafons there is no fwarm going out from the old hive, the creatures being in^ formed by nature, that they have no bufinefs for combs arfd cells when they can have no offspring to rear in them. The working bees are not only very obedient to, and very careful of their quern, or female parent ; but they are alfo vpry folicitous about her progeny. This is very evident in the ftruflure of the cells, which they prepare for the reception of thofe eggs which are to be hatched into females, it has been before obferved, that they prepare larger cells for the e»gs which are to become drones, or fnale bees, than for thofe which are to produce workers like themfelves. The large cells deftined for the drones are, however, of the fame fhape and figure wilh the others, differing only in fize; but this is not the cafe with thofe deftined for the female offspring : thefe are not only very large, but very clumfdy contrived, for the fake of ftrength ; their fides being much thicker than thofe of the reft, and their figure oval. The bees are extremely fparing of their wax on ali other occafions, but for the conlrruaion of thefe royal cells, as they may not improperly be called, they are as remarkably profufe : one of the royal cells will weigh more than an hundred and fifty of the common kind. The bees are no more fparing of the room than of the mate- rials in the confirmation of thefe royal habitations : they are often placed near the center of a comb, and a vaft number of other cells are deftroyed for their bafe; often alfo they haiw down from the reft of the comb, in form of ftalaflite from the roofs of fubterraneous caverns.

A cell of this kind, when firft formed, reprcfents an acorn cup-; but it is foon lengthened beyond the poffibility of re- taining that figure, and it remains thus till the creature is hatched from the chryfalis or nymph ftate, and comes out of it - after which the bees, to lofe no room in the hive, form other common cells upon it, and the only remaining mark of the female cell, is the appearance of a knot in the place where it once flood.

The number of cells deftined to receive the eggs which are t« produce female bees are fo few, and they are commonly placed in fuch clofe parts of the hive, that there is no great probability of the feeing the female employed in laying her eggs in them : there is no reafon to doubt the facf, however* fince when we know that fhe lays eggs for the production of the male and the working bees, there is no wonder that fhe fhould alfo lay fome for the production of females like her- felf.

It might feem much harder to conceive how fo vaft a number of bees fhould be produced from this one, as we know are produced from her ; but when one of the females is opened, the vaft number of eggs difcovered in each of her ovaries makes the prodigious increafe no way wonderful. Swammerdam obferved, that the number of veficles in the ovary of the female bee, was aftonifhingly great; he eafily counted an hundred and fifty in each ovary, and could count about feventeen eggs in each veficle large enough to be diftincily vifible; each ovary contains, therefore, two thoufand five hundred and fifty eggs, and both ovaries five thoufand one hundred. When we find fo many eggs at once diftinguifh- able by their five, it will be eafy to conceive, according to the common courfe of nature in the propagation of infeefsj that there may be more than as many too fmall to be yet dif- tinguifhable; and at that rate, the number of twelve thou- fand bees, which is the quantity that compofes a moderate fwarm, is not wonderful for the product of the eggs of one female for one feafon. Reaumur's Hift. Inf. Vol. X. p. in — 126.

QUEI, in natural hiftory, a name given by the Chinefe to a peculiar earth found in many parts of the Eaft. It is of the nature of an indurated clay, and in fome decree approaches to the talo, as our fteatites and the gala&ites do. it is very white and abfterfive, ufed by the women of China to take off fpots from the fkin, and render it foft and fmooth, as the Italian ladies uk talc of Venice. They fometimes ufe the fine powder of this ftone dry, rubbing it on the hands and face after wafhing. Sometimes they mix it in pomatUip. Kircba-'s China Uluftrat.

QUEM redditum redJit, in law, an old writ which lay where a rent-charge, or other rent, which was not rent-fervice, was granted by fine holding of the grantor. If the tenant would not attorn, then the grantee might have had this writ. Terms of law.

QJJEMI,