Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/120

116 it into the cells prepared for its reception. The quantity which each bee deposits at one time is very small, the honey-bag when full not exceeding the size of a pea; but the aggregate quantity collected by the whole population is prodigious. We have, in a fine summer day, repeatedly counted the bees of a hive as they return from the fields laden with sweets, and found the number to be between sixty and seventy in a minute. When the cell is full, it is carefully sealed with a waxen cover, and reserved for use in winter and spring, particularly in the latter season; for more honey is consumed in the months of March and April, when breeding goes on actively, than during the four preceding months. At the same time, many cells are left open and half-filled only, for daily consumption. It has been a subject of discussion among Naturalists, whether the honey, after being extracted from the flowers, undergoes any change in the stomach of the insect before being deposited in the cell. Feburier is of opinion that it is subjected to the digestive process. The celebrated John Hunter thought it remained pure, and in no respect whatever altered, however long it had been retained in the stomach of the bee; and he is followed in this conclusion by his countryman, Bonner. Kirby and Spence, entomologists of no mean fame, have adopted the opposite opinion; but it does not appear that they had been led to this conclusion by the result of any experiment instituted for the purpose of deciding the matter. Reaumur, however, tells us, that from his experiments, he was satisfied that a process of