Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/769

BEE. this position, the wax appears to be formed, in small scales, which they afterwards take in their months and curiously work up with a se- cretion from the mouth itself, passing the wax, in the form of a minuti- riband, throu^ih the mouth, first in one direction and then in the 0]>])<)site one, and finally depositing it in its proper place for the foundation of the comb. The bees which elaborate and deposit the wax do not. however, always construct the cells, others aiding in this, partly by a process of excavation in the wax deposited. It is supposed, by many naturalists, that some of the working bees are exclusively wax- workers, some nurses, etc. ; but others think that there is only one class of working bees, all ready for any kind of work according to circumstances.

But wax, although the chief, is not the only material of the combs. Propolis (q.v. ) is also employed in small bands to give greater strength to the cells, the mouths of which are surrounded with it, and made thicker than their walls. This substance, which is obtained by bees from the viscid buds of trees, is also employed for more firmly attaching the combs to the hive, for clos- ing up apertures in the hive, for covering up obnoxious substances, which are too large to be removed, and for a variety of similar purposes. The Orii/iii and Hearing of Queens. — Queen bees are hatched and reared in cells different from the rest. They are, indeed, very different, being vertical and not horizontal in their position — not hexagonal, but rather oval in form — and much larger than the other cells, even in propor- tion to the size of the animal that is to inhabit them ; they are generally placed on the edge of a comb, and when the.y have served their purpose, are partially removed, so that during winter they resemble acorn-cups in appearance.

Two queens cannot long exist in the same com- munity. There is implanted in them a deadly rivalry; and the mother-bee. if permitted, would even tear open every queen-cell of which the imnate has nearly approached maturity, and iu- flict death by her sting; but workers throng around the queen, hem her in, and prevent the e.xecution of her purpose. The cell of the young queen is also carefully guarded, and she is not permitted to leave it. At such times peculiar sounds, produced probably by the action of the wings, are emitted both by the actual queen under restraint in her movements, and by the yoinig one in the cell, which may be heard by an car applied to the outside of the hive, and are familiar to bee-keepers as one of the surest signs of swarming.

Swarming.—The queen now becomes restless; her agitation communicates itself to those around her, and extends through the hive : the ordinary work of the community is in great part neglected: fewer bees than usual are seen to leave or return to the hive; and at last the queen bee rushes forth, preceded and followed by crowds which press and throng upon each other, form a buzzing cloud in the air, and very generally settle upon a bush in the neighborhood, where they soon congregate closely together, hanging by their claws in a dense cluster. Some- times they rise up in the air, and fly off at once to a considerable distance, apparently to some previously selected place in the hollow of a tree — in the ehimney or roof of a house, where they happen to find an aperture — or in some such situation. !More frequently, they settle not far from the hive which they have left, often on some very humble plant, or even on the grass, and soon rise again. It is the care of the keejjer to prevent this by providing them imme- diately with a suitable habitation in a new hive, invitingly placed above them, or into which he puts the swarm after they have congregated closely together as above described. It some- times happens that bees hurry out of their hive without their queen, in which case they do not in general congregate so closely together where they settle, and soon return to the hive again. Swarming generally takes place on a fine day; and when the bees seem on the very jjoint of coming out, a cloud passing over the sun is enough to retard it. Bad weather occasionally not only retards but prevents it, the young queens being at last killed in their cells. A week after the first swarm of the season has left the hive with the old queen, as is usually if not al- ways the case, the first young queen emerges ; and if the bee community is a large and prosperous one, other young queens also come forth from their cells, and leave the hive with successive swanns. the number of which depends upon the climate, the season, etc. In England, it is not uncommon for a beehive to send off three swarms in a summer, the first being almost always the largest, and not unfrequentl}' itself sending off a swarm before the season is over. If a large production of honey is desired, it is cus- tomary for bee-keepers to prevent more than one swarm coming from each hive during a single season. This swarming of the bees is, of course, made necessary by the over-population of the hive, and is Nature's method of providing for the increase and proper dissemination of the species, by the establishment of new colonies. That the swarms should, in a wild state, seek new homes at a considerable distance is necessary, because only thus could the bee communities become suf- ficiently scattered to enable all to find sufficient flowers to furnish food.

Bees left without a queen, and with no means of supplying the want, appear to feel themselves cut off from the very purpose of their existence;

HOKEYCOMB.

Showing two great queeii-eells, and worker-cells containing an egg, larvie and pupiP in various stages.

the labors of the community are slackened, and its members soon dwindle away. It has already, however, been stated that bees left with-