Humanity to Honey-Bees: or, Practical Directions for the Management of Honey-Bees Upon an Improved and Humane Plan, by Which the Lives of Bees May Be Preserved, and Abundance of Honey of a Superior Quality May Be ObtainedNutt, Thomas
Science
Humanity to Honey-Bees: or, Practical Directions for the Management of Honey-Bees Upon an Improved and Humane Plan, by Which the Lives of Bees May Be Preserved, and Abundance of Honey of a Superior Quality May Be Obtained
in the cell; and on the seventh day it is sealed up. During which period
the embryo Queen undergoes various metamorphoses. On the fourteenth or
fifteenth day afterwards it comes forth a perfect Queen-Bee. Schirach has
discovered a method of multiplying Queen-Bees to almost any extent, and
consequently of making artificial stocks. This can only be successfully
accomplished when there are in a hive eggs, nymphs, and little maggots
two or three days out of the cell, that is, when there is in a hive
young brood in these three different stages of existence. When a Queen
dies and the Bees are left without the means of raising another, that
is--when there are no eggs nor young brood of a proper age in the hive,
the Bees cease working, consume the honey, fly about at random, and if
not supplied with another Queen, soon dwindle away; but if supplied
with a new Queen, they revive, and exercise their labour with new and
increased activity. The Queen is, as it were, the very soul of the hive.
It has been computed that the ovary of the Queen contains above 5000 eggs
at once, and that in the space of two months she may produce 10 or 12,000
Bees. I am inclined to think that this computation is too-limited: from
what I have witnessed in my observatory-hive this summer (1832), I am led
to conclude that a fertile Queen is capable of laying far more than the
beforementioned number of eggs in the space of two months.
The _working Bees_ are considerably smaller than either the drones or
the Queen. They, like the others, have four wings, which enable them to
fly with heavy loads. They have six legs, of which the two foremost are
the shortest, and with these they discharge themselves of their loads.
The two last or hindmost are the largest, and on the outside of the
middle joint of these is a cavity in which the Bees collect the materials
for wax, which materials they carry home to their hives; this hollow
is peculiar to the working Bee. Each foot terminates in two hooks. The
honey-bladder is of the size of a small pea, and very transparent. The
sting is horny and hollow, through which the poison is ejected. The wound
inflicted by it is mortal to many insects; and instances are not wanting
of horses and cows having been stung to death by Bees. When the sting is
left in the wound, and being barbed it commonly is left there, the Bee
that loses it dies in consequence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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