withdrawing the portions of comb which had been placed by us on the
board of the hive, we saw that the pollen had been sensibly diminished
in quantity. They were returned to the bees, to augment their provision
still further, for the purpose of extending the experiment. The royal,
as well as several common, cells were soon closed; and, on opening the
hive, all the worms were found to have prospered. Some still had their
food before them; the cells of others that had spun were shut with a
waxen covering.
"We witnessed these facts repeatedly, and always with equal interest.
They so decisively prove the regard of the bees towards the grubs which
they are intrusted with rearing, that we shall not seek for any other
explanation of their conduct. Another fact, no less extraordinary,
and much more difficult to be accounted for, was exhibited by bees
constrained to work in wax, several times successively, from the syrup
of sugar. Towards the close of the experiment they ceased to feed the
young, though in the beginning these had received the usual attention.
They even frequently dragged them from their cells, and carried them
out of the hive."[AE]
Mr. Wiston, of Germantown, in the United States, mentions a fact
conclusive on this subject. "I had," says he, "a late swarm last
summer, which, in consequence of the drought, filled only one box with
honey. As it was late in the season, and the food collected would not
enable the bees to subsist for the winter, I shut up the hive, and gave
them half-a-pint of honey every day. They immediately set to work,
filled the empty cells, and then constructed new cells enough to fill
another box, in which they deposited the remainder of the honey."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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