the life of bee 00maetiala

ON THE THRESHOLD OFTHE HIVE... The Life of the Bee> 5 ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE HIVE IT is not my intention to write a trea-tise on apiculture, or on practical bee-keeping.. con-On the Thr

The Life of the Bee

BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANYAll righti reserved

Published May,

UNIVERSITY PRESS JOHNWILSONAND SON CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.

IV THELIFE OFTHE BEE . .159

V THE YOUNG QUEENS 233

VI THE NUPTIALFLIGHT 295

VIII THEPROGRESS OF THE RACE . 363

423

ON THE THRESHOLD OF

THE HIVE

The Life of the Bee

> 5

ON THE THRESHOLD OF

THE HIVE

IT

is not my intention to write a

trea-tise on apiculture, or on practical

bee-keeping Excellent works of the

kind abound in all civilised countries,

and it were useless to attempt another.

Layens and Bonnier, Bertrand, Hamet, Weber, Clement, the Abbe Collin, etc.

Langs-troth, Bevan, Cook, Cheshire, Cowan,

Berlespoch, Pollmann, Vogel, and many

others

The of Bee

Nor is this book to be a scientific

monograph on Apis Mellifica, Ligustica,

Fasciata, Dorsata, etc.,or a collection of

new observations and studies I shall

say scarcelyanvthina <ihat|those will not

know who are somewhat familiar with

bees The notes and experiments I have

techni-cal work; for their interest is necessarily

of a special and limited nature, and I

am anxious not to over-burden thisessay Iwish to speak of the bees verysimply, as one speaks of a subject one

knows and loves to those who know

it not I do not intend to adorn the

truth,ormerit thejustreproach Reaumur

addressed to hispredecessors in the study

substituting for the marvellous reality

plausible The fact that the hive

con-On the Threshold ofthe Hive

tains so much that is wonderful does

more beautiful in this world, or more

interesting, than the truth; or at least

than the effort one is able to make

nothing,

therefore, that I have notverifiedmyself,

or that is not so fully accepted in thetext-books as to render further verifica-

tion superfluous. My facts shall be as

accurate as though they appeared in a

practical manual or scientificmonograph,

but I shall relate them in a somewhat

livelier fashion than such works would

allow, shall group them more

harmoni-ously together, and blend them with

freer and more mature reflections The

reader of this book will not learn

there-from howto manage a hive; but he will

know more or less all that can with any

The Bee

certainty be known of the curious,

inhabi-tants Nor will this be at the cost of

what still remains to be learned I shall

pass over in silence the hoary traditionsthat, in the country and many a book,

still constitute the legend of the hive

Whenever there be doubt,disagreement,

hypothesis,when I arrive attheunknown,

I shall declare it loyally; you will find

that we often shall halt before the

un-known Beyond the appreciable facts

of their life we know but little of the

bees And the closer our

acquaintance

existence; but such ignorance is better

than the other kind, which is

uncon-scious, and satisfied.

exist? I believe I have read almost all

that has been written on bees; but of

On the Threshold ofthe Hive

chapter at the end of his book "The

Insect," and Ludwig Biichner's essay in

Biich-ner's treatise is comprehensive enough,but contains so many hazardous state-

andhearsay, that I suspect him of never

forth himself to question his heroines,

or opened one of the many hundreds of

rustling, wing-lit hives which we must

to their secret, beforewecan perceive the

spirit and atmosphere, perfume and

mys-tery, of these virgin

The book smells not of the bee, or its

honey; and has the defects of many a

learned work, whose conclusions often

are preconceived, and whose scientific

The Life ofthe Bee

side Butin thisessay ofmine we rarely

shall meet each other; for our

starting-point, our aim, and our point of view

are all very different

The bibliography of the bee (we will

begin with the books so as to get rid

of them as soon as we can and go to

the source of the books) is

very

exten-sive From the beginning this strange

little creature, that lived in a society

prodigious labours in the darkness, tracted the notice of men. Aristotle,

at-Cato, Varro, Pliny, Columella, Palladius

all studied the bees; to say nothing of

Phyliscus, whose writings are lost. But

thesedealt rather with the legend of the

On the Threshold ofthe Hive

bee; and all that we can gather

book of Virgil's Georgics.

The real history of thebee begins in

discov-cries ofthegreat Dutchsavant dam. It is well, however, to add thisdetail, but little known: before Swam- merdam a Flemish naturalist named

Swammer-Clutius had arrived at certain important

truths, such asthe sole maternity of the

methods of scientific investigation; he

injec-tions toward off decay, was the first todissectthebees, and bythe discoveryof

the ovariesandthe oviductdefinitelyfixed

upon as a king, and threw the whole

The ofthe Bee

political scheme of the hive into most

mater-nity Finallyhe produced woodcuts and

serveto illustrate many books on

apicul-ture He lived in the turbulent, restless

Amsterdam of those days, regretting

" HetZoete Buiten Leve" TheSweet

Life of the Country and died,

beautiful,simple outburstsof a faith that,fearful of

fallingaway, ascribed all things

to the glory of the Creator; and

great work "Bybel der Natuure," which

the doctor Boerhave, a century later,

Naturae." (Leyden, 1737.)

Then came Reaumur, who, pursuing

made number

On the Threshold ofthe Hive

curious experiments andresearches in his

bees an entire volume of his "

Notes to

may read itwith profit to-day, and

with-out fatigue. It is clear, direct, and

sin-cere,and possessedofa certain hard, arid

charm ofits own He sought especiallythe destruction ofancient errors; he him-

selfwas responsibleforseveral newones;

he partiallyunderstood the formation of

swarms and the political establishment

many difficult truths,and paved theway

for the discovery of more He fullyappreciated the marvellous architecture

of the hive; and what he said on thesubjecthas never been better said It is

to him,too,thatwe owethe idea ofthe

glass hives, which, having since been

perfected, enable us to follow the entire

of these fierce whose

The Bee

receives its crown in the darkness To

also thesomewhat subsequent works and

investigations of Charles Bonnet and

Schirach (who solved the enigma of the

royal egg); but I will keep tothe broad

lines,and passat onceto Fra^ois Huber,

apiarian science.

Huber was born in Geneva in 1750,

and fell blind in his earliestyouth The

be-coming passionately absorbed in theseresearches, eventually, with the assist-

Fran9ois Burnens, devoted his entire life

of human suffering and human triumph

there is nothing more touching,no lesson

more admirable, than the story of this

On the Threshold of Hive

patient collaboration, wherein the onewho saw only with immaterial light

of the other who had the real earthlyvision; where he who, as weare assured,

notwith-standing the veil on his dead eyes that

this invisible comb; as though to teach

us that no condition in life canwarrant

thetruth I will notenumerate all thatapiarian science owes to Huber; to state

what it-does not owe were the briefertask His "New Observations on Bees,"

The Life ofthe Bee

unfailing, abundant treasure into which

every subsequentwriter has dipped And

though a few mistakes may be found

therein,a few incomplete truths; though

since histime considerable additions have

prac-tical culture of bees, the handling of

queens,etc., there is not a singleone of

his principal statements that has been

disproved, or discovered in error; and

in our actual experience they stand

foundation

[3]

Some years of silence followed theserevelations; but soon a German clergy-

parthenogene-sis, /' e. the virginal parturition ofqueens,

and contrived the first hivewith movable

On the Threshold ofthe Hive

his best colonies and in one instantannihilate the work of an entire year.

This hive, still very imperfect, receivedmasterly improvement at the hands of

frame

suc-cess Root, Quinby, Dadant, Cheshire,

etc., added still further and precious

that if bees were supplied with combs

that had an artificial waxen foundation,

they would be spared the labour of

fashioning the wax and constructing the

cells, which costs them much honey and

the bestpart oftheirtime; he foundthatthe bees

accepted these combs most

readily, and adapted them to their

requirements

invented the

The Bee

Extractor,which enables the honeyto be

few years, the methods of apiculture

underwent a radical

change The

capac-ity and fruitfulness of the hives were

trebled Great and productive apiaries

arose on every side An end was put

to the useless destruction of the most

industriouscities, and tothe odious

selec-tion of the least fit which was its result

Man truly became the master of the

bees,although furtively, and withouttheir

knowledge; directing all things withoutgiving an order, receiving obedience butnot recognition. For the destiny once

imposed bythe seasonshe has substituted

his will. He repairs the injustice oftheyear, unites hostile republics, and equal-

ises wealth He restricts or augments

the births,regulates the fecundity of the

On theThreshold ofthe Hive

in her place, after dexterously obtainingthe reluctant consent of a

would be maddened atthemere suspicion

he thinks fit, he will peacefully violatethe secretofthe sacred chambers, and theelaborate, tortuous policy of the palace.

Hewill fiveorsixtimes in succession privethe bees ofthe fruitof their labour,

be-coming discouraged oreven impoverished

He proportions the store-houses and

granaries oftheir dwellings tothe harvest

of flowers that the spring is spreadingover the dip of the hills. He compels

oflovers who awaitthe birth of the royal

princesses In aword he does with them whathewill, he obtainswhat he will, pro-

for beyond all the desires ofthis strange

The Bee

who istoo vast to be seen and too alien

than the eyes of the god himself; and

theirone thought is the accomplishment,with untiring sacrifice, of the mysterious

[4]

all that they had to teach us of a very

ancient history, leave the science others

have acquired and look at the bees withour own eyes. An hour spent in the

instruc-tive,perhaps; but the things weshall see

will be infinitely more stimulating and moreactual

I have notyet forgotten thefirstapiary

It was many years ago, in a large village

ofDutch Flanders, the sweetandpleasant

On the Threshold ofthe Hive

rivals that of Zealand even, the concave

spreads out before us, as so manypretty,

and clocks that gleam at the end of thepassage; her littletrees marshalled in line

benef-icentceremony; herboats and herbargeswith sculptured poops, her flower-like

andelaborate,many-coloured drawbridges;and her littlevarnished houses, bright as

new pottery, from which bell-shapeddames comeforth, all

a-glitterwith silver

and gold, tomilk the cowsin the

white-hedged fields, or spread the linen on

flowery lawns, cut into patterns of oval

and lozenge, and most astoundingly

green

The Life ofthe Bee

To this spot, where life would seem more restricted than elsewhere if it be

possible for life indeed to become stricted a sortof aged philosopher had

re-retired; an old man somewhat akin to

Virgil's

" Manequalto kings,and approachingthe gods;"

Here had he built his refuge, being a

little weary; not disgusted, for the largeaversions areunknown tothe sage; buta

little weary of interrogating men, whose

veritable laws are far less

those that are given by animals and

plants His happiness, likethe Scythianphilosopher's, lay all in the beauties of

most was the of

On the Threshold ofthe Hive

had painted a

bright pink, and some aclear yellow, but most of all a tender

John Lubbock'sdemonstrations, the bees'

These hives stood against the wall of

the house, in the angle formedby one of

those pleasant and graceful Dutch

bright

the open door on to the peaceful canal

And the water, burdened with these

led one's eyes to acalm horizon of mills

and ofmeadows.

new meaningtothe flowersandthesilence,

the balm of the air and the rays of thesun One seemed to have drawn very

nearto thefestival

spirit of nature Onewas content to rest at this radiant cross-

The Bee

road,where the aerial ways converge and

divide that the busy and tuneful bearers

musical voice of the garden, whose liest hours revealed their rejoicing soul

love-and sang of their gladness. One came

hither, to the school of the bees, to be

taught the preoccupations of all-powerfulnature, the harmonious concord of thethree kingdoms, the indefatigable organi-sation oflife,andthe lesson ofardentand

disinterested work; and another lesson

it were, with the fiery darts of their

somewhat vague savour of leisure, to

of those immaculate days that revolved

On the Threshold ofthe Hive

void ofmemory as the happiness

with-out alloy.

[5]

Inorderto follow, assimplyas possible,

willtake a hive that awakesin the spring

we shall meet, in their natural order, allthe great episodes, viz : the formation

and departureof the swarm, the

founda-tion of the new city, the birth, combat andnuptialflightoftheyoungqueens, the

returnofthe sleep ofwinter With each

of these episodes therewill go the sary explanations as to the laws, habits,peculiarities and events that produce and accompany it; so that, when arrived at

neces-the end of the bee's short year, which

The Life ofthe Bee

allthe mysteries of the palaceof honey

Before we open it,therefore, and throwageneral glance around,we only need say

that the hiveiscomposed ofa queen,the

mother of all her people; of thousands

and sterile females; and lastly of some

consort of the queen that the workers

will elect in the future, after the more or

mother

[6]

Thefirsttimethatwe open a hive there

comesoverusan emotionakin tothatwe might feel at

object, charged perhaps with dreadful

surprise,as a tomb A legend ofmenace and peril still clings to the bees There

is the distressful recollection of hersting,

On the Threshold ofthe Hive

one knows not wherewith to compareit;

the desertrushing overthewoundedlimb,

as though thesedaughters of thesun had

distilled a dazzling poison from theirfather's angry rays, in order more effec-tively to defend the treasure they gather

from his beneficent hours

Itistrue thatweresomeonewhoneither

knows norrespects the customsand

char-acter of the bee suddenly to fling open

the hive, it would turn at once into a

the slight amount of skill needed to

readily acquired Let but a little smoke

be deftly applied, much coolness and

gentleness be shown,and our well-armed

despoiled without dreaming of drawing

their sting. It is not the fact, as some

The Life ofthe Bee

have maintained, that the bees

recognise

their master; nor have they any fear of

man; but at the smell of the smoke, at

thelarge slowgestures that traverse their

dwellings without threateningthem, they

enemy against whom defence is

pos-sible, but that it is a forceor a naturalcatastrophe whereto they do well tosubmit

Instead ofvainly struggling, therefore,they do what they can to safeguard thefuture; and, obeying a foresight that for

once is in error, they fly to their reserves

order to

possess within themselves the

immedi-ately and no matter where, should theancient one be destroyed or they be

On the Threshold ofthe Hive

[7]

The first impression of the novice

before whom an observation-hive 1

is

opened will be one of some

glasscasecontained anunparalleled

activ-ity, an infinite number of wise laws,

and a startling amalgam of mystery, perience, genius, calculation, science, of

ex-various industries, of certitude and

pre-science, of intelligent habits and curious

feelings and virtues All that he sees is

1

By observation-hive is meant a hive of glass,

furnished with black curtains or shutters. The best kind have onlyone comb, thus permitting both faces

to be studied. These hivescanbe placedin a

draw-ing-room, library, etc., without inconvenience or ger. The bees that inhabit the one Ihave in my

dan-study in Paris are able even in the stony desert of that great city, to find the wherewithal to nourish them-selvesandto prosper.

The ofthe Bee

somewhat resembling roasted ries, or bunches of raisins piled against

coffee-ber-the glass. They look more dead than

alive; their movements are slow, herent, andincomprehensible. Can these

seen butamoment ago, unceasingly

flash-ingand sparkling, as they darted among

the pearls and the gold of a thousand

darkness, to be numbed, suffocated, so

closely are they huddled together; one

might fancy they were ailing captives,or

their radiant garden, and are now

com-pelled to return to the shameful squalor

of their poor overcrowded home.

It is with them as with all that is

one must learnhowto study them The

On theThreshold ofthe Hive

inhabitant of another planet who should

buildings, or waiting for one knows

miserable and inert It takes time to

distinguish the manifold activity

con-tained in this inertia

incessantly working, each at a different

trade Repose is unknown to any; and

such, for instance, as seem the most pid, as they hangin dead clusters against

tor-the glass, are intrusted with the most

they whosecrete and form the wax But

the details of this universal activity will

mo-The Life ofthe Bee

ment we need

only call attention to

the essential trait in the nature of the

greater extent than the ant, a creature

the hive,which is so densely packed thatshe has to force her way with blows of

enclose her,she departs from her proper

element She will dive for an instantinto flower-filled space, as the swimmer

will dive into the sea that is filled with

pearls, but under pain of death it

re-turn and breathe the crowd as the

swim-mer must return and breathe the air.

Isolate her, and however abundant the

food or favourable the temperature, she

will expire in a few days not of hunger