THE BUSY BEE.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1
Sin,—Sir John Lubbock's researches into the qualities of the Busy Bee are conceived in a spirit which should render them very gratifying to bee-keepers, who will doubtless respond to his wish of discussing the habits of this wonderful insect, if the following circumstances do not tend to show that bees possess the power of communication, they are, at least, not a little striking. Being of opinion that Italian bees possess instincts and habits of a high order, I procured a hive of them, transmitted some 200 miles per railway, packed in a box like a bale of goods. On the first favourable day after arrival, they made themselves quite at home ; my apiary was situated in a Highland glen, within two and a half miles of which, but in a different district, was the village of —. On a fine day in autumn there was a fair in this village, and among others attending it was a vendor of "sweeties," who spread on his table some papers with barley-sugar. Some time after doing so, the vendor was astonished to see what be conceived to be a number of wasps on his barley-sugar. Italian bees are very beautiful in colour and shape, resembling wasps, but not having their venomous, waspish aspect ; and mine were the only Italians in the whole district. Seeing them rapidly increasing, and his sugar-barley in course of being demolished, he began squashing them with his bonnet on his table, which operation gathered a crowd, one of whom, a near neighbour of mine, interfered, exclaiming, "Stop, stop! those are not wasps at all, but Mr. C.'s Italian bees." " Bees I nonsense, pretty sort of bees !" said the vendor, pro-
ceeding with Isis massacre. But finding his " wasps " were increasing, notwithstanding his slaughter, he covered the table with a cloth, and within a few minutes not a bee was to he seen ; but whether they took to the hill-side, or paid a visit to the greengrocers' shops, is more than I can say. Here, I hold, was a double instance of evident communication under unfavour- able circumstances. At first, few in number, but they increased gradually, but rapidly, as the treasure was communicated at head- quarters (which could be done in about two minutes). Again, it is equally striking that whenever the cloth was spread on the table, and the sweets thereby not come-at-able, the circumstance would appear to have been communicated, for no more bees made their appearance, thus showing adouble instance of communication, which I am inclined to think is partly made known through the medium of sounds, every grade of bees, in a hive, using on occasions distinctly different sounds, from the despotic queen to the lazy, pretentious drone, who lives idly on sweets, not of his own gathering, but the fruit of the busy, hard industry of others. Yet, to see his fussy, noisy deportment, as he airs himself on a hot, sun-shiny day, a person might suppose him to be the most im- portant personage in the whole colony. If I am not mistaken, somewhat similar characters are to be met with in society.
I do not think bees can adapt themselves to conditions "external to their usual lines of experience," if those lines are organic and vital, as may have been the case with the bee referred to by Sir John in a box. A bee, on wing, is a child of light, and not of darkness, and is too sensible of its own powers, and the many risks to which it is exposed, to run the venture of "a leap in the dark," through a tube. But bees are capable of adapting themselves and being guided in minor matters " external " to their vital lines; thus the natural habitations of bees are holes in trees or in the earth, &c., but they will readily adapt themselves to any shape or any size of- hive man gives them, and they can be guided from such hives to enter into supers (but no "leaps in the dark "), whether above,
below, or collateral. By a little management, swarms can be guided to lodge on a certain bush in the garden, or they can be checked from following a certain course in the garden towards a- home which they had previously fixed on. Late swarms, in very sultry, hot weather, frequently cluster about hives, delaying swarm- ing sometimes for weeks ; but a simple aid to nature will cause them to adapt themselves to swarm the following morning if the day is. favourable, but if rainy or stormy, the art of man cannot com- pel them to swarm on a day on which they might perish—their doing so would be a violent infraction of nature—and they wilt not budge. Again, I unite the bees of different hives (which is quite external to their lines '), giving the bees of one hive (say, when deprived of its season's honey) to another requiring addi- tional population, or portion them among different hives. This " union " of different nations, under different sovereigns, is a delicate negotiation and operation, but easily accomplished by judicious management. All coercive, harsh measures, infringing on nature and prejudices of the races, must be scrupulously dis- carded, and only measures of conciliation and strict justice be acted on, and by a simple process they amalgamate and fraternise- within a few hours, much more cordially, peaceably, and successfully than the English do with the Irish, although they have been aiming ata " union "since the reign of Henry II. Another still more remark- able instance of adaptation to external condition is the fact of bees submitting themselves to a total change of dynasty, a revolution which unhappily necessitates the untoward event of the dethrone- ment of a princess, of ancient native lineage, of high rank, and of unlimited sway, and allowing a foreign princess, from the Liguirian Hills of the hot clime of Italy, to ascend the throne, who- rules with equitable and just sway, not displacing a single indivi- dual of the various classes within her dominions, yet within a few- months she effects a total change of races. Of course all this requires certain negotiations, which any expert bee-keeper cars easily put in execution. The above adaptations are all 'external to the lines of bees,' and it is the facility with which bees can- accommodate themselves for the benefit and pleasure, if not instruc- tion, of mankind, which gives them their high character.
It is not fair to expect impossibilities from bees, or that they will run counter to their nature, nor do I believe Sir John wilt condemn them for this fidelity. As to " G.'s" bees being " dumb- founded " in consequence of a removal of "thirty yards from their stand," it only goes to show their extraordinary sagacity. The first step taken by bees is to make a scientific and elaborate survey of their hive and position, and a removal of only thirty yards would unduly interfere with the lines which they lay down ; but let them be removed four miles, or beyond their usual feeding-grounds, and not a bee will miss its hive, though placed in the midst of twenty colonies. Bees will work with, but not counter to, their natural lines. But, it may be asked, what brought my beautiful Italians to the street of the village of —, and that on a fair-day ? Well, now, it must be admitted, bees have one flaw,—they appear to have a very muddled conception of the laws of meum and hum. Their motto is, "Gather, gather sweets," and in their keen, unceasing industry for this pursuit, they occasionally infringe on the moral law. In point of fact, the barley-sugar proved too great a temp- tation for the Italians, but in this respect they are like, and not inferior, to all other insects and animals, and even man on this head has comparatively not much to boast of. Notwithstanding this feature, bees are, as Sir John Lubbock truly says, "one of tl e most interesting and promising fields of research in the whole
domain of natural history."—I am, Sir, &c., C.
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