Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1838-10-11
From Sns;.h's Essay ON the Honey Bee.

From SnssIhS Essay on the H0ncy bee.
LONGEVITY OF BgEs.-The several MEM
bers Of a hive have different periods Of cx-
istence. The general law among insects is
that both male aud female shall perish soon
after sexual union; few days or weeks at
fnrtl,est. according to the time, probably.
that the female occupies in maturing and
depOsiting her eggs. By retarding sexual
union, the lives OF sumo insects may be very
much prolonged ;-even ephemera have
been kept alive by this means for seven or
eight days. Annual plants, il prevented
from seeding, may be rendered biennial
The ancients were very deficient IN knOwl-
edge upon this subject. Virgil fxes the
term Of bees existence, at seven years,
having copied probably from Aristotle !;
though Aristotle says that bees who live to
extreme old age, may reach to nine or ten
years. ColMmella and Pliny have been
supposed to regard their existence as extern
ding To ten years; though the language Of
the former applies to the existence Of the
community, aud not to individual bees |;
and provided the hive never changed, nor
the combs renewed, it is not likely that any
one family should have its existence pro-
longed beyond tina, period; as the accumu-
lation Of siIken pellieles with which the
breeding cells are successfully lined, would
render them unfit for use ina very few years.
In addition to the diminutinn Of the cells by
this succession Of siIken Innings, they are
also diminished further by the excrement
Of this larvae, which 10 never cleaned out,
but confined behind each lining; both to-
ee,her, therefore, soon render the cell unfit
for use as brood cells. Mr.. Hunter found
three Of these layers deposited in a single
season, and counted upwards in the cells Of
the old comb which, upon an average Of
three year, would correspond with the Pc
rod fixed by the sneients; though this OBJ
servati0n by no means proves that the hive
upon which it was made, or any other,
might not have had a much more protraeted
existence. Mr.. Espinasse tells Us that he
once took hive which had stood fourteen
years, having found it had become weak |;
it had, nevertheless, sent of a swarm the
year previous. There 10 an instance or
two ON record, Of one family having con-
,inucd in the same hive for thirty years.
One of these is mentioned by Reaumnr,
another by Mouffct. Thorley speaks Of "a
colony having occupied the same domicil
for one hundred and ten years. The spot
chosen was under the leads Of the study Of
Lodovicus Wives, in Oxford the original
swarm settled there in 1920, and kept pos
session till 1850. Query may not the
bees, when the combs become very old, and
the cells much diminished in size. remove
them and construct fresh ones2 To those
who may wish for their own satisfaction TO
examine the Innings Of a brood cell. ! would
observe, that Mr.. Hunters mode Of pro-
ceediDg was, to soak the cell in water, till
the Innings were swelled, when he had no
difficulty in separating and counting them /;
he found them separate most readily ut the
bottom, on account Of the inclosed excre-
ment.
To common observers Il might appear,
that the lives Of the bees were cosval witt,
the foundation Of the colony, presenting
upon all the young bees leaving the parent
stock in swarms. But have already sta
ted that all swarms consist Of mixture Of
young bees the difference between them
is very distinguisi,able those Of tbs pre-
sent year being brown, plump and clusl'cd
with white hair, whilst the old ones have
red hairs, notched aud ragged wings, and
are paler and more shruuk in their boz
dies. The cases which have related. and
others Of u similar kind. have led 20 the err
roneous opinions that bees are long lived
race. But this. as Dr.. Evans has observed.
IS just % wise as il a stranger, contempla-
ting arpopnlous city. and perfectly unac-
quainted with its inhabitants, should, on
paying ID second visit, many years after
wards, and finding it equally populous, i'm
agine that it was peopled by the same iH-
dividuals, not one Of whom might thea DO
alive. Such strangers are we to the hon
eyed hive !; where, however quickly its
generations may have passed away, the
sane face 10 presented to the behoider.
The usual term Of the males existence
! IS two or three mOnths emily say the