The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1843-03-04
The Honey Bee and the Ant.

We have seen how wonderfully the
bee works according To rules discovered
br man, thousands OF Years after the ill.,
sect had been following them with per-
ttct accuracy; but the same little animal
appears to be acquainted with principles
OF which we are sui ignorant. We can,
by crossing, vary the forms Of cattle with
astonishing nicely, but we have no means
nF ali"rng tho n@turn nf nnv amirnal, nnes
born, by mpans of treatment and feeding;
this power i however, undeniably pos
.essed by the bees, for when the queen
bee is lost BY dearh or otherwise they
choose grub from amongst those which
are born for workers, make three cells
into one. and p aclng the grub there,
they build tube around it, and after
wards build another cell Of pyramidal
foIm, into which the grub grows; they
then feed it with peculiar food, Land tend it
With extreme care, and it becomes when
transformed from the worm to the fly,
not worker, but a queen-bee. These
singular insects resemble our own spe-
cies in one OF our worst propenslles-
The disposition to war; but their sover
eign is equally extraordinary, although of
a somewhat caprcious kind. In a few
hours after their queen is lost, the whole
hive is in state of utter confusion; a sim
gular humming is heard, and the bees are
seen moving all over the surface of the
combs with great rapidity; the news
spread quickly, and when the queen is
restored, quie. Immediately succeeds; but
if another queen is put upon them, they
instantly discover the trick, and surround
ing her, they either suffocale or slarve her
10 death. This happens if the false queen
is introduced within few hours after the
first is lost or removed, but if twenty
four hours have elapsed, they will re-
ceve any queen and obey her.
But the labors and policy of the ants
when closely examined, are still more
wonderful, perhaps, than those Of the
bees. Their nest is city consisting of
dwelling places, halls, streets, ard squares
into which the streets open; the food they
principally like, is tie honey which comes
from another insect found in their neigh
borhood, and which they. generally speak
ing, bring home from day to day as they
want it; late discoveries have shown that
they do not eat gram, but live almost en-
lirely on animal food and this honey.
Some kinds Of ants have the foresight to
bring home the insects on whose honey
they feed, and keep them in particular
cells, where they guard them to prevent
their escape, and feed them with proper
vegetable matter, which they do not eat
themselves; nay, they obtain the eggs of
lhese insects and superintend their hatch
ing, and then rear the young iusec, until
it becomes capable of supplying the de-
sired honey; sometimes removing them
TO the strongest parts Of their nest, where
there are cells apparently fortified for pro-
tecting them from invasion; and in these
cells the insects are kept, to supply the
wants of the ants which compose the
population of the city. And it is a most
singular circumstance in the economy of
nature, that the degree of cold at which
the ant become torpid, is also that at which
this insect falls into the same slate: this
being considerably below the freezing
point, they require food the greater part
Of the winter, and if the insects on which
they depend for food, WERE not kept alive