Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-06-11
Prof. AraSSIZ on Bees.


Prof Agassiz has been delivering very
| interesting course of lectures at the Museum
of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Mas
sachusetts, on different subjects connected
with animal life. From lecture on bees, as
reported in the New York Tribune, we take
the following:
The beehive consists, when in full activity.
of one queen, several hundred drones, aud
many thousand working bees. These consti-
tute community by which a combined sys-
TEN of labor is carried on transcending 10
many respects the most compl lcated actious
of IN IN himself Their structure shows no
organ similar to those by which the mental
| functions are manifested in the higher ami
mails and in man. They have no brain prop
err nor does their nervous system correspond
in any way to that of the vertebrates. In
all vertebrates the solid front mass of the
nervous system which we call the brain is
prolonged backward into long cord, known
as the spinal marrow, from which many ner-
vOus threads arise and branch, spreading
the whole organization. The brain and the
spinal cord, in fact the whole central nervous
system, are inclosed in a cavity, the skull
aud rachltic canal, separate from those IN
which the organs of digestion, respiration,
circulation end reproduction are contained
the chest and abdominal cavity. For the ar
tlculates, on the contrary, to which all in
sects, crustacea, and worms belong, the ner
vous system is scattered along the length of
the body in a succession OF swellings con-
nected together by threads. The first OF
| these sweilings is situated In the head, above
the allmentary caGal; the rest are at regular
distances along the lower side of the body.
fhus it appears that the battery from which
all volition starts, by which all the acts of
life are performed or regulated, through
which all external Impressions are communi-
Gated and acted upon, are very different in
these two types of the animal kingdom. 1t
is therefore hardly probable that the life
work done by these organs should be the
same.
Let US look at some of the acts by which
the quality we call instinct is manifested in
d community of bees. When such a com
munity becomes too populous for a given
hive, the bees swarm as it is called
that is, part of the overcrowded population
separates from the rest and goes off to es-
tablish a new colony. In such case the emf :
| grants are chosen or form their own band
with dnect reference, seemingly, to the tu-
turc welfare of the new colony, preserving
the numerical proportions characteristic OF
all prosperous hives The swarm consists oil
one queen, some thousands of working bees
or undeveloped females, some hundreds oil
males or drones. This is the normal combi-
nation in the bee community, and hives &C
prganIzed may survive and keep together fol
mlny years.
There are reports Of bee-hves a century
I'D This is, however, probably an exager-
alton for beehives twenty years old are rare
and they d, not often survive more thar
seven or eight or ten years. When ! speal
If the lie OF beehive, | do not mean TO say
that the individuals composing it live TO-
,ether for that length OF time; indeed,
queen rarely lives beyond three or four years
Ine of seven years seldom seen, while thu
miles never survive the summer in which
they are born, and are replaced by new ones
But the hive as community holds togethe
for much longer period, being CONSTANT.
renewed by the process OF reproduction, ant
comes at last like human settlement, t.
CONSIST of a variety of Individuals born a
! d lferent times.
When swarm breaks off from an oil
community to form new colony, the divi
: sion is generally due to the appearance OF
, pew queen. The queen bee, usually quit
contented with her lot, watching over he
\ progeny, dCbifc dUO pdLlCue III tuC SdiC VI hC
eggs, becomes furious if a rival arises in tn
= hive. She pOunces upon her, and they some
times fight to the death. So we'll is this IN
derstood in the hive that the workers tax
care to prevent such conflicts by holdin
. back the new queen. just ready to be hatche
= from her royal cell, till the bees have swarm
ed. At such a time the workers will stan
;. by the cell, out of which queen is to b
= born, ascertain how far her transformatio
!. completed, and should there be dlspos
y ton of the young queen shortly to creep gu
:, they increase the deposit of wax upon th
- lid which shuts the cell, thus preventing til
. egress of the royal prisoner. If she tries
- break through or attempts to guaw her wa
out, the workers crowd around the openin
OF accumulate such an amount of wax as
Illustrate all her efforts. When the old quee
. has peacefully departed, the new one is s,
:. free What makes this fact more extraord
= nary is that usually the workers have neve
u" seen the birth of a queen or perfect fema
= before; their hive has known but one queer
g and yet they anticipate and guard against a
;s the dangers likely to arise from secon
's Can it be that these creatures do the rig
y y thing at the right time consciously by meal
=, of any faculty similar to our reason?