American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-08-23
Agassiz on Honey Bees.

In a recent lecture Professor AgaSsiZ
said, in reference to honey-bees, that the
bee hive consists, when in full activity, of
one queen, several hundred drOnes and
many thousand working bees. These con-
stitute community by which a combin-
ed system of labor is carried on, tran
scending in many respects the most com
plicated action of man himself Their
structure shows no organ similar to those
by which the mental functions are mani
tested in the higher animals and in man.
They have no brain proper, nor does their
nervous system correspond in any way to
that of the vertebrates. In all vertebrates
the solid front mass of the nervous sys-
tenn which we call the brain is prolonged
backward into a long cord, known as the
spinal marrow, from which many nervous
threads arise and branch, spreading
through the whole organization. The
brain and the spinal cord, in fact the
whole central nervous system, are enclos-
ed in cavity, the skull and rachitic canal
separate from those in which the organs
of digestion, respiration, circulation and
reproduction are COMMUNICATIVE chest and
abdominal cavity. For the articulates, on
the contrary, to which all insects, or crus-
tacea and worms belong, the nervous sys-
tenn is scattered along the length of the
body in a succession of swelingS con-
nected together by threads. The first of
these swellings is situated in the head,
above the alimentary canal; the rest are
at regular distances along the lower side
of the body. Thus it appears that the bat
terry from which all volition starts, by
which all the acts of life are performed or
regulated, through which all external i'm
pressions are communicated 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 these acts by
which the quality we call instinct is
manifested in a community of bees. When
such a community becomes too pOpulOus
for a given hive the bees ''swarm," as it
is called; that is, part of the overcrowd-
ed population separates from the rest, and
goes off to establish a new colony. In
such "A case the emigrants are chosen or
form their own bands with direct refer
ence, seemingly, to the future welfare of
the new colony, preserving the numerical
proportions characteristic of all prosper
Gus hives. The swarm consists of one
queen, and some thousands of working
bees or undeveloped females, some hun
dreds of males or drones. This is the nor
NAL combination in the community, and
hives so organized may survive and keep
together for many years. There are re-
ports of hives century old. This is,
probably, an eXaggeration, for bee hives
twenty years old are rare, and they do not
often survive more than seven, eight or
perhaps ten years. When | speak of the
life ola bee hive do not mean to say that
the individuals composing it live together
for that length of time; indeed, queen
rarely lives beyond three or four years;
one of seven years is seldom SEEN while
the males never survive the summer in
which they are born, and the working
bees die gradually and are replaced by
new ones. But the hive as a community
holds together for IA longer period being
constantly renewed by the process of re
production, and comes at last like hui
man settlement, to consist of variety of
individuals born at different times.
When a swarm breaks off from an old
community to form Il new colony the di-
vision is generally due to the appearance
of "A new queen. The queen bee, usually
quite contcnted with her lot watching
over her progeny, active and patient in
the care of her eggs, becomes furious if a
rival arises in the hive. She pounces
upon her and they sometimes fight to
death. SO well is this understood in the
hive that the workers take care to prevent
such conflicts by holding back the new
queen just ready To be Matched from her
royal cell till the bees have swarmed. AT
such n time the workers will stand by the
cell out OF which queen is to he born
ascertain how far her transformation is
completed, and should there be DISPOSE
ton of the Young queen shortly to creep
out they increase the deposit of wax upon
the lid which shuts the cell thus prevent
ing the egrcss of the royal prisoner. II
she tries to break through or attempts 10
gnaw her way ont, the workers crowd
around the opening or accumulate such
an amount Of wax upon it as To Illustrate