head of a swarm, till she have finished her laying of male eggs; but this is of importance, not merely that she may be lighter and fitter for flight, but that she may be ready to begin with the laying of workers' eggs in her new habitation, workers being the bees first needed in order to secure the continuance and prosperity of the newly-founded commonwealth.

3dly," After the old queen has conducted the first swarm from the hive, the remaining bees take particular care of the royal cells, and prevent the young queens, successively hatched, from leaving them, unless at an interval of several days between each." Under this head he introduces a number of general remarks, some of which may prove useful. "A swarm," he observes," is never seen, unless in a fine day, or, to speak more correctly, at a time of the day when the sun shines, and the air is calm. Sometimes we have observed all the precursors of swarming, disorder and agitation; but a cloud passed before the sun, and tranquillity was restored; the bees thought no more of swarming. An hour afterwards, the sun having again appeared, the tumult was renewed; it rapidly augmented; and the swarm departed." A certain degree of tumult commences as soon as the young queens are hatched, and begin to traverse the hive: the agitation soon pervades the whole bees; and such a ferment then rages, that M. Huber has often observed the thermometer in the hive to rise suddenly from about 92° to above 104°: this suffocating heat he considers as one of the means em. ployed by nature for urging the bees to go off in swarms. In warm weather, one strong hive has been known to send off four swarms in eighteen days.

4thly, "The young queens conducting swarms from their native hive are still in a virgin state." The day after being settled in their new abode, they generally set out in quest of the males, and this is usually the fifth day of their existence as queens. Old queens conducting the first swarms, require no renewal of their intercourse with the male, a single interview being sufficient to fecundate all the eggs that a queen will lay for at least two years. This is considered by Mr. Bonner as quite an incredible circumstance; insomuch that he remarks, either in a sarcastic or in a very innocent style, that if a queen-bee "should continue for seven or eight months with about 12,000 impregnated eggs in her ovarium, it certainly would make her appear very large!" The worthy bee-master seems to have

fancied that an egg could not be fecundated till it were of the full size, and ready for exclusion. It is a fact, however, ascertained beyond controversy by M. Hubert, that "a single copulation is suf ficient to impregnate the whole of the eggs that a queen will lay in the course of at least two years. I have even reason to think," he adds, "that a single copulation will impregnate all the eggs that she will lay during her whole life; but I want absolute proof for more than two years."

On the wonderful instinct of bees M. Huber is duly cautious. He resolves all into what Shakespeare calls a "ruling nature;" and disapproves both of Reaumur for ascribing wisdom and foresight to them, and of Buffon for considering them as mere automata.

The instinct of such queens as lay only the eggs of drones, or whose fecundation has been retarded, seems to be impaired: they shew no antipathy to royal cells, but pass quietly over them without indicating any emotion, while other queens exhibit the greatest enmity against those of their own sex that are in the nymphine state. Swammerdam had asserted, that if the wings of queens be cut, they are rendered sterile. This appeared rather strange and improbable. M. Huber accordingly found, that the cutting of the wings of impregnated queens produced no effect on them; and he concludes, certainly with great probability, that Swammerdam had cut the wings of virgin queens, who had not therefore been able to seek the males in the air, and so remained barren. The amputation of one antenna, M. Huber found, had no bad effect on a queen; but when deprived of both, she was much deranged: she dropped her eggs at random; and when the bees fed her, she often missed her aim in attempting to catch hold of the morsel they presented to her. M. Huber placed two queens deprived of the antennas in the same hive: the loss of their feelers seemed to have put an end to their natural animosity; they passed and repassed each other without taking the least notice. Both of them constantly endeavoured to leave the hive. M. Huber declares, that he cannot say whether the antennas be the organ of touch or of smeli; but he suggests that they may probably fulfil both functions at once. It seems fully as possible that they are the instruments of a peculiar sense, of the nature of which we have no conception, and for which, consequently, we have no namie.

ployed with advantage by practical men. It is well calculated, for example, for producing artificial swarms, on the principle of Schirach's discovery. "In the leaf-hive," says he, "we can see whe ther the population be sufficient to admit of division,-if the brood be of proper age,if males exist, or be ready to be produced for impregnating the young queen." By means of it, also, bees may be induced to work much more in wax than they would naturally do. "Here," continues M. Huber, "I am led to what I believe is a new observation. While naturalists have directed our admiration to the parallel position of the combs, they have overlooked an. other trait in the industry of bees, namely, the equal distance uniformly between them. On measuring the interval separating the combs, it will generally be found about four lines. Were they too distant, it is very evident the bees would be much dispersed, and unable to communicate their heat reciprocally; whence the brood would not be exposed to sufficient warmth. Were the combs too close, on the contrary, the bees could not freely traverse the intervals, and the work of the hive would suffer*." This instinct being admitted, it is evident that bees may be induced to construct new combs, by merely separating those already built so far asunder that they may have room to build others in the interval.

The cause of the bees, which has been so eloquently and pathetically pleaded by the Poet of the Seasons, is supported by M. Hu. ber on a principle more intelligible perhaps, and more persuasive, to most country bee-masters, viz, interest. He deprecates the destruction of bees, and recommends to the cultivator to be content with a reasonable share of the wealth of the hive; arguing very justly, we believe, that a little taken from each of a number of hives, is ultimately much more profitable than a greater quantity obtained by the total destruction of a few.

[Phil. Trans. J. Hunter. Shaw. Bonner. Huber. Pantologia. Edin. Rev.

Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles, par Francois Huber.--Manuelpratique de la Culture des Abeilles.-Histoire Naturelle de la Reine des Abeilles. New Plan for speedily increasing the number of Bees, &c. by James Boaner. Edinburgh Review. No. xxii. p. 319.

SECTION XIV.

Common Ant.

Formica nigra.-LINN.

It is to the minute and indefatigable attention of the younger Huber (son of the preceding) that we know any thing of the actual history of this curious and extraordinary insect. We shall extract his history, as we meet with it in an abridged form in the article Zoology, of the Pantologia.

observations.

The industry and activity of ants had attracted much notice from the ancients; but in the mixture of truth and fable which compose the accounts of Pliny, and of Aristotle, we find the errors greatly preponderating; and even the writings of moderd naturalists contain a multitude of vague assertions, unsupported by By some their sagacity has been greatly exagge rated, and by others as unwarrantably depreciated. Leuwen. hoek rectified many of the errors, and was the first who accurately distinguished the larves from the eggs. Swammerdam followed them, with still greater minuteness, in all their transformations; and Linnæus made us acquainted with several curious particulars respecting these insects in the state of fly, which we shall afterwards have occasion to notice. The labours of Geoffroy, De Geer, Bonnett and Latreille, have added numerous facts on the economy of ants, but still left many important questions undecided, to which the more successful efforts of M. Huber have now given a satisfactory solution. In his account of the external characters of the species, which forms the introduction to his work, he avails himself principally of the descriptions and method of Latreille. He agrees with him in ascribing to them a tongue, an organ which Fabricius had supposed them not possessed of. This tongue is spoonshaped; and by means of it, the insect, according to M. Huber, is enabled to lap up fluids with the greatest facility. He has discovered no less than twenty-three species indigenous in Switzerland; but the particulars he has given us relate to a few of these only.

Ants present us with many striking analogies with bees; as in them, we may in each species distinguish three modifications of sex, namely, the males, the females, and the neuters or labourers; the latter being with respect to sex, in the same condition as the

working bees; that is, they are females in whom the generative organs are not developed, and who of course are barren. In each hive of bees, however, there is but one queen; whereas a great number of queens, or female ants, are met with, living in the ut most harmony in the same nest. It appears, that any of the larves of the labouring class of bees may be raised to the rank of queen ; that is, may acquire a development of organs by a particular mode of feeding. Whether the same circumstance obtains, with respect to the female ant, has not yet been ascertained, and is a question which Mr. Huber's future researches will probably enable him to determine. The various toils which contribute to the welfare of the republic are confided, in both communities, to the labourers, who act as the architects of the city, as the soldiers of the garrison, and as the nurses and guardians of the rising generation; while the other classes have no other duties to perform than those of furnish. ing recruits to the colony.

The different species of ants, like the nations of our own species, are distinguished from each other by great diversities of manners. This is strikingly shown in the variety of modes in which they con. struct their habitations. Some employ merely earth as the material; some collect for the same purpose fragments of leaves, of bark, or of straw; others use nothing but finely pulverised portions of decayed wood. The solid substance of trees is excavated by another species into numerous apartments, having regular commu. nications with one another. Various other modifications may be observed in the architecture of the different species. The most perfect specimens of workmanship are generally exhibited by the smaller ants. The brown ant (fourmi brune) is particularly remarkable among the masonic tribes. Their nests are formed of parallel or concentric stories, each four or five lines in height; the partitions being about half a line in thickness, and built of such fine material that the interior appears perfectly smooth. On examining each of these stories, we discover chambers of different sizes, having long galleries of communication. The ceilings of the larger spaces are supported by small pillars, sometimes by slender walls, and in other cases by arches. Some cells have but a single entrance; others have passages, which open from the story underneath. In other parts, still larger central spaces, or halls, are met with, in which a great number of passages terminate, like the