Curiosities & wonders > New observations on the natural history of bees

ARCHITECTURE OF BEES.
353
Having taken a large bell-shaped glass
receiver, I glued thin wooden slips to the
March at certain intervals, because the glass
fiJitself was too smooth to admit of the bees
^supporting themselves on it. A swarm, con¬
sisting of some thousand workers, several
njmndred males, and a fertile queen, was in-
■troduced, and they soon ascended to the
<«top. Those first gaining the slips fixed
■themselves there by the fore feet: others
sjfscrambling up the sides, joined them, by
laholding their legs with their own, and they
Kthus formed a kind of chain, fastened by the
i|two ends to the upper parts of the receiver,
a and served as ladders or a bridge to the
I workers enlarging their number. The lat-
■ter were united in a cluster, hanging like an
r inverted pyramid from the top to the bot-
f tom of the hive.
The country then affording little honey,
we provided the bees with syrup of sugar,
t in order to hasten their labour. They
>; crowded to the edge of a manger contain-
II ing it, and naving satisfied themselves, re¬
turned to the group. We were now struck
a, with the absolute repose of this hive, con-
! trasted with the usual agitation of bees. All
I the external stratum of the cluster consti-