Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Athens-BOI

487
BEE
Tempera- temperature is remarkably exemplified in bees, among
ture of the vvhich, in consequence of their collecting together in large
numbers, the heat is not readily dissipated, and admits
also of being easily ascertained by the thermometer.
Hunter found it to vary from 73° to 84° Fahr. ; and Huber
observed it on some occasions to rise suddenly' from about
92° to above 104a
Sensitive The physiology of the external senses in a class of
powers. animals of a nature so remote from our own species must
necessarily be very imperfectly understood by us. The
infinite diversity of character presented by the different
tribes of insects, as well as of other animals, naturally sug¬
gests the idea that external objects produce on their sentient
organs impressions widely different from those which they
communicate to ourselves. The notions we form of their
senses must not only be liable to great inaccuracy, but may
often be totally inadequate representations of the truth.
A finer organisation and more subtile perceptions would
alone suffice to extend the sphere of their ordinary senses
to an inconceivable degree, as the telescope and the micro¬
scope have with us extended the powers of vision. But
they possess in all probability other organs appropriated to
unknown kinds of impressions, which must open to them
avenues to knowledge of various kinds to which we must
ever remain total strangers. Art has supplied us with
many elaborate modes of bringing within our cognizance
some of the properties of matter which nature has not
immediately furnished us with the means of detecting.
But who will compare our thermometers, spectroscopes, or
hygrometers, however elaborately constructed, with those
refined instriiments with which the lower orders of animals,
and particularly insects, are so liberally provided 1
Functions The antennae, which are so universally met with in this
of the cias3 0f animals, are doubtless organs of the greatest
antennae, importance in conveying impressions from without. Their
continual motion, the constant use which is made of them
in examining objects, the total derangement in the instincts
of those insects which have been deprived of them, point
them out as exquisite organs of sense. To impressions of
touch arising from the immediate contact of bodies they
are highly sensitive, but their motions evidently show that
they are affected by objects at some distance. They are,
no doubt, alive to all the tremulous movement of the sur¬
rounding air, and probably communicate perceptions of
some of its other qualities. Composed of a great number
of articulations, they are exceedingly flexible, and can
readily embrace the outline of any body that the bee wishes
to examine, however small its diameter. Newport, in a
paper published in the Transactions of the Entomological
Society, says he is convinced from experiments that the
antennae are auditory organs ; and that however varied may
be their structure, they are appropriated to the perception
and transmission of sound. The majority of modern
physiologists and entomologists coincide in this view, and
the weight of authority in favour of it is certainly very great,
comprising as it does Sulzer, Scarpa, Schneider, Borkhausen,
Bonsdorf, Cams, Straus-Durckheim, Oken, Burmeister,Kirby
and Spence, Lespfes, and Hicks. Nevertheless, other eminent
entomologists, as, for instance, Lyonet, Ktlster, Kobineau-
Desvoidy, Vogt, and Erichson, regard these organs as the
seat of smell The question may be considered as yet
undetermined, and it is possible that they are the organs of
some sense of which we know nothing, and which we con¬
sequently cannot describe. It is by these instruments
that the bee is enabled to execute so many works in the
interior of the hive, from which the light must be totally
excluded. Aided by them it builds its combs, pours honey
into its magazines, feeds the larvae, and ministers to every
want which it appears to discover and judge of solely by
the sense of touch. The antennae appear also to be the
principal means employed for mutual communication of
impressions. The different modes of contact constitute a
kind of language which seems to be susceptible of a great
variety of modifications, capable of supplying every sort of
information for which they have occasion.
The sense residing in the antennae appears to be on many Yisicn.
occasions supplementary to that of vision, which in bees, as
in other insects, is less perfect than in the larger animals.
During the night, therefore, they are chiefly guided in
their movements by the former of these senses. In full
daylight, however, they appear to enjoy the sense of vision
in great perfection. A bee alights unerringly on the flowers
in search of nectar or pollen, and as truly at its own hive’s
entrance on its arrival there. When returning from the
fields to its hive it seems to ascertain the proper direc¬
tion by rising with a circular flight into the air • it then
darts forward with unfailing precision, passing through the
air in a straight line with extreme rapidity, and never
failing to alight at the entrance of its own hive, though
whether its course be determined by vision alone we are
unable to say.
Their perceptions of heat and cold are extremely delicate. Percep-
The influence of the sun’s rays excites them to vigorous ti0113
action. Great cold will reduce them to a state of torpor, *®™1>era"
and inferior degrees of cold are unpleasant to them ; a
temperature of 40° Fahr. will so benumb a bee as to de¬
prive it of the power of flight, and it will soon perish
unless restored to a warmer atmosphere. When, however,
bees are in the usual winter’s cluster in the hive, they will
bear a very great degree of cold without injury. In America
hives often stand where the external temperature is as
lowr as 20° below zero, and from the condensed vapour
within the hive, the bees may be found in a solid lump of
ice, and yet, with returning spring, they awake to life and
activity. The degree of cold which bees can endure has
not been ascertained, though it is no doubt considerable.
They survive the winter in many cold parts of Russia, in
hollow trees, without any attention being paid to them ;
and their hives are frequently made of the bark of trees,
which does not afford a very complete protection from the
effects of frost. Many bees which are thought to die of
cold in winter die in reality of famine or damp. A rainy
summer and cold autumn often prevent their laying
in a sufficient store of provisions; and the hives should,
therefore, be carefully examined in the after-part of the
season, and the amount of food ascertained. Mr White
judiciously observes, that bees which stand on the north
side of a building whose height intercepts the sun’s
beams all the winter will waste less of their provisions
than others which stand in the sun; for, coming forth
seldom, they eat little, and yet are as forward in the
spring to work and swarm as those which had twice as
much honey left with them the preceding autumn. They
show by their conduct that they are sensible of changes
in the state of the weather for some time before we can
perceive such alterations. Sometimes when working with
great assiduity they will suddenly desist from their labours,
none will stir out of the hive, while all the workers that
are abroad hurry home in crowds, and press forward so as
to obstruct the entrance of the hive. Often, when they
are thus warned of the approach of bad weather, we can
distinguish no alteration in the state of the atmosphere.
Gathering clouds sometimes produce this effect on them ;
but perhaps they possess some species of hygrometrical
sense unconnected with any impression of vision. Huber
supposes that it is the rapid diminution of light that
alarms them, for if the sky be uniformly overcast they
proceed on their excursions, and even the first drops of a
shower do not make them return with any great precipi¬
tancy.