hive. The search is, in general, continued for about a fortnight previous to their removal.
Mr: Knight has observed, that in this case also colonies will some- times unite; for he has seen, in two instances, a swarm received into a cavity, of which another swarm had previous possession, without Opposition. He infers, therefore, that some preceding intercourse must have taken place between the two swarms, although anything like an agreement between them be scarcely consistent with the limits generally supposed to be set to the instinctive powers of the brute creation.
When a young swarm issues from the parent hive, they generally soon settle on some neighbouring bush or tree, wholly unprotected from rain or cold; and their object apparently is merely to collect their numbers previous to removal to the place they have fixed upon for their future residence. Their readiness to accept a hive as a substitute, may appear to militate against any supposed predetermination; but Mr. Knight is disposed to consider this as an hereditary habit produced by domestication, and confirmed in the breed by the uniform practice of many succeeding generations as a secondary instinct. Accordingly, the original native propensity to migrate, remains more strong in some families of bees than in others.
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Similar hereditary propensities are observable in the offspring of many other domesticated animals. In the dog, more especially, appear the passions and propensities of its parent. A young spaniel, brought up with terriers, showed no marks of emotion at the smell of a polecat, which instantly irritated the young terriers; but it pursued a woodcock with clamour and exultation at first sight; and the young pointer stands trembling with anxiety, with his eyes fixed and his muscles rigid, the very first time that he is conducted into the midst of a covey of partridges.
These peculiarities of character can be considered as nothing but hereditary propensities or acquired instincts; and are modifications, capable of endless variation, in adapting animals to different countries and different states of domestication.
Mr. Knight’s further observations relate to the bee-bread and the bees’ wax. Respecting the former, he agrees fully with Mr. Hunter, that the substance generally collected on the thighs of bees is the farina of plants for feeding their young; but he observes that they occasionally carry other substances, and for other purposes, in the same manner. With regard to the wax, he is not of Mr. Hunter’s opinion, that it is a secretion exuding from between the scales of the abdomen, but thinks that it is of vegetable origin, collected by the bees, and deposited between the scales for facility of conveyance, and for giving the requisite temperature for being moulded into combs.
