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قراءة كتاب New observations on the natural history of bees
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Transcriber's note
The spelling in the original is sometimes idiosyncratic. It has not been changed, but a few obvious errors have been corrected. The corrections are listed at the end of this etext and marked with a mouse-hover.
The four figures appear in a single illustration in the original. In this etext they also appear close to the text that refers to them: Fig 1, Fig 2, Fig 3, Fig 4.
NEW OBSERVATIONS
ON THE
NATURAL HISTORY
OF
BEES,
BY
FRANCIS HUBER.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL.
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED FOR JOHN ANDERSON,
AND SOLD BY
LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME,
LONDON.
ALEX SMELLIE, Printer.
1806.
To
SIR JOSEPH BANKS, Bart.
KNIGHT OF THE MOST HONOURABLE ORDER
OF THE BATH, A PRIVY COUNCILLOR,
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL
SOCIETY OF LONDON,
&c. &c.
THIS TRANSLATION
IS INSCRIBED.
CONTENTS.
| LETTER 1.—On the impregnation of the queen bee | page 1 |
| LETTER 2.—Sequel of observations on the impregnation of the queen bee | 41 |
| LETTER 3.—The same subject continued; observations on retarding the fecundation of queens | 44 |
| LETTER 4.—On M. Schirach's discovery | 76 |
| LETTER 5.—Experiments proving that there are sometimes common bees which lay fertile eggs | 89 |
| LETTER 6.—On the combats of queens; the massacre of the males; and what succeeds in a hive where a stranger queen is substituted for the natural one | 108 |
| LETTER 7.—Sequel of observations on the reception of a stranger queen; M. de Reaumur's observations on the subject | 137 |
| LETTER 8.—Is the queen oviparous? What influence has the size of the cells where the eggs are deposited on the bees produced? Researches on the mode of spinning the coccoons | 145 |
| LETTER 9.—On the formation of swarms | 171 |
| LETTER 10.—The same subject continued | 201 |
| LETTER 11.—The same subject continued | 223 |
| LETTER 12.—Additional observations on queens that lay only the eggs of drones, and on those deprived of the antennæ | 237 |
| LETTER 13.—Economical considerations on bees | 253 |
| Appendix | 275 |
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
The facts contained in this volume are deeply interesting to the Naturalist. They not only elucidate the history of those industrious animals, whose nature is the peculiar subject of investigation, but they present some singular features in physiology which have hitherto been unknown.
The industry of bees has proved a fertile source of admiration in all countries and in every age; and mankind have endeavoured to render it subservient to their gratifications or emolument. Hence innumerable theories, experiments, and observations have ensued, and uncommon patience has been displayed in prosecuting the enquiry. But although many interesting peculiarities have been discovered, they are so much interwoven with errors, that no subject has given birth to more absurdities than investigations into the history of bees: and unfortunately those treatises which are most easily attained, and the most popular, only