UEE. 
329 
tliis is not the case. They all have stings, which 
is another thing that makes them similar to the 
queen. From their being furnished with an in- 
strument of defence and offence, they are endowed 
with such powers of mind as to use it, their minds 
being extremely irritable j so much so, that they 
make an attack when not meddled with, simply 
upon suspicion, and when they do attack, they 
always sting; and yet, from the circumstance of 
their not being able to disengage the sting, one 
should suppose they would be more cautious in 
striking with it. When they attack one another, 
they seldom use it, only their pincers: yet 1 saw 
two bees engaged, and one stung the other in the 
mouth, or thereabouts, and the sting was drawn 
from the body to which it belonged, and the one 
who was stung ran very quickly about with it; 
but I could not catch that bee, to observe how 
the sting was situated. 
“ As they are the collectors of honey, much 
more than what is for their own use, either im- 
mediately, or in future, their tongue is propor- 
tionably fitted for that purpose : it is considerably 
longer than that of either the queen or the male, 
which fits them to take up the honey from the 
hollow parts of flowers, of considerable depth. 
The mechanism is very curious, as will be ex- 
plained further on. 
“ The number of labourers in a hi ve varies very 
considerably. 
, In one hive that I killed, there were - 3338 
In another - - - - - 4472 
