BEE. 
323 
over the whole scale ; that part being lighter 
which is overlapped by the terminating scale 
above, and the uncovered part being darker: this 
light part does not terminate in a straight line, 
but in two curves, making a peak; all which gives 
the belly a lighter colour in the labouring bees: 
more especially when it is pulled out or elongated. 
The tongue of the female is considerably 
shorter than that of the labouring bee, more like 
that of the male: however, the tongues of the 
labourers are not in all of an equal length, but 
none have it so short as the queen. 
The size of the belly of the female of such 
animals varies a little, according to the condition 
they are in: but the belly of the male and the 
labourer has but little occasion to change its size, 
as they are at all times nearly in the same condi- 
tion with regard to fat, having always plenty of 
provision: but the true female varies very con- 
siderably; she is of a different size and shape in 
the summer to what she is in the winter; and in 
the winter she has what may be called her natural 
size and shape: she is, upon the whole, rather 
thicker than the labourer; and this thickness is 
also in the belly, which probably arises from the 
circumstance of the oviduct being in the winter 
pretty large, and the reservoir for semen full. The 
termination of the belly is rather more peaked 
than in the labourers, the last scale being rather 
■narrower from side to side, and coming more to a 
point at the anus. The scales at this season are 
more overlapped, which can only be known by 
