328 
BEE. 
kind; although it has been asserted there are two 
sizes of males, and that the small are preserved 
through the winter to impregnate the queen. 
“ Of the Labouring Bee. 
“ This class, for we cannot call it either sex, or 
species, is the largest in number of the whole 
community: there are thousands of them to one 
queen, and probably some hundreds to each male, 
as we shall see by and by. It is to be supposed 
they are the only bees which construct the whole 
hive, and that the queen has no other business 
but to^ lay the eggs : they are the only bees that 
bring in materials; the only ones we observe busy ' 
abroad; and, indeed, the idea of any other is ri- 
diculous, when we consider the disproportion in 
numbers, as well as the employment of the others, 
while the working bee has nothing to take off its 
attention to the business of the family. They are 
smaller than either the queen or the males: not 
all of equal size, although the difference is not 
very great. 
“ I'he queen and the working bees are so much 
alike, that the latter would seem to be females on 
a different scale: however, this difference is not 
so observable in the beginning of winter as in the 
spring, when the queen is full of eggs. They are 
all females in construction ; indeed, one might 
su])pose that they were only young queens, and 
that they became ([ueens after a certain age; but 
