PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 393 



father. They are bred in cells as large as those of the common queens, 

 from which they differ only in size. Though they have ovaries, they 

 have never been observed to lay eggs.^ Having never seen one of these, 

 for they are of very rare occurrence, my description must be confined to 

 the common female, the genuine monarch of the hive.^ 



' Bonnet, x. P. Huber in Linn. Trans, vi. 283. Reaumur (v. 373.) ob.serves that some 

 queens are much larger than others; but he attributes this difference of their size to the 

 stale of the eggs in their body. 



* As every reader is not aware of the differences of form, tVc, that distinguish the 

 females, males, and workers from each oiher (I have seen the male mistaken for a distinct 

 species, and placed in a cabinet as Apis lagopnda L.), I shall here subjoin a description of 

 each. 



i. The body of the Femalu bee is considerably longer than that of either the drone or the 

 worker. The prevailing color in all three is the same, black or black-brown ; but with res- 

 pect to the female this does not appear to be invariably the case : for— not to insist upon 

 Virgil's royal bees glittering with ruddy or golden spots and scales, where allowance must 

 be made for poetic licence — ^Reaumur affirms, after describing some differences of color 

 in different individuals of this se.x, that a queen may always be distinguished, both from 

 the workers and males, by the color of her body.* If this observation be restricted to the 

 color of some parts of her body, it is correct ; but it will not apply to all generally (unless, 

 as I suspect may be the case, by the term body he means the abdomen), for, in all that I 

 have had an opportunity of exatnining, the prevailing color, as I have stated it, is the same. 



The head is not larger than that of the workers ; but the tongve is shorter and more slen- 

 der, with straighter mnxilI(B. The mandibles are forficaie, and do not jut out like theirs into 

 a prominent angle ; they are of the color of pitch with a red tinge, and terminate in two 

 teeth, the exterior being acute, and the interior blunt or truncated. The Jabrum or upper 

 lip is fulvous ; and the antenna are piceous. 



In the trunk, the tegulce or scales that defend the base of the wings are rufopiceous. The 

 roings reach only to the tip of the third abdominal segment. The tarsi and the apex of the 

 tibitznre rufo-fulvous. The yiosienor tibia are plane above, and covered with short adpressed 

 hairs, having neither the corbicula (or marginal fringe of hairs for carrying the masses of 

 pollen) nor the pecten ; and the posterior |;/«/«/« have neither the brush formed of hairs set 

 in striae, nor the auricle at the base. 



The abdomen is considerably longer than the head and trunk taken together, receding from 

 the trunk, elongato-conical, anil rather sharp at the anus. The dorsal segments are fulvous 

 at the tip ; covered with very short, pallid, and, in certain lights, shining adpressed hairs; 

 the first segment being very short, and covered with longer hairs. The ventral segments, 

 except the anal, which is black, are fulvescent or rufo-fulvous, and covered with soft longer 

 hairs. The vagina of the spicula (commonly called the sting) is curved. 



ii. The Male bee, or drone, is quite the reverse of his royal paramour ; his body being 

 thick, short, and clumsy, and very obtuse at each extremity.f It is covered also, as to the 

 head and trunk, with dense hairs. 



The head is depressed and orbicular. The tongue is shorter and more slender than that 

 of the female ; and ihe mandibles, though nearly of the same shape, are smaller. The eyes 

 are very large, meeting at the back part of the head. In the space between them are placed 

 the antenna and stemmata. The former consist of fourteen joints, including the radicle, the 

 fourth and fifth being very short, and not easily distinguished. 



The trunk is large. The wings are longer than the body. The legs are short and slender. 

 The posterior tibia are long, club-shaped, and covered with inconspicuous hairs. The pos- 

 terior plantcs are furnished underneath with thick-set scapula, which they use to brush their 

 bodies. 



The clam joints are fulvescent. 



The abdomen is cordate, very short, being scarcely so long as the head and trunk together, 

 consisting of seven segments, which are fulvous at their apex. The Hrst segment is longer 

 than any of the succeeding ones, and covered above with rather long hairs. The second 

 and third dorsal segments are apparently naked; but under a triple lens, in a certain light, 

 some adpressed hairs may be perceived ; — the remaining ones are hairy, the three last being 

 indexed. The ventral segments are very narrow, hairy, and fulvous. 



iii. The body of the Workers is oblong. 



* Reaumur, v. 375. 



t Virgil seems to have regarded the drone as one of the sorts of kings or leaders of the 

 bees, when he says, speaking of the latter, 



" Ille horridus alter 



Desidici, latamque trahens inglorius alvum." 



Georgic. iv. 1. 93. 



