176 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



and her employment begins. In an instant she unfolds 

 her tongue, which before was rolled up under her head. 

 With what rapidity does she dart this organ between 

 the petals and the stamina ! At one time she extends it 

 to its full length, then she contracts it; she moves it 

 about in all directions, so that it may be applied both 

 to the concave and convex surface of a petal, and wipe 

 them both ; and thus by a virtuous theft robs it of all its 

 nectar. All the while this is going on, she keeps her- 

 self in a constant vibratory motion. The object of the 

 industrious animal is not, like the more selfish butterfly, 

 to appropriate this treasure to herself. It goes into the 

 honey-bag as into a laboratory, where it is transformed 

 into pure honey ; and when she returns to the hive, she 

 regurgitates it in this form into one of the cells appro- 

 priated to that purpose ; in order that, after tribute is 

 paid from it to the queen, it may constitute a supply of 

 food for the rest of the community. 



In collecting honey, bees do not solely confine them- 

 selves to flowers, they will sometimes very greedily ab- 

 sorb the sweet juices of fruits : this I have frequently 

 observed with respect to the raspberries in my garden, 

 and have noticed it, as you may recollect, in a former 

 letter '. They will also eat sugar, and produce wax 

 from it ; but from Huber's observations, it appears not 

 calculated to supply the place of honey in the jelly with 

 which the larvae are fed ^. Though the great mass of 

 the food of bees is collected from flowers, they do not 

 wholly confine themselves to a vegetable diet; for, be- 

 sides the honeyed secretion of the Aphides, the posses- 



• Vol.. I. 19G. " Iluber, ii. 82. 



