BEES. 83 



die a violent death ! Their way of living 

 is also peculiar to themselves : for except- 

 ing the moments they are employed in 

 paying their court to their sovereign mis- 

 tress, they are quite idle, enjoying a most 

 luxurious table ; eating only the finest 

 honey ; whereas the common people live in 

 a great measure on the wax. These rise 

 early, go abroad, and do not think of return- 

 ing home till they are loaded with wax or 

 honey, for the good of the community. The 

 drones, on the contrary, do not stir abroad till 

 the hour of eleven, when they take the air, 

 and amuse themselves till near six in the 

 evening. They have no stings, nor those 

 long elastic teeth with which the other Bees 

 work up the honey; nor have they those 

 kind of hollows, which serve them for baskets 

 to bring it to their respective habitations. 



The commonalty have an infinite number 

 of surprising particularities, a few of which 

 are, that their head seems to be triangular, 

 and the point of the triangle is formed by 

 the meeting of two long elastic teeth, which 

 are concave on the inside. In the second and 

 third pair of their legs, is a part called the 

 brush, of a square figure, with its outward 



