34G 



THE BEE. 



never found to fail. In the proper time a number of 

 young queens is produced. The supernutiieraries are des- 

 troyed ; atid at length only one survives to govern the 

 hive. Thus wonderfully does nature provide for the 

 preservation of the species — the life of thousands of these 

 insects depending on that of a queen. In order to 

 guard against the possibility of extermination, she has 

 taught the bee the miracle of converting the whole of 

 the instincts and organization of one kind into those of 

 another, by the simple means of providing a different and 

 a more pungent kind of food for the subject of its mar- 

 vellous experiment. There seems, however, to be a 

 natural provision for this cliange ; for it is found that all 

 the workers are imperfect females, whose organs are not 

 developed ; the food simply furthers this development. 

 But whether we look to the design or the means used, or 

 the circumstances under which it is affected, it is one of 

 the most striking facts in the whole rancre of natural 

 history. 



CONSTRUCTIOiV OF CELLS. 



The skill in architecture which these little insects 

 display, even surpasses what would be anticipated from 

 previous manifestation of sagacity. One would suppose 

 that their native instinct would guide them to a uniform 

 mode of constructing their cells. But they are not thus 

 restricted. Governed by circumstances, they appear to 

 take into consideration the form and size of the hive and 

 to arrange and construct their cells in a manner most 

 suitable to the existino; case. Indeed no man in the 

 plan of his own commodious house, can give more deci- 

 sive evidence of study and design than is exhibited in 

 the interior arrangements of the dwellings of the bees. 

 Their little city is laid out into numerous convenient 

 streets and lanes, and their blocks of buildings are never 

 permitted to project into the high-way, or to run in zig- 

 zag lines, obstructing the throngs of laborers who are 

 continually passing and repassing in the performance of 

 their appropriate duties. What is called the honeycomb, 

 is composed of two layers of six sided cells, united by 



