THE BEE. 339 



do no work. 3. The common working bees, which are 

 supposed to be of no sex. These three classes are so 

 ditterent from each other that they are very easily distin- 

 guished. I'here is but one queen bee in each swarm 

 and she is the prolific mother of many thousands. She is 

 larger in every respect than the common working bee, 

 and longer, though not so large in the trunk as the male. 

 The queen bee is distinguished from the working bee 

 simply by the size. There is a little difference in color 

 but this is so small that it is not easily distinguished. 

 The belly of the queen bee is of a lighter color than 

 that of the working bee, but that is a part of the body 

 which is not often exposed. When a hive is killed, by 

 spreading the bees upon white paper, the queen by her 

 size and color may be easily found. The queen has a 

 sting similar to the working bee. The male bee is larg- 

 er than the laborers, and is considerably thicker than the 

 queen. His proboscis appears not to be formed for col- 

 lecting honey for it is much shorter than that of the work- 

 ing bee. He is never found abroad on flowers, and is not 

 provided with a sting. There are but few males in the 

 hive, some state the number to be four or five hundred ; 

 others suppose it to be much less. 



The class of laboring bees, is the largest in number, 

 there being in a common hive seven or eight thousand. 

 Their organization demands a more minute description. 



'In examiningthe structureof the common working bee, 

 the first remarkable part that offers is the trunk, which serves 

 to extract the honey from flowers. It is not formed like 

 that of other flies, in the manner of a tube, by which the 

 fluid is to be sucked up, but like a brush broom to sweep, 

 or a tongue to lick it away. The animal is furnished 

 also with teeth which serve it in making wax. This sub- 

 stance is gathered from flowers. Like honey it consists 

 of that dust, or farina, which contributes to the fecunda- 

 tion of plants, and is moulded into wax by the little ani- 

 mal at leisure. Every bee when it leaves the hive to 

 collect this precious store, enters into the cup of the flow- 

 er, particularly such as seem charged with the greatest 

 quantities of this yellow farina. As the animal's body is 

 covered over with hj^ir, it rolls itself within the flower, and 



4348 



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