130 



INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



distingnishccl British naturalists, have contributed much that 

 is valuable; yet the subject is still unexhausted.* 



The accompanying figures (112, 113) exhibit the difference, 

 in regard to size and figui-e, of the dr-ones and -nrorkers. The 



Fig. 112 Drone Bee. 



Fig. 113.— WoRKEK Bee. 



one female, to which we give the name of queen, had always 

 a male epithet applied to her by the ancients; so also, in 

 Shakspeare's splendid description of the economy of a hive : — 



-" So -work the honey Bees; 



Creatures that, by a rule in nature, teach 



The art of order to a peopled kingdom. 



They have a king, and officers of sorts; 



AVhere some, like magistrates, correct at home; 



Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad; 



Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings. 



Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds; 



Which pillage they with merry march bring home 



To the tent-royal of their emperor : 



Who, busied in his majesty, surveys 



The singing masons building roofs of gold; 



The civil citizens kneading up the honey; 



The poor mechanic porters crowding in 



Their heavy burdens at his ruirrow gate; 



The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum, 



Delivering o'er to executor's pale 



The lazy yawning drone." — Henry V. Act i. scene 2. 



On the workers the business devolves of collecting honey 

 and pollen, constnicting cells, tending the young, and per- 

 forming all the multiplicity of duties which the common welfare 

 demands. The drones or males take no part in the labours or 

 the hive; and when, by the fertilization of the queen, the 



* Mr. Westwood (page 278) estimates the number in a populous hive 

 at 2,000 males, 50,000 workers, and one queen. Some writers state 

 30,000 as the probable population. Perhaps the difference that exists iu 

 the same hive, at diiFcrent periods, may account for the discrepancy. 



