42 ON THE ANATOMY OF 



of the sting, Paley* ingeniously remarks : <f The 

 action of the sting affords an example of the .union 

 of chemistry and mechanism ; of chemistry, in re- 

 spect to the venom which in so small a quantity can 

 produce such powerful effects : of mechanism, as 

 the sting is not a simple, but a compound instru- 

 ment. The machinery would have been compara- 

 tively useless telum imbelle had it not been for 

 the chemical process, by which, in the insect's body, 

 honey is converted into poison ; and on the other 

 hand, the poison would have been ineffectual with- 

 out an instrument to wound, and a syringe to inject 

 the fluid." 



Having noticed these particulars in the anatomi- 

 cal structure of the working-bee, as the general re- 

 presentative of the species, we shall next point out 

 in what it differs from the conformation of the queen, 

 and the male or drone. The queen is frequently 

 styled by the Continental Naturalists the Mother-Bee, 

 and with great propriety; as it seems now ascer- 

 tained that her distinguishing qualities have a closer 

 reference to the properties of a parent, than to the 

 province of a sovereign. Her body differs from that of 

 the worker, (PI. 1, fig. 2,) in being considerably larger, 

 and of a deeper black in the upper parts, while the 

 under surface and the limbs are of a rich tawny 

 colour. Her proboscis is more slender ; her legs are 

 longer than those of the worker, but without the 

 hairy brushes at the joints ; and as she is exempted 



* Natural Theology, page 234. 



