68 THE FUNCTIONS OF BEES. 



Bees* and which he first observed in 1809, and on 

 several other occasions from that time to the year 

 1813. In every thing they bear a perfect resem- 

 blance to their fellow-workers,, except in colour, which 

 in them is a deep blaek. He describes them as per- 

 secuted by the other workers, and finally expelled 

 the hives, or destroyed. We have noticed them, 

 though rarely ; perhaps not more than one or two in 

 a season. The other Bees did not molest them, as 

 far as we observed, nor indeed seem in any way sen 

 sible of their presence. It is not improbable, as 

 Kirby and Spence conjecture, that they are merely 

 aged Bees, and that their deeper colour arises from 

 the hair or down, with which the young are so thickly 

 clothed, being worn off their bodies. 



In describing the functions of the Working Bee, 

 it would be improper to pass over unnoticed the fact, 

 hat it sometimes exercises the functions of a mother. 

 To account for this apparent anomaly, we must 

 remember that it has been ascertained by minutely 

 accurate dissection, that all the workers are females, 

 though of imperfect organization, a fact confirmed 

 by the very circumstance we are now discussing. 

 We must also keep in mind, that the larva of a Queen 

 is nourished with food of a different kind from that 

 of common Bees ; and this difference, in conjunction 

 with a more roomy cell, has, in the opinion of natu- 

 nalists, the effect of expanding the ovarium, and 

 qualifying her to become a mother. It is evident, 

 * Huber, 235. 



