250 HUMBLE-BEES. 



though they do not burthen themselves with the task 

 of collecting provisions, they hear their part in secret- 

 ing wax. Like the hive-drones, they have no sting ; 

 but they are exempted from the severe fate of the 

 former, in escaping the cruel massacre to which those 

 are doomed. They are suffered to live, and enjoy 

 the natural term of their existence, which, however, 

 extends not beyond the end of Autumn. On the 

 first approach of cold weather, they exhibit evident 

 symptoms of decreasing activity. On alighting on 

 the flowers of any of the late blossoming plants, 

 as the sun-flower, thistle, &c. ; the intoxicating 

 juices concur with the diminished temperature in 

 rendering them utterly helpless, and incapable of 

 saving themselves from danger, and their languor 

 increases till the severity of the cold benumbs them 

 altogether, and life becomes extinct. The workers 

 are not all neuters. Many of them bred in spring, 

 copulate with the males in June, and lay eggs soon 

 after, but only those of males. These males fecundate 

 those females which are reared towards the end 

 of the season, but which do not begin to lay till the 

 following spring, when they each lay the foundation 

 of a new colony. At the approach of winter, that 

 is, the first winter of their existence, they, the females 

 viz. to the number of 30 or 40 together, make a 

 lodgement in or near the old nest, where they pass 

 the torpid season in safety and quiet, till the return 

 of spring awakes them to life and activity, and 

 natural instinct prompts them to disperse, and seek 

 each a dwelling of her own. The old mother, the 



