34 HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



every bee that contributes to the general store. Wax is 

 secreted, as occasion may require, from small sacs, situ- 

 ated between the segments of the body of the bee, on the 

 under side ; it is used for constructing the combs in which 

 the family provision of honey and the young brood are 

 deposited : the wax of commerce is produced by melting 

 down these combs. 



A bee-hive contains three kinds of individuals, a queen, 

 drones, and workers ; the queen is a female, and not only 

 the ruler, but, in great part, the mother of the community ; 

 the drones are males, and the workers are abortive females. 

 The sole office of the queen appears to be the laying of 

 eggs, and this occupies her almost incessantly, as a single 

 one only is deposited in each cell, thus causing her to be 

 in continual motion : she is slow and majestic in her move- 

 ments, and differs from the workers in being larger, having 

 a longer body, shorter wings, and a curved sting. The 

 queen is accompanied by a guard of twelve workers, an 

 office which is taken in turn, but never intermitted : in 

 whatever direction she wishes to travel, these guards clear 

 the way before her, always with the utmost courtesy turn- 

 ing their faces towards her, and when she rests from her 

 labours, approaching her with humility, licking her face, 

 mouth, and eyes, and fondling her with their antennae. 



The drones are all males ; they are less than the queen, 

 but larger than the workers ; they live on the honey of 

 flowers, but bring none home, and are wholly useless, ex- 

 cept as being the fathers of the future progeny ; when this 

 office is accomplished, they are destroyed by the workers. 

 A buzzing commences in the hive ; the drones and the 

 workers sally forth together, grapple each other in the air, 

 hug and scuffle for a minute, during which operation the 

 stings of the workers are plunged into the sides of the drones, 

 who, overpowered by the poison, almost instantly die. 



