358 INSECTS. HYMEXOPTERA. 



The insects of this genus, at least the species which furnish honey and wax, have 

 been known from the most distant periods ; and although the name has since been ap- 

 plied to insects of the same order, either solitary or living in families, which collect the 

 pollen from flowers, it is now appropriated restrictively to the species which is rear- 

 ed as an object of rural economy. The appearance of the domestic bee is well known. 

 It is of an oblong form and pubescent, with a triangular head, nearly the breadth 

 of the thorax, bearing two filiform, geniculate, and short antennae, of from ten to 

 twelve joints. The eyes are large, oval, and entire, and there are three ocelli dispos- 

 ed in a triangular form on the vertex. The mouth is composed of a transverse la- 

 brum, two strong mandibles, two jaws, a long and slender lip, and four palpi, of 

 which the maxillary ones are very small, and the labial ones long. The lip is ter- 

 minated by a long tongue, or proboscis, striated transversely, hairy, with the extre- 

 mity truncated and slightly dilated. This tongue is inclosed in a scaly, semicylin- 

 drical sheath. The thorax is short, rounded, very obtuse behind ; and the abdo- 

 men, conical or truncated before, and rounded or convex above, is suspended at its 

 posterior extremity by a small filament or peduncle. The abdomen is composed of 

 from six to seven segments. The legs are less hairy than in the other congenerous in- 

 sects, and the first joint of the tarsi is large, flattened, in the form of a square pa- 

 lette, a little longer than broad. All the individuals have wings. The upper wings 

 have a narrow and elongated radial cell, and three cubital cells, of which the first 

 is square, the second triangular, receiving the first recurrent nerve, and the third 

 oblique, linear, receiving the second recurrent nerve. 



The societies of Bees include three kinds of individuals : the workers or neuters, 

 forming the greater portion of the population ; the males or drones in limited num. 

 bet ; and the females, of which there is generally but one in each hive, known by 

 the name of the Queen-lee. The workers and the females are armed with a sting ; 

 and M. Huber Junior has remarked a difference among the workers, the largest 

 being destined for out-door employment, and the smaller busying themselves in 

 cleaning the cells and feeding the larvae within. Of the number of bees in a hive, 

 from 15,000 to 30,000, the males or drones form a portion to the extent of 200 to 

 1000 or upwards, the queen or female bee one, and the others are neuters or wor- 

 kers. The males and females are only evolved for the reproduction of the species. 

 The female deposits a great number of ova each day in spring, the cells for which 

 are prepared by the workers ; and the deposition of ova ceases in autumn, because 

 then the pollen of flowers for the support of the larvae fails. The individuals first 

 produced are all workers ; about the end of two months the ova for the males are 

 laid, and afterwards those for the females, which are all deposited in correspond- 

 ing cells. The ova are of an oval elongated form, slightly bent, of a bluish white 

 colour, about a line long, and they are hatched in the course of three, four, five, 

 or six days, according to the temperature. The larvae produced from these ova are 

 in the form of a small wrinkled white worm, without feet ; and they are fed by the 

 workers, who visit each cell for this purpose with their appropriate food. The cells 

 not occupied by the larva; are filled with honey. The combs are placed parallel to 

 one another, and the cells of which they are composed are of a hexagonal form, con- 

 structed with much art and regularity. 



The number of bees in a hive soon increase so much that emigration is ne- 

 cessary, and swarms leave the parent hive to form another establishment. In these 

 cases the cultivator of bees has a new hive ready for the colony ; and many means 

 are used to direct the attention of the animals to their new dwelling. For the details 

 of their habits and management in these and other particulars, as well as much that 

 is interesting in the history of bees, the works of Huber and others may be consult- 

 ed. When deprived of a queen, another is soon produced by the workers rearing 

 one of their own larvae for this purpose, which, by a particular treatment, becomes 

 a female. This fact has lead to the opinion, that the neuters or workers are but im- 

 perfectly developed females. At a certain period of the year the males, having ful- 

 filled the purpose of their being, are put to death, along with all their pupae and 

 larvae. 



Bees are found in a natural state in the forests of Russia and in different parts of 

 Asia, occupying cavities in trees, &c. They have many enemies, such as among 

 the Mammalia, mice and rats ; among the birds the swallow and other insectivorous 

 birds ; and among the insect tribes wasps and ants. They are also subject to many 

 diseases. The duration of the life of bees is not known with certainty. Virgil and 



