288 THE BEE. 



menced in all the hives much about the same time. It is 

 not, however, by a blind and indiscriminate instinct that 

 the workers are impelled thus to sacrifice the males ; for 

 if a hive be deprived of its queen, no such massacre takes 

 place in it, but the males are allowed to survive the winter. 



The bees are nearly alike in all parts of the world, yet 

 there are differences worthy our notice. In Guadaloupe, 

 the bee is less by one half than the European, and more 

 black and round. They have no sting, and make their 

 cells in hollow trees, where, if the hole they meet with is 

 too large, they form a sort of waxen house, of the shape of 

 a pear, and in this they lodge and store their honey, and 

 lay their eggs. They lay up their honey in waxen vessels 

 of the size of a pigeon's egg, of a black or deep violet co- 

 lor ; and these are so joined together, that there is no space 

 left between them. 



The honey never congeals, but is fluid, of the consistence 

 of oil, and the color of amber. Resembling these, there 

 are found little black bees, without a sting, in all the tropi- 

 cal climates ; and though these countries are replete with 

 bees, like our own, yet those form the most useful and la- 

 borious tribe in that part of the world. The honey they 

 produce is neither so unpalatable, nor so surfeiting as ours ; 

 and the wax is so soft, that it is only used for medicinal 

 purposes, it being never found hard enough to form into 

 candies, as in Europe. 



