HUMBLE-BEES; HIVE-BEES. 171 



kinds of individuals, males, females, and neuters : of these 

 the females are the largest, and the neuters the smallest. 

 The females alone survive the winter ; and they employ the first 

 fine days in spring to commence their nests, which they very 

 quickly excavate, and supply with a mixture of honey and 

 pollen for the nourishment of the first brood. This consists 

 exclusively of workers or neuters ; which, after having undergone 

 their transformations, assist in the labours of the nest, both by 

 the construction of new cells, the collection of food, and the 

 rearing of the larvse. It is not until the autumn, that the males 

 and females are produced. The former proceed from eggs laid 

 by females, so much smaller than the rest, that they have been 

 mistaken for workers. At the commencement of winter, all but 

 the larger females die; these remain in a sort of chamber distinct 

 from the rest, rendered warm by a carpeting of moss and grass ; 

 but without, as it would appear, any supply of food. 



700. It is in the Hive-Bees, that the arts of construction, 

 and the union of individuals in societies, are exhibited in the 

 most remarkable manner. These societies contain but a single 

 perfect female, commonly termed the Queen, several hundred 

 males, which are known as Drones, and about twenty thousand 

 Workers or Neuters. It is by the latter that all the labours of the 

 hive, the construction of the combs, the collection of food, and the 

 nourishment of the larvae, are performed. The accompanying 

 figures exhibit the relative sizes and aspects of these three kinds. 

 The wax of which the comb is constructed, is secreted by the 



Fio. 391 QUEEN BEE. FIG. 392. DRONE BEE. Frc. 393. NEUTER BEE. 



insects themselves, in little scales, which work out between the 

 segments of the abdomen. These are taken up and kneaded by 

 the jaws, and applied in the proper place. The cells are for the 



