- 



*'\ ' 



,- 



- (*;.* 





Two workers and a Drone of the domestic Bee, Apis mellifica, gathering 

 honey from the nectar-yielding Broom and Wild Thyme, with the Queen Bee 

 above and in the distance, as conductor of a swarm. 



BEES AS A BODY POLITIC. 



E must now treat of Bees as a body politic. 

 Insect societies, such as those of Bees, 

 Wasps, Ants, and White Ants or Termites, 

 are things sui generis, standing by them- 

 selves ; they present natural pictures to which, 

 throughout the animal kingdom, no pendants are to be found : 

 and it is this which makes them doubly interesting. 



A well-peopled hive consists of one queen, several hundred 

 males or drones, and many thousand workers, the latter of 

 which are all imperfect females, though bearing no resem- 



