HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 7 



or forty in number and never leaves them : they 

 cluster round her when she is still, and follow her 

 closely wherever she moves. 



Besides the three essential members of the bee 

 community, which I have just described, Huber 

 has called the attention of the Apiarian to a fourth 

 kind, which appear to be only casual inmates of 

 the hive, from which however they are soon ex- 

 pelled by the workers. He has called them black 

 bees, and says he first noticed them in two of his 

 hives, in the year 1809, and on several other oc- 

 casions from that time to the year 1813. They 

 present a perfect resemblance to the working bees, 

 excepting in their colour, which, in consequence of 

 their being less downy, appears darker. On dis- 

 section, their internal structure also appears to be 

 the same. Huber regards them as imperfect bees, 

 but leaves to future naturalists an inquiry into 

 their nature and origin. Messrs. Kirby and Spence 

 have thrown out a conjecture that these black bees 

 may be superannuated bees, that being no longer 

 capable of contributing towards the labours of the 

 community, are banished or destroyed by its 

 younger members. They found their conjecture 

 upon the usual effect of superannuation in rub- 

 bing off the hair of insects and thereby giving 

 them a darker hue. 



It is the office of the queen bee to lay eggs, 

 which she deposits in cells constructed for their 



