OF NATURAL HISTORY. 34'S 



cell tlian It is fucceeded by another bee, which performs 

 the fame office, and in this manner the work is fucceflively 

 carried on till the cell is completely poliihed. 



The cells of bees are deligned for different pnrpofes. 

 Some of them are employed for the accumulation and prc- 

 fervation of honey. In others, the female depofits her eggs, 

 and from thefe eggs worms are hatched, which remain in 

 the cells till their final transformation into flies. The drones 

 or males are larger than the common or working bees ; and 

 the queen, or mother of the hive, is much larger than either. 

 A cell deftined for the lodgment of a male or female worm 

 mud, therefore, be confiderably larger than the cells of the 

 fmaller working bees. The number of cells dePdned for the 

 reception of the working bees far exceeds thofe in which the 

 males are lodged. The honey-cells are always made deeper 

 and more capacious than the others. When the honey col- 

 lected is fo abundant that the veiTels cannot contain it, the 

 bees lengthen, and of courfe deepen the honey-cells. 



Their mode of working, and the difpolitlon and dhiuon 

 of their labour, when put into an empty hive, do much hon- 

 our to the fagacity of bees. They immediately begin to lay 

 the foundations of their combs, which they execute with 

 furpriUng quicknefs and alacrity. Soon after they begin to 

 conftrucft one comb, they divide into tv/o or three companies, 

 each of which, in different parts of the hive, is occupied 

 with the fame operations. By this divilion of labour, a 

 greater number of bees have an opportunity of being employ- 

 ed at the fame time, and, confequently, the common work is 

 looner finlflied. The combs are generally arranged in a dl- 

 recLion parallel to each other. An interval or ftreet between 

 the combs is always left, that the bees may have a free paf- 

 fage, and an eafy communication with the different combs 

 in the hive. Thefe flreets are juft wide enough to allow 

 two bees to pafs one another. Befide thefe parallel flreets, 



