98 WORKING BEES. 



The baby Bee, destined to become a Bee-labourer, finds 

 herself, on emerging from the egg, an inhabitant of one of 

 those common six-sided cells, which (as it would appear) is so 

 proportioned as in some measure to limit her growth, and thus 

 prevent her from attaining her full development. To this 

 outward restriction is superadded an inward check in the 

 quality of the food administered by her nurses. In lieu of the 

 royal jelly, that stimulating and nutritious extract prepared 

 only for the queen, her infancy is supported on the simple fare 

 of Bee-bread. Our worker comes forth, mature in all Apian 

 excellence, modest in habits, a nun among Insects, and a very 

 " sister of charity " among her fellows. 



Thus much for the queen and commonalty, the females of 

 the hive ; and now for the three or four hundred of the oppo- 

 site sex, who, as partakers of the royal favour, or as candidates 

 for the same, as well as for their worthless qualities, may fairly 

 be compared to the aristocracy of a state, where birth, not 

 worth, makes the man. We need not describe the Drone, 

 whether of a biped or of a Bee community, since the one is a 

 pattern of, and lends name to, the other. The chief difference 

 between them is this, that biped Drones are to be seen every 

 day of the year, while Bee-drones are to be only seen, because 

 they are only allowed to exist, during those days of summer 

 which intervene betwixt April and August. And truly, living, 

 as they do, to eat, a quarter's span of luxurious existence, at 

 the expense of those who only eat to live, is a tolerably fair 

 proportion. Such at least would seem to be the opinion of the 

 workers of the hive ; for the queen, having meanwhile chosen 

 a royal partner, or partners, from among them, the whole 

 three or four hundred fall by a general massacre, towards the 

 end of July or early in August. 



Have those by whom Bee economy has been held up for 

 human imitation ever thought about the awful consequences 

 which would be involved in even a partial copy of the above 

 severely wholesome policy ? 



