56 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



so entirely with eggs that some of the cells contained 

 three or four each. Such workers have, in rare instances, 

 been tolerated in hives containing a fertile, healthy 

 queen. 



The worker is much smaller than either the queen or 

 the drone. She is furnished with a tongue, or proboscis, 

 so exceedingly curious and complicated, that a separate 

 volume would hardly suffice to describe its structure and 

 uses (PI. XVI., Fig. 51). With this organ she obtains the 

 honey from the blossoms, and conveys it to her honey-bag. 

 This receptacle (PL XVII., Fig. 54, A), is not larger than 

 a very small pea, and so perfectly transparent as to appear, 

 when filled, of the same color with its contents ; it is 

 properly the first stomach, and is surrounded by muscles 

 which enable the bee to compress it, and empty its con- 

 tents through her proboscis into the cells. 



The hinder legs of the worker are furnished with a 

 spoon-shaped hollow, or basket, to receive the pollen 

 which she gathers from the flowers. 



Every worker is armed with a formidable sting, and 

 when provoked makes instant and effectual use of her 

 natural weapon. When subjected to a microscopic exam- 

 ination (PI. XVII., Fig. 53), it exhibits a very intricate 

 mechanism. "It is moved by muscles* which, though 

 invisible to the eye, are yet strong enough to force the 

 sting, to the depth of one-twelfth of an inch, through the 

 thick skin of a man's hand. At its root are situated two 

 glands by which the poison is secreted ; these glands 

 uniting in one duct, eject the venomous liquid along the 

 groove formed by the junction of the two piercers. 

 There are four barbs on the outside of each piercer ; when 

 the insect is prepared to sting, one of these piercers, 

 having its point a little longer than the other, first darts 



