APIS. 



& warmer, which led to further experi- 

 ments. 



" Although an indolent state is very 

 much the condition of bees through the 

 winter, yet progress is making in the 

 queen towards a summer's increase. The 

 eggs in the oviducts are beginning to 

 swell, and, I believe, in the month of 

 March she is ready to lay them, for the 

 young bees are to swarm in June ; which 

 constitutes the queen bee to be the earliest 

 breeder of any insect we know. In con- 

 sequence of this the labourers become 

 sooner employed lhan any other of this 

 tribe of insects. This, both queen and 

 labourers are enabled to accomplish, from 

 living in society through the winter; and 

 it becomes necessaryin them, as they have 

 their colony to form early in the summer, 

 which is to provide for itself for the win- 

 ter following. All this requires the pro- 

 cess to be carried forward earlier than by 

 any other insect, for these are only to have 

 young, which are to take care of them- 

 selves through the summer, not being 

 under the necessity of providing for the 

 winter 



*' The queen bee, as she is termed, has 

 excited more curiosity than all the others, 

 although much more belongs to the la- 

 bourers. From the number of these, and 

 from their exposing themselves, they have 

 their history much better made out : but 

 as there is only one queen, and she scarce- 

 ly ever seen, it being only the effects of 

 her labour we can come at, an opportuni- 

 ty has been given to the ingenuity of con- 

 jecture, and more has been said than can 

 well be proved. The queen, the mother 

 of all, in whatever way produced, is a true 

 female, and different from both the la- 

 bourers and the male. She- is not so large 

 in the trunk as the male, and appears to 

 be rather larger in every part than the la- 

 bour rs. The scales on the under surface 

 of the belly of the labourers are not uni- 

 form!'" of the same colour over the whole 

 scale, th at part being lighter which is 

 overlapped by the terminating scale above, 

 and tlte uncovered part being darker. 

 T!:.s light part does not terminate in a 

 straight line, but in two curves, making a 

 peak; all which gives the belly a lighter 

 colour in the labouring bees, more espe- 

 cially when it is pulled out or elongated. 

 We distinguish a queen from a working 

 bee simply by size, and in some degree by 

 colour, but this last is not so easily ascer- 

 tained, because the difference in the co- 

 lour is not so remarkable in the back, and 

 the only view we can commonly get of her 

 is on this part ; but when a hive is killed, 

 the best way is to collect all the bees, and 



spread them on white paper, or put them 

 into water, in a broad, flat-bottomed, shal- 

 low, white dish, in which they swim, and 

 by looking at them singly, she may be dis- 

 covered. As the queen breeds the first 

 year she is produced, and the oviducts 

 never entirely subside, an old queen is 

 probably thicker than a new-bred one, un- 

 less indeed the oviducts and the eggs form 

 in the chrysalis state, as in the silk-worm, 

 which 1 should suppose they did. The 

 queen is perhaps at the smallest size just 

 as she has done breeding; for as she is to 

 lay eggs by the month of March, she must 

 begin early to fill again ; but I believe her 

 oviducts are never emptied, having at all 

 times eggs in them, although but small. 

 She has fat in her belly, similar to the 

 other bees. 



" It is most probable that the queen 

 which goes off with the swarm is a young 

 one, for the males go off with the swarm 

 to impregnate her, as she must be impreg- 

 nated the same year, because she breeds 

 the same year. 



" The queen has a sting similar to the 

 working-bee. 



" I believe a hive, or swarm, has but one 

 queen, at least I have never found more 

 than one in a swarm, or in an old hive in 

 the winter ; and probably this is what con- 

 stitutes a hive ; for, when there are two 

 queens, it is likely that a division may be- 

 gin to take place. Supernumerary queens 

 are mentioned by Riem, who asserts he 

 has seen them killed by the labourers us 

 well as the males. 



" The male bee is considerably larger 

 than the labourers : he is even largar than 

 the queen, although not so long when she 

 is in her full state with eggs : he is con- 

 siderably thicker than either, but not 

 longer in the same proportion : he does 

 not terminate at the anus in so sharp a 

 point : and the opening between the two 

 last scales of the back and belly is larger, 

 and more under the belly, than in the fe- 

 male. His proboscis is much shorter than 

 that of the labouring bee, which makes 

 me suspect he does not collect his own 

 honey, but takes that which is brought 

 home by the others ; especially as we ne- 

 ver find the males abroad on flowers, &c. 

 only flying about the hives in hot weather, 

 as if taking an airing ; and when we find 

 that the male of the humble-bee, which 

 collects its own food, has as long a pro- 

 boscis, or tongue, as the female, I think it 

 is from all these facts reasonable to sup- 

 pose the male of the common bee feeds 

 at home. He has no sting. 



" The class of labouring bees, for we 

 cannot call it either sex or species, is the, 



