178 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 17Q2. 



however, the tongues of the labourers are not in all of an equal length, but 

 none have it so short as the queen. 



The size of the belly of the female of such animals varies a little, according 

 to the condition they are in : but the belly of the male and the labourer has but 

 little occasion to change its size, as they are at all times nearly in the same con- 

 dition with regard to fat, having always plenty of provision: but the true female 

 varies very considerably; she is of a different size and shape in the summer from 

 what she is in the winter; and in the winter she has what may be called her na- 

 tural size and shape: she is, on the whole, rather thicker than the labourer; and 

 this thickness is also in the belly, which probably arises from the circumstance of 

 the oviduct being in the winter pretty large, and the reservoir for semen full. 

 The termination of the belly is rather more peaked than in the labourers, the 

 last scale being rather narrower from side to side, and coming more to a point at 

 the anus. The scales at this season are more overlapped, which can only be 

 known by drawing them out. In the spring and summer she is more easily dis- 

 tinguished: the belly is not only thicker, but considerably longer than formerly, 

 which arises from the increase of the eggs. We distinguish a queen from the 

 working bee, simply by size, and in some degree by colour; but this last is not 

 so easily ascertained, because the difference in the colour 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, shallow, white 

 dish, in which they swim; and by looking at them singly, she may be discovered. 

 As the queen breeds the first year she is produced, and the oviducts never en- 

 tirely subside, an old queen is probably thicker than a new bred one, unless in- 

 deed the oviducts and the eggs form in the chrysalis state, as in the silk-worm, 

 which I should suppose they do. 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, though 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 oft' with the swarm to impregnate 

 her, as she must be impregnated the same year, because she breeds the same year. 

 The queen has a sting similar to the working bee. 



Of the nmnber of queens in a hive. — 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 constitutes a hive ; for when there are 

 •I queens, it is likely that a division may begin to take place. Supernumerary 

 queens are mentioned by Riem, who asserts that he has seen them killed by the 

 labourers, as well as the males. 



