THE BES. 5©^ 



There are, at certain feafons of the year, three kinds 

 of bees in every hive ; the males, the females, and the 

 bees without fex. The latter every perfon is acquainted 

 with ; their number is beyond comparifon greater thau 

 that of the other two kinds. Nature fcems to have deftin- 

 ed them folely for the purpofe of labour ; and the whole 

 drudgery of the hive lies upon them ; hence they have 

 properly been termed Working Bees. 



It is only during one or two months of the fummer^ 

 when the hive is mofl crouded, that males are found ia 

 it ; and even then, they do not amount to a tenth part of 

 the whole : They are of fuperior fize, and diflinguiftiable 

 by the charaders afterwards to be noticed. During the 

 ■whole courfe of the feafon, except a few days, there is 

 cnly a fingle female to be discovered in the mofl nume- 

 rous hive. Her fecundity, however, is fo prodigious, 

 that flie is foon capable of multiplying her family to fuch 

 a degree, that the hive can no longer contain it. To her 

 the whole fwarm, amounting from twenty to forty 

 thoufand, owe their birth. Her refidence is generally in 

 the interior apartments of the lodging ; when ihe Ihews 

 herfelf, flie is readily known from her fiz,e, being longer 

 than even the male bees, but inferior in thicknefs. It is 

 this female whom the ancients dignified with the title of 

 King of the bees, and whom, with the utmoft propriety, 

 they might have denominated their Queen. From a num- 

 ber of well attefled experiments and obfervations, it ap- 

 pears that the common bees pay her more than refpect. 

 They continually endeavour to be ufeful to her ; and by 

 carreffing her, and offering her honey, they feem to an- 

 ticipate her wants. Her life is more precious than any 



oe 



