51 • XHE BEE. 



cf the reft ; wherever Ilie gocs, therefore, (he is encirckii 

 hy a guard, that continually pays court to her *. 



It is not without caufe that thib fedulous attention is 

 paid to the mother bee ; ftie is the fjul of all their oper-' 

 at'ons. If a h've is deprived of her, however numerous^ 

 it will undertake no labour; and the individuals will 

 li.jrdly give themlel/es the trouble of collecting their 

 daily fubfi^ence. A fwarm that was bufy from morning 

 to I'.ight coiiftru£ling cells and collecting wax, immedi- 

 ately upon this accident feems to forgtt that the flowers 

 contain their food ; they fcarcely (lir from the hive, con- 

 llru£l no new cells, nor even fiiiilb fuch as were begun. 

 The moment {he is reftored, their wonted fpirit and ac- 

 tivity is refumed by the whole fwarm : Not only do the 

 \vorking bees refume their labours when the queen is 

 reftored, but they ply them with an afliduity proportioned 

 to her fertility. Although they contribute nothing them- 

 felves to the generation of the young bees, the Author 

 ol Nature feems to have given them the lame alFedtion^ 

 and to have intercfted them in their welrare, as much as 

 if they had been their real parents. 



The external pi^rts ot bees are happily accommodated 

 Tby their ftiudure, to the delicate operations they are 

 deftined to perform. Each of them is furniftied with a 

 trur.k or probofi-is f, commonly folded up, but capable 

 oi bemg extended at pleafure : It is with this initrument 

 that they collt£t their food ; not by pumping or fucking, 

 but by licking it from the neflaria of flowers; veflels 

 that have been but lately difcovered by the botanills, but 



with 



* Reaumur, Tome V. Mem. v. 



+ This fmall inftrument is faid to confift of no lefs than twenty dlfferesjl 

 parts, perceivable by the niicrolcope. Reawmur 



