INSECTA — BEE. 849 



much darker color than theirs. She is also furnished with a sting, though 

 some authors assert that she has none, having been induced to form this 

 opinion because she is extremely pacific ; so much so indeed, that one may 

 handle her, and even tease her as much as he pleases, without provoking her 

 resentment. The omniscient Governor of nature has wisely ordained this 

 majestic insect to be of a pacific disposition ; for, were she otherwise, were 

 she like the other bees, of so irritable a temper as to draw her sting on every 

 occasion, and to leave it in the body of her antagonist, it would prove of 

 dangerous and often fatal consequence to the whole hive ; for every bee, 

 after losing her sting, dies within a day or two at the utmost. The queen 

 bee is solemn and calm in her deportment. A young queen is a great deal 

 smaller in size than a full-grown one ; being not much longer than a com- 

 mon bee, and is therefore not so easily observed when sought for. When 

 only three or four days old, she is very quick in her motions, and runs very 

 fast ; but Avhen pregnant with eggs, she becomes very large, and her body is 

 heavy. 



The working or common bee is smaller than either the queen or the drone 

 bee ; and, as well as these, consists of three parts, viz. the head, which is 

 attached by a narrow kind of neck to the rest of the body ; the breast or 

 middle part ; and the belly, which is nearly separated from the breast by an 

 insection or division, and connected with it by another narrow neck or junc- 

 tion. There are two eyes in the head, of an oblong figure, black, transpa- 

 rent, and immoveable. The mouth and jaws, like those of some species of 

 fish, open to the right and left, and serve instead of hands, to carry out of 

 the hive whatever encumbers or offends them. In the mouth there is a long 

 proboscis, or trunk, with which the bees suck up the sweets from the flowers. 

 They have four wings fastened to their middle part, by which they are not 

 only enabled to fly with heavy loads, but also to make those well known 

 sounds and hummings to each other that are supposed to be their only form 

 of speech. They have also six legs fastened to their middle. The two 

 foremost of these are the shortest, and with these they unload themselves 

 of their treasures. The two in the middle are somewhat longer; and the 

 two last are longest. On the outside of the middle joint of these last, there 

 is a small cavity in the form of a narrow spoon, in which the bees collect by 

 degrees those loads of wax they carry home to their hives. This hollow 

 groove is peculiar to the working bee. Neither the queen nor the drones 

 have any resemblance of it. The tibiae of the hind legs are ciliated, and 

 transversely streaked on the inside. Each foot terminates in two hooks, 

 with their points opposite to each other ; in the middle of these hooks there 

 is a little thin appendix, which, when unfolded, enables the insects to fasten 

 themselves to glass, or the most polished bodies. This part they likewise 

 employ for transmitting the small panicles of crude wax, which they find 

 upon flowers, to the cavity in their thighs. The belly is ornamented with 

 six rings ; and contains, besides the intestines, the honey-bladder, the venom- 

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