850 INSECTA — BEE. 



bladder, and the sting. The honey-bladder is a reservoir, into which is 

 deposited the honey that the bee sips from the cups of the flowers after it has 

 passed through the proboscis, and through the narrow pipes that connect the 

 head, breast, and belly of the bee. This bladder, when full, is of the size 

 of a small pea, and is so transparent, that the color of the honey can be dis- 

 tinguished through it. The sting is situated at the extremity of the belly, 

 and the head or root of it is placed contiguous to the small bladder that con- 

 tains the venom, connected to the belly by certain small muscles, by means 

 of which the bee can dart it out and draw it in with great force and quick- 

 ness. In length it is about the sixth part of an inch. These working bees 

 may be said to compose the whole community, except in the season of the 

 drones, which hardly lasts three months. During all the other nine months, 

 there are no other bees in the hive except them and the queen. The whole 

 labor of the hive is performed by them. They build the combs, collect the 

 honey, bring it home, and store it up in their waxen magazines. They 

 rear up the eggs to produce young queens, common bees, and drones ; they 

 carry out all incumbrances that are in the hives; they defend the conrmunity 

 against enemies of every kind, and kill all the drones. 



When the bees begin to work in their hives, they divide themselves into 

 four companies ; one of which roves in the fields in search of materials; 

 another employs itself in laying out the bottom and partitions of their cells; 

 a third is employed in making the inside smooth from the corners and an- 

 gles ; and the fourth company brings food for the rest, or relieves those who 

 leturn with their respective burdens. But they are not kept constant to one 

 employment ; they often change the tasks assigned them ; those that have 

 been at work being permitted to go abroad, and those that have been in the 

 fields already take their places. They seem even to have signs by which 

 they understand each other ; for when any of them want food, it bends 

 down its trunk to the bee from whom it is expected, which then opens its 

 honey-bag, and lets some drops fall into the other's mouth, which is at that 

 time open to receive it. 



Honey is originally a juice digested in plants, which sweats through their 

 pores, and chiefly in their flowers, or is contained in reservoirs in which na- 

 ture stores it. The bees sometimes penetrate into these stores, and at other 

 times find the liquor exuded. This they collect in their stomachs ; so that, 

 when loaded with it, they seem, to an attentive eye, to come home without 

 any booty at all. Besides the liquor already mentioned, which is obtained from 

 the flowers of plants, another substance, called honey dew, has been disco- 

 vered, of which the bees are equally fond. From whatever source the bees 

 have collected their honey, the instant they return home, they seek cells in 

 which they may disgorge and deposit their loads. They have two sorts of 

 stores ; one of which consists of honey laid up for the winter, and the other 

 of honey intended for accidental use in case of bad weather, and for such 

 bees as do not go abroad in search of it, Their method of securing each of 



