850 INSECTA—BEE. 
bladder, and the sting. The honey-bladder isa 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 community 
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 /n making the inside smooth from the corners and an- 
gles; and the fourth company brings food for the rest, or relieves those who 
return 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 
noney-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, ot 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 
