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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 inauced to ferm this 
opimion because she is extremely pacific; so much so indeed, that one may 
handie 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 when 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 Ly 
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 tibie 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 foi transmitting the small particles of crude wax, which they find 
upon flowers, to the cavity in their thighs. The belly is ornamented witk 
six rings ; and cot.tains, besides the intestines, the honey-bladder, the venom- 
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