HONEY BEES. 17 



WORKER BEE. 



The worker bee is much smaller than the queen. 

 On the worker devolves all the labor of the swarm. 

 They collect honey, pollen or bee bread, and pro- 

 polis, or bee glue. The workers produce wax 

 from honey, and from the wax they build comb, in 

 which to store the honey and bee bread they collect, 

 for their own use in time of need. Wax is pro- 

 duced from honey, as butter is produced from milk. 

 Bees do not collect wax, but they collect honey, 

 which by a natural process in the stomach of the 

 bee is changed, and exudes from between the rings 

 of the abdomen in minute scales of wax, which is 

 detached by the bee and moulded into comb. The 

 worker bee possesses a sting, and is ever ready to 

 make use of it in defending home and treasure. 

 This is a wise provision of nature, for were it 

 otherwise, the other insect and animal tribes would 

 appropriate the treasures of the bee — honey, wax, 

 etc., and this industrious little insect would soon 

 become extinct. 



The worker bee possesses an instinct but little 

 inferior to reason in the human family. A few 

 examples will show their wonderful instinct : 

 Twenty hives of bees, placed in a row, but a few 

 inches distant one from the other, all of like size, 

 shape and color ; the bees to our perception exactly 



