62 THE BBB keeper's MANUAL. 



" Deem life itself to vengeance well resign'd, 

 Die on the wound, and leave their sting behind.' 



Hornets, wasps and other stinging insects are able to with- 

 draw their stings from the wound. I have never seen any 

 attempt to account for the exception in the case of the honey 

 bee. But if the Creator intended the bee for the use of man, 

 as He most certainly did, has He not given it this peculiarity, 

 to make it less formidable, and therefore more completely 

 subject to human control ? Without a sting, it would have 

 stood no chance of defending its tempting sweets against 

 a host of greedy depredators ; but if it could sting a num- 

 ber of times, it would be much more difficult to bring it 

 into a state of thorough domestication. A quiver full of ar- 

 rows in the hand of a skilful marksman, is far more to be 

 dreaded than a single shaft. 



The defence of the colony against enemies, the construc- 

 tion of the cells, the storing of them with honey and bee- 

 bread, the rearing of the young, in short, the whole work of 

 the hive, the laying of eggs excepted, is carried on by the 

 industrious little workers. 



There may be gentlemen of leisure in the commonwealth 

 of bees, but most assuredly there are no such ladies, wheth- 

 er of high or low degree. The queen herself, has her full 

 share of duties, for it must be admitted that the royal office 

 is no sinecure, when the mother who fills it, must superin- 

 tend daily the proper deposition of several thousand eggs! 



Age of Bees. 



The queen bee, (as has been already stated,) will live 

 four, and sometimes, though very rarely, five years. As 

 the life of the drones is usually cut short by .violence, it is 

 not easy to ascertain its precise limit. Bevan, in some in- 



