HONEY BEES. 17 
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 propolis, 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 produced from honey, as butter is pro- 
duced 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 instinct. 
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 
