88 NATURAL HISTORY 



in size, they are to be distinguished both by the shape of the abdomen and 

 by length of their feelers, besides their having a sting. The abdomen in 

 the worker is shorter and more pyramidal than in the males, being thicker 

 at its base, and coming almost to a point, having the two last scales 

 terminating in a point. Their feelers are not so long as in the males. They 

 are called 'workers' because properly they do all the work of the family; 

 for as soon as one or two are formed, they are immediately employed, 

 and as they increase in number the greater proportion of the hive is built. 

 Their employments may be reckoned three : — first, the excavation of the 

 ground, when the hive is formed under ground ; secondly, the building 

 of the hive ; and thirdly, the providing for and feeding the maggots. 



When a hive is examined any time before the months of May, June, 

 or July, we shall find nothing but a queen, which is very large, 

 being full of eggs, and workers ; but this time [or state of things] will 

 differ in different hives. About this time they are strongest in labourers, 

 for their season of breeding is now over, and as they are considered a 

 common enemy they are all destroyed, when possible, besides the 

 common chance of unfavourable weather, &c. : so that by the latter end 

 of September or beginning of October they are becoming few in number ; 

 for in a hive that I took on the 8th of October, I only found fifty-eight 

 workers, and a little later they are probably dying a natural death. 



Of the Female. — The fertile females or queens are considerably the 

 largest, above three times the size of the others ; but so similar in 

 shape as to appear like a worker magnified. The anus terminates in a 

 sharp point, like that of the workers, and they have a sting. Their 

 feelers or horns are similar to those of the workers. From this de- 

 scription, they must appear- to be similar to the workers, only much 

 larger. I believe the old queen never goes abroad after having produced 

 the workers. In the month of August or September, I have observed 

 that the young queens are bred in the lower and last three or four tiers 

 of platforms ; and, of course, they are the latest in the season. They are 

 much larger than the males, and in shape, &c. are exactly similar to the 

 workers, excepting being much larger: they arc like a worker magnified. 



They do not come out of the hive to get food for themselves, but have 

 their food brought home to them by the workers, and probably by the 

 males ; for the males feed themselves abroad ; but whether they bring 

 anything home I do not know. I never could see the females going out, 

 like the others, nor do we ever find them feeding on fruit, meat, &c. 



As they are bred in autumn, and are never seen in the winter, they 

 can only be examined at the former season ; and they are then extremely 

 fat ; the abdomen being filled with small granulated fat. AVhen the 

 parts of generation of young queens are examined, we find the oviduct, 



