NERVE SYSTEM. 55 



In the worker bee, the brain is yf^th of the body ; in 

 the red ant, ytb"^ 1 > the Melalontha, 3 ^ th ; the 

 Dytiscus beetle, 4 4 1 00 th. And here a very curious 

 point arises. As we proceed, I shall have more 

 than once to point out a misconception, which would 

 appear to be all but universal amongst bee-keepers, 

 and to show that the queen is not superior to, but 

 greatly the inferior of, the worker ; and the brain 

 bears evidence to this position, as that of the queen 

 is relatively small, as is also that of the drone. 

 The amazons, who support the political fabric of the 

 bee-hive, supply its food, bring up its young, furnish 

 its architecture, defend its property, administer 

 justice, and determine the how, when, and where of 

 new colonies, require greater endowments than the 

 males, and true female, who is largely aborted, so 

 as to be almost exclusively limited to the faculty of 

 reproduction. 



Besides the principal nerve system of which we 

 have spoken — that of animal life — the bee, in common 

 with some other insects, is possessed of two other 

 systems, of less proportions, and more visible in the 

 larva than the adult, which give energy to the func- 

 tions of organic or vegetative life. One is denomi- 

 nated the stomato-gastric, and is provided with 

 numerous minute ganglia, which send nerve-fibres 

 into the organs of digestion, circulation, and respira- 

 tion ; the other, corresponding probably to the sympa- 

 thetic of higher animals, has, in each segment of the 

 body, a very small triangular ganglion, sending out 

 threads, which ultimately anastomose with those of 

 the previously considered abdominal chain. 



