34 COMPARATIVE SIZE OF THE COMMON BEE. 



Duncan persists in his belief of the existence of these black 

 bees, for he says, " we have noticed them, though rarely, 

 perhaps not more than one or two in a season. The other 

 bees did not molest them as far as we observed, nor indeed 

 seemed in any way sensible of their presence." If Mr. Dun- 

 can will transmit to us one of these black bees, we will in 

 return send him the best hive of honey in our apiary. 



The whole system of Huber, however, in regard to the 

 existence of several species of working bees in the hive, has 

 in reality not the slightest foundation in truth. There are, 

 in fact, but three species in the hive, viz. the queen, the 

 drone, and the working bee. In regard to the latter, there 

 may, indeed, at times, be a slight difference in the size ; but 

 this circumstance is satisfactorily accounted for by the par- 

 ticular cell in which a bee is bred. The bee which comes 

 out of a cell, in which no bee has been previously bred, will 

 be larger than the bee, which emanates from a cell in which 

 two or three have been bred before it ; and this arises from 

 a slight film, which the young bee leaves behind it on issu- 

 ing from the cell, which consequently becomes contracted, in 

 proportion to the number of films which have been left in it. 

 It belongs, however, to the crude theory of Huber, not only 

 to have given several distinct natural characters to his bees, 

 but also to have apportioned to them a separate kind of 

 labour, according to the respective species to which they 

 belong. We might have remained satisfied, had he confined 

 himself merely to the latter part of his theory, for it is con- 

 sistent with probability, that a common bee cannot be a 

 nurse bee, and a wax worker, or a wax maker, and a jelly 

 maker at the same time ; on the same principle, that an Irish 

 labourer cannot be a hodman and a bricklayer at the same 

 moment, although, if occasion required, he could perhaps 

 perform either operations with equal ability. It is not, how- 

 ever, in this particular only, that the paradoxes of Huber 

 exhibit themselves in their fullest force, for, in speaking of 



