X 



THE WORKER 



It is the worker-bee whose praises have been sounded 

 from remotest times. It is her industry, her wisdom, and 

 her virtues that have been sung, and it is of her the great 

 French naturahst, Latreille, in his " History of 

 Insects," is moved to exclaim, — 



" In the vast creation of insects, there is no 

 one whose history presents to us such a prodigious 

 number of wonders as that of the bee. In regard 

 to industry, these insects are the chef (fceuvre of Worker. 

 the creation ; and man himself, so proud of his natural gifts, 

 is in some degree humihated at the view of the interior of a 

 bee-hive." 



The workers have smaller eyes than the drones and fewer 

 smell-hollows in their antennae, but these organs are better 

 supplied with sensory hairs for feeling in flowers and comb 

 cells, and their bodies are supplied with wonderful imple- 

 ments of usefulness that the drone knows nothing about. 



In short, the worker-bees are a brilliant illustration of the 

 blessings bestowed by labor. It is their ability and their 

 wiUingness to work which has enabled them to vie with the 

 highest of the insect race, one is almost tempted to say of 

 any race. Work is their joyfully accepted portion from the 

 moment they leave the cradle cell until life passes from 

 them. 



The young bee, as she issues from her cell, is a pretty, 

 baby-like creature, pale gray, covered with down, and weak 



