THE HONEY-BEE. 
65 
of those of her rivals, and, as will he afterwards de- 
scribed, exerts herself with the most impetuous 
eagerness to destroy them. When two Queens hap- 
pen to emerge from their cells at the same time, a 
pitched battle tabes place, which ends in the death 
of one of the combatants. We have never witness- 
ed this interesting exhibition of bee-warfare, — this 
duellum, as described by Huber, but we have no 
doubt of its being a fact, after the very unequivocal 
proofs we have witnessed of this mutual aversion, and 
particularly the instance to be afterwards stated. 
Functions of the Worker-Bee — (See PI. I. Fig. 3.) 
— The workers, to the number of 10,000, 20,000, 
and even 30,000, constitute the great mass of the 
population, and on them devolve the whole labours 
of the establishment. Theirs is the office of search- 
ing for and collecting the precious fluid which not 
only furnishes their daily food, as well as that of 
their young, and the surplus of which is laid up for 
winter stores, but also the materials from which they 
rear their beautiful combs. In the little basket-sha- 
ped cavity in their hind-legs, they bring home the 
pollen or farinaceous dust of flowers, kneaded by the 
help of the morning dew into tiny balls, which form 
an important ingredient in the nourishment of the 
brood ; and also the propolis or adhesive gum ex- 
tracted from willows, &c. with which they attach 
their combs to the upper port and sides of the hive, 
and stop every crevice that might admit the winter’s 
cold. Exploring a glass hive in a soft spring morn- 
1 ing, and following with his eye a Bee loaded with 
E 
