250 
HUMBLE-BEES. 
though they do not burthen themselves with the task 
of collecting provisions, they hear their part in secret- 
ing wax. Like the hive-drones, they have no sting ; 
hut they are exempted from the severe fate of the 
former, in escaping the cruel massacre to which those 
are doomed. They are suffered to live, and enjoy 
the natural term of their existence, wdiich, however, 
extends not beyond the end of Autumn. On the 
first approach of cold weather, they exhibit evident 
symptoms of decreasing activity. On alighting on 
the flowers of any of the late blossoming plants, — 
as the sun-flower, thistle, &c . ; the intoxicating 
juices concur with the diminished temperature in 
rendering them utterly helpless, and incapable of 
saving themselves from danger, and their languor 
increases till the severity of the cold benumbs them 
altogether, and life becomes extinct. The workers 
are not all neuters. Many of them bred in spring, 
copulate with the males in June, and lay eggs soon 
after, but only those of males. These males fecundate 
those females which are reared towards the end 
of the season, but which do not begin to lay till the 
following spring, when they each lay the foundation 
of a new colony. At the approach of winter, that 
is, the first winter of their existence, they, the females 
viz. to the number of 30 or 40 together, make a 
lodgement in or near the old nest, w'here they pass 
the torpid season in safety and quiet, till the return 
of spring nw r akes them to life and activity, and 
natural instinct prompts them to disperse, and seek 
each a dwelling of her own. The old mother, the 
