APIS. 
ferly to fill again; but I believe her ovi- 
ducts are never emptied, having at all times 
eggs in them, although but small. She has 
fat in her belly, similar to the other bees. 
“ It is most probable that the queen which 
goes off with the swarm is a young one, for 
the males go off with |he swarm to impreg- 
nate her, as she must be impregnated the 
same year, because she breeds the same year. 
“The queen has a sting similar to the 
working bee. 
* I believe a hive, or swarm, has but one 
queen, at least I have never found more 
than one in a swarm, or in an old hive in the 
winter; and probably this is what constitutes 
a hive ; for when there are two queens, it is 
likely that a division may begin to take 
place. Supernumerary queens are mentioned 
by Riem, who asserts he has seen them 
killed by the labourers as well as the males. 
“ The male bee is considerably larger 
than the labourers : he is even larger than 
the queen, although not so long when she is 
in her full state with eggs : he is considerably 
thicker than either, but not longer in the 
same proportion : he does not terminate at 
the anus in so sharp a point ; and the open- 
ing between the two last scales of the back 
and belly is larger, and more under the bel- 
ly, than in the female. His proboscis is 
much shorter than that of the labouring 
bee, which makes me suspect he does not 
collect his own honey, but takes that which 
is brought home by the others ; especially as 
we never find the males abroad on flowers, 
&c. only flying about the hives in hot wea- 
ther, as if taking an airing; and when we 
find that the male of the humble bee, which 
collects its own food, has as long a proboscis, 
or tongue, as the female, I think it is from 
all these facts reasonable to suppose the 
male of the common bee feeds at home. He 
has no sting. 
“ The class of labouring bees, for we 
cannot call it either sex or species, is the 
largest in number of the whole community : 
there are thousands of them to one queen, 
and probably some hundreds to each male. 
It is to be supposed they are the only bees 
which construct the whole hive, and that 
the queen has no other business but to lay 
the eggs : they are the only bees that bring 
in materials ; the only ones we observe busy 
abroad; and indeed the idea of any other is 
ridiculous, when we consider the dispropor- 
tion in numbers, as well as the employment 
of the others, while the working bee has 
nothing to take off its attention to the 
business of the family. They are smaller 
than either the queen or the males : not all 
of equal size, although the difference is not 
very great. 
' “ The queen and the working bees are so 
much alike, that the latter would seem to 
be females on a different scale: however, 
this difference is not so observable in the 
beginning of winter as in the spring, when 
the queen is full of eggs. They are all fe- 
males in construction; indeed, one might 
suppose that they were only young queens, 
and that they became queens after a certain 
age ; but this is not the case. They all have 
stings, which is another thing that makes 
them similar to the queen. From their be- 
ing furnished with an instrument of defence 
and offence, they are endowed with such 
powers of mind as to use it, their minds being 
extremely irritable; so much so, that they 
make an attack when not meddled with, 
simply upon suspicion, and when they do 
attack they always sting ; and yet, from the 
circumstance of their not being able to dis- 
engage the sting, one should suppose they 
would be more cautious in striking with it. 
When they attack one another, they seldom 
use it, only their pincers; yet I saw two 
bees engaged, and one stung the other in 
the mouth, or thereabouts, and the sting was 
drawn from the body to which it belonged, 
and the one who was stung ran very quickly 
about with it; but I could not catch that 
bee, to observe how the sting was situated. 
“ AS they are the collectors of honey, 
much more than what is for their own use 
either immediately or in future, their tongue 
is proportionably fitted for that purpose : it 
is considerably longer than that of either 
the queen or the male, which fits them to 
take up the honey from the hollow parts of 
flowers of considerable depth. The mecha- 
nism is very curious, and will be explained 
further on. 
“ Bees certainly have the five senses : 
sight none can doubt : feeling they also have ; 
and there is every reason for supposing they 
have likewise taste, smell, and hearing. 
Taste we cannot doubt ; but of smell we 
may not have such proofs; yet, from obser- 
vation, I think they give strong signs of 
smell. When bees are hungry, as a young 
swarm in wet weather, and are in a glass 
hive, so that they can be examined, if we 
put some honey into the bottom, it will im - 
mediately breed a commotion; they all 
seem to be upon the scent: even if they 
are weak, and hardly able to crawl, they 
will throw out their probosces as far as pos- 
sible to get to it, although the light is very 
