INSECTS. HYMENOPTERA. 94. Apis 
553 
depofits in cells adapted to their feveral kinds. When tb* 
bees are too numerous for their accommodation in the hive’ 
the Queen becomes agitated and communicates this agitation 
to her fubjedls; (he then rulhes out, followed by a multitude 
of working bees who fvvarm round her, and when fhe is 
fatigued and fettled on any place, they cling round her and 
guard her with the greateft care. After this fwarm is departed, 
another Queen newly transformed from the pupa ftate, is fet 
at liberty, and foon migrates with a frefh fwarm. This is 
repeated 4 and fometimes 5 times in the lummer, till the hive 
becomes weakened, and then the remaining Queens fight 
among thcmfelves till only one is left. The <working bees are 
extremely numerous, and to their induftry is committed the 
formation of the cells, the colleftion of the wax and honey, 
and the care of providing and adrainiftcring food to the Qveen 
the males and the unhatched worms- From the neftar of 
flowers they procure honey, and from the pollen or dull which 
covers the (lamina of many vegetables they gather wax This 
laft is brought home in an unwrought (late, in hollows under 
the highs, and after being eaten and macerated in the ftomach, 
is difeharged in fmall narccls, and moulded by the jaws into 
prrfeft wax. Ttiey def nd the entrance of the hive againll 
all intruders with the rnoll determined refolution, and keep in 
imprilonmcnt and under guard the young Queens, till the old 
one has difapneared with a fwarm. If by any accident their 
Queen has been deftroyed or loll, they become inaflive and 
Ihipid, an^ readi'y idopt anv other that may accidentally pre- 
f nt heilelf; or enlarge feveral of the cells containing the eggs 
of working be s, and give the larvae iflhing from them more 
abundant nourilbment and of a diff rent quality, by which 
when tiicy change to flii s they heom; Qj'ens. It is likevvile 
the oflicc of the working bees to dellroy all the males, when 
they become ufelef ; wiiicli is done bv fiK.denly attacking 
them in the autumn with their fling.', and calling out tin ir dead 
kodic.,. A few females of eaih hive live through the winter, 
and lay the foundation of other focieties. 
The antennae of the female lias 10 articulations, of the males 1 1, 
and of the working-bees 15. 
Black ; firll fegment of the abdomen on the upper-part and 
2 ftreaks behind w hitifh : hind-lhanks compreffod. 
Inhabits China, hidf the fizv of the lafl. 
Head h\ 3 .c\ with cinertoi’S down: antennae the firfl joint 
ferruginous at the bafe : Jiutel ferruginous : abdomen beneath 
whitifh. 
Hairy; crown cinereous • abdomen rufous. 
Inhabits Guinea ; larg.r than Ap mcllifica. 
■‘intennae black: btaa bl ckilb : thorax with cinereous hair, 
iiiimaculatc j le^s biac! ifli 
VOL. III. — 4 A DisjunSa^ 
