Although the hive is dark, they always know their queen. If she is killed, or by any accident they are deprived of her, they appear to be entirely without comfort. They leave their work, and seem to lose all interest in their labours for a time.

The Drone, or Male Bee.

The drones are the largest of the bee family; they are nearly twice as large as the workers. Their bodies are thick and clumsy, and covered with hairs much more closely than the other bees. The head of the drone is large; so are its eyes; and its wings are very large, and quite as long as its body. The drones have no sting; of course they may be handled without any danger. They make a loud buzzing noise

B

in flying. It is not a new thing to find that those who make the most noise are not always the most useful.

The same number of drones is not found in every hive, and it does not seem to depend on the number of workers in the hive. The proportion is usually supposed to be about one to twenty; that is, a family consisting of a queen and ten thousand workers would contain five or six hundred drones. This proportion, however, is not correct with respect to every swarm.

The workers are the smallest bees of the hive. They are the labourers, the industrious part of the family. They are busy bees, indeed, doing the work for all the rest. They collect the honey and pollen, they build

the waxen cells, take care of the young, and defend the hive, so far as they are able, from enemies of every kind.

The worker-bee has a long, slender trunk or proboscis, with which it gathers the honey from the flowers; and its hinder legs are furnished with brushes and baskets, to collect the pollen, and carry it safely to the hive. No other bee has these baskets but the worker-bee. The sting of the worker is not curved like that of the queen. It is so sharp and strong, that it will pierce through a thick leather glove. It consists of three parts—a sheath and two very small darts. Each of these darts is edged with little crooked points, which cannot be seen without a magnifying glass; these sticking in the flesh make the wound more painful. But the wound would scarcely be felt, if it were not for the poison which the bee puts into it; first, the sharp-pointed sheath enters the flesh, and next the little darts, through which the poison quickly passes. This poison is contained within the body of the insect for this very purpose: it is made from the honey which she eats, and is so venomous, that the

smallest quantity is sufficient to cause great pain. The sting generally remains fast in the flesh, is drawn. out of the body of the insect, and causes its death. The poor bee, then, is angry when she stings, but it is to her own hurt; she never stings again. A hasty temper is sure to cause sorrow.

Every bee has six legs and four wings. Its body is composed of three distinct parts, and, except the head, is divided into rings or sections. The wings are attached to the chest or middle part of the body of the bee. If you will examine a pair of the bee's wings, you will find them dry and transparent, so that you may see through them. They are not covered over with little dust-like scales as the wings of the butterfly are, but are formed of two thin membranes, laid one on the other, and joined together by horny lines, which are really tubes for the passage of the air. Their eyes are on the upper surface of the head; and every bee has a pair of long horns, called antennæ, rising from each side of the head. These antennæ, or feelers, are probably the seat of the sense of touch in the bee, and perhaps of smell; but this we

do not know. They appear to distinguish a stranger bee at once, by touching it with them.

The office of the queen-bee is to lay eggs in the cells prepared by the workers for that purpose. These cells differ in size or shape, as they are intended to contain eggs that are to become drones, or those that are to become workers. The royal cell, or that of the queen, is quite different from either. It is something like a pear in shape; the upper, or largest part fastened to the edges or sides of the comb; the smaller

end, where the mouth or entrance to the cell is placed, always hanging downwards.