Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/46

 of the sting, Paley ingeniously remarks: "The action of the sting affords an example of the union of chemistry and mechanism; of chemistry, in respect to the venom which in so small a quantity can produce such powerful effects: of mechanism, as the sting is not a simple, but a compound instrument. The machinery would have been comparatively useless—telum imbelle—had it not been for the chemical process, by which, in the insect's body, honey is converted into poison; and on the other hand, the poison would have been ineffectual without an instrument to wound, and a syringe to inject the fluid."

Having noticed these particulars in the anatomical structure of the working-bee, as the general representative of the species, we shall next point out in what it differs from the conformation of the queen, and the male or drone. The queen is frequently styled by the Continental Naturalists the Mother-Bee, and with great propriety; as it seems now ascertained that her distinguishing qualities have a closer reference to the properties of a parent, than to the province of a sovereign. Her body differs from that of the worker, (Pl. 1, fig. 2,) in being considerably larger, and of a deeper black in the upper parts, while the under surface and the limbs are of a rich tawny colour. Her proboscis is more slender; her legs are longer than those of the worker, but without the hairy brushes at the joints; and as she is exempted