Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/72

 Bees, and which he first observed in 1809, and on several other occasions from that time to the year 1813. In every thing they bear a perfect resemblance to their fellow-workers, except in colour, which in them is a deep black. He describes them as persecuted by the other workers, and finally expelled the hives, or destroyed. We have noticed them, though rarely; perhaps not more than one or two in a season. The other Bees did not molest them, as far as we observed, nor indeed seem in any way sensible of their presence. It is not improbable, as Kirby and Spence conjecture, that they are merely aged Bees, and that their deeper colour arises from the hair or down, with which the young are so thickly clothed, being worn off their bodies. In describing the functions of the working Bee, it would be improper to pass over unnoticed the fact, that it sometimes exercises the functions of a mother. To account for this apparent anomaly, we must remember that it has been ascertained by minutely accurate dissection, that all the workers are females, though of imperfect organization,—a fact confirmed by the very circumstance we are now discussing. We must also keep in mind, that the larva of a Queen is nourished with food of a different kind from that of common Bees; and this difference, in conjunction with a more roomy cell, has, in the opinion of naturalists, the effect of expanding the ovarium, and qualifying her to become a mother. It is evident,