by the bees to attach more firmly
the combs to the top or foundation, and also the edges of the combs to
the sides of the hive or box, to stop the crevices, and fasten the hives
or boxes to the floor-boards, and in forming barriers against the
intrusion of enemies.

_Farina_, or _Pollen_, is the dust or minute globules contained in the
anthers of flowers, and is the fertilizing property of flowers, which
the bees thus assist to carry, whilst travelling from flower to flower,
without which the flowers would not fructify. The bees have been found
to continue collecting pollen from the same species of flowers, and
prevent the multiplication of hybrid plants. They collect and carry
this substance on the outer surface of the tibia, or the middle joint
of the hinder leg; this part of the leg is broad, and on one side it
is concave, and furnished with a row of strong hairs on its margins,
forming as it were a natural basket, well adapted for the purpose. This
substance mixed with honey, forms the food of the larvae or young brood,
after undergoing, perhaps, a peculiar elaboration by the working or
nurse bees.

Having thus mentioned the different substances found in a hive, it only
remains to add a short history of the inmates of the hive. Every swarm
of bees comprises three distinct kinds of the same species, namely, the
_female_ or _queen_, the _neuter_ or _worker-bee_, and the _male_ or
_drone_.

As there is only one _queen-bee_ in each swarm or colony, she is seldom
to be seen amidst the thousands of other bees; but she is easily
distinguished from the rest by her slower movements, her greater length
and larger size; and the general appearance of her body, being of a more
dark orange colour, and her hinder legs having neither brushes nor
pollen baskets upon them, although longer than those of the worker-bee;
her wings also appear stronger, and she possesses a more curved sting,
which she seldom uses, except when asserting her rights to the
sovereignty of the hive.

Without a _queen-bee_ no swarm can thrive, for she is not only the
ruler, but chiefly the mother of the community in which she dwells, and
wherever she goes, the greatest attention is paid her. In the hive, the
utmost solicitude is evinced to satisfy her in every wish; wherever she
moves the bees anxiously clear away before her, and turn their heads
towards their sovereign, and with much affection touch her with their
antennae, and supply her, as often as s