282 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

mon hive-bee of Europe, will form an appropriate introduc-
tion to the notices in Scripture history.

One of the most striking peculiarities in these insects is
the existence of those individuals which have been long re-
garded as, and called, neuters, but by more recent investi-
gation are found to be imperfect females; these constitute
the great mass of the population in every hive; to them is
committed the internal economy of the society, and on them
the whole labour of the community devolves. It is also
their duty to guard and protect the queen, to feed the
young, and to destroy the drones, or males, at the proper
season. .

“So work the honey-bees :
Creatures that, by a rule in nature, teach
The art of order to s peopled kingdom.
They have a king, and officers of sorts,
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home ;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad ;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer’s velvet buds,
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor,
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold ;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey ;
The poor mechanic porters crowding in