_About the Bees._ In the preceding chapter we have told how Jack became interested about the bees: in this, we have promised to relate some of those curious things which his aunt Piper told him,――respecting the manners and customs of these ingenious and wonderful insects. The bees, being domesticated by mankind, have been carefully studied by many learned and curious persons; but M. Huber, a Swiss gentleman, has done more than any other man to make us acquainted with them. And yet Huber was blind! His wife assisted him in his observations; and thus, by making use of her eyes, he was able to pursue his studies with great success. Is it not interesting to think of this blind philosopher, who, while all was darkness and night to him, was yet able to amuse himself, and prepare a book which should continue long to please and enlighten mankind? There are three different kinds of bees in every hive. First, the laboring bees, which make up the far greatest number, and are thought to be neither male nor female, but merely born for the purposes of labor and continuing the breed by supplying the young with provision while yet in their helpless state. The second sort are the drones; they are of a darker color, longer, and more thick by one third than the former; they are supposed to be the males; and there are not above a hundred of them in a hive of seven or eight thousand bees. The third sort is much larger than either of the former, and there is never but one permitted to live in a swarm. These are called queen bees, and lay all the eggs from which the whole swarm is hatched in a season. In examining the structure of the common working bee, the first thing that attracts our attention is the trunk which serves to extract the honey from flowers. It is not formed like that of other flies, in the form of a tube by which the honey is to be sucked up; but like a broom to sweep, or a tongue to lick it away. The animal is furnished also with teeth, which serve it in making wax. This substance is gathered from flowers, like honey; it consists of that dust or farina, which contributes to the fruitfulness of plants, and is moulded into wax by the little animal at leisure. Every bee, when it leaves the hive to collect its precious store, enters into the cups of the flower, particularly such as seem charged with the greatest quantities of this yellow farina. As the animal’s body is covered with hair, it rolls itself within the flower, and soon becomes quite covered with the dust, which it soon after brushes off with its two hind legs, and kneads into two little balls.