If no necessity for swarming occurs, through there being plenty of room in the hive for the extension of the colony, or for any other reason, either no royal cells will be made, or the young princesses will be destroyed as they approach maturity. In this case, an unusually early destruction of the males will occur, as the workers instinctively know there is little use in permitting them to continue alive. Still, some will be allowed to exist, for the sake of other communities, as it is now maintained, with much show of reason, that a young queen selects for her consort a drone not belonging to her own hive. The importance of this crossing of breed, for keeping up the vigour of the race, is one of the best ascertained facts in natural history. While, then, we cannot suppose the bees to be aware of the benefits to be derived from this "selection before marriage," we see in it one more circumstance indicating the marvellous capabilities of so-called "instinct"--we would prefer very much to say one more proof of the all-pervading superintendence of a Divine Mind, which works throughout what we call Nature. We might, indeed, expect that He, without whose supervision not a sparrow alights on the ground in search of its food, would show to our intelligent inquiries equally plain evidence of His universal working, and of His infinitely wise determination of all that has to do with the welfare and the permanence of the various classes of the animal and vegetable worlds. CHAPTER V. THE WORKERS. Distinguishing Characteristics--Supposed Differences of Function among them--Sir John Lubbock's Experiments--Fertile Workers--Length of Life--"Black Bees"--Duties of Workers. [Illustration: Fig. 9.--A Worker Bee. _a._ Natural size. _b._ Magnified.] The workers are by far the most numerous, and, in some sense, the most important party in the commonwealth of bees. They are smaller in size than either queens or drones. Microscopic examination, and the fact of their occasionally developing the power of laying eggs, prove that they are really undeveloped females. It is hardly correct, therefore, to call them, as has been so often done, _neuters_. The chief structural differences to be noted in them, as compared with the other two classes in the hive, are, the possession of a long proboscis for gathering honey, of receptacles for carrying pollen, of a very formidable straight and barbed sting, and brushes on the legs for clearing different parts of the body from the farina of flowers or from dust. The worker-eggs are deposited by the queen in the smaller-sized cells of the combs, and are the first laid in a new colony, or in the spring of the year.