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The body of the bee is about half an inch long, and is of a dark-brown color. It is covered with tiny hairs, which assist it greatly in collecting the pollen of flowers, which it moistens with its mouth, and passes it on from one pair of legs to another, till it is safely put away in the little baskets which are attached to the middle and hind legs. These little baskets are smooth and glossy on the outside; while the inner surface is lined with strong hairs, which keep the pollen from falling out. The queen and drones are not supplied with baskets, because they do not have to gather the pollen.

Propolis is also carried in the baskets. It is a viscous substance, by which the combs are fastened to the roof and the wall of the hive, and by which any openings are closed, to keep out wee animals and the cold. The three pairs of legs are furnished at the joints with stiff hairs, forming brushes, some round and some flat, for brushing off the pollen. These wonderful little legs terminate each in two hooks, by means of which the bee attaches itself to the roof of the hive and to another bee.

The head is much flattened, and is shaped something like a triangle. It is furnished with two large eyes, which are thickly studded with hairs, to keep out the dust; and besides the large eyes, the bee is provided with three small eyes, situated on the very crown of the head. The antennæ are two tubes, about as thick as a hair, and they are between the eyes, and a little below the ocelli, or small eyes. They consist of twelve joints, and they are very flexible. Their extremities are tipped with small round knobs, and they are very, very sensitive organs of touch. The bees use these organs to recognize one another and their queen. The mouth includes the tongue, the mandibles, the maxillæ, the labrum, with the proboscis connected with it, and four palpi, or feelers. The tongue is very small. The mandibles have a lateral motion, are furnished with teeth, and serve as tools. The proboscis is adapted for lapping up the sweet juices secreted in the flowers.

The palpi are used to ascertain the nature of food the bees wish. The two pairs of wings are attached to the thorax. Behind the wings, on each side of the thorax, are situated several little spiracles, through which the bee breathes, like other insects. The rushing of the air through these spiracles, against the wings, while in motion, is thought to be the cause of the humming sound made by the bee. The three pairs of legs are also attached to the thorax. The head and abdomen are jointed to the thorax by means of a slender ligament. The abdomen consists of six scaly rings.

The bee has two stomachs. The first is a large membraneous bag, with a pointed opening, where the honey enters. It is a good deal like the crop of a bird. No digestion takes place in it, and its muscular walls can throw back the honey into the mouth, when the bee is ready to deposit it in the cells, or to give it to the young bees. Digestion takes place in the second stomach, which is longer than the first, and is connected with it and the intestines. The abdomen also contains the venom-bag and the sting. The sting is exceedingly fine, and at the end is armed with minute teeth. When the sting pierces the flesh, the poison is squeezed into the wound from the venom-bag. The abdomen also receives the honey, from which the wax is made. Wax-scales are found in pairs, in tiny openings under the lower segments of the abdomen. Only eight scales are furnished by each bee.

The queen bee is easily recognized by the slowness of her flight, by her size, and by the respect and attention paid her. She lives in the interior of the hive, and seldom goes out; and if she leaves the hive, the whole swarm will follow her. When the queen is ready to deposit the eggs, she examines the cells carefully, to see that they are all right; for the cells of the queens, males and workers are not alike. The queen puts the eggs from which workers are to come in six-sided cells. The cells of the drones are irregular in form; and those of the queens are large, and more circular. The first eggs laid are workers. While the queen is laying these eggs, the cells for the drones are being constructed. When they are ready, the queen lays the male eggs. The royal cells are completed last, and the queen deposits just one egg in each royal cell.

When the eggs are laid, the workers supply the cells with pollen, mixed with honey and water. This is the food for the larvae, and is sometimes called bee-bread. The larvæ are small white worms, without feet. The workers remain five days in this state, the males six and a half, and the females five. At the end of this time the openings of the cells are closed with a mixture of wax and propolis, and the larvæ begin to spin a silken cocoon, which is completed in thirty-six hours. In three days more the larva changes into the pupa, and on the twentieth it comes out a perfect worker. The males come out four days afterwards. It takes the bee two days to acquire strength for flying. During this time it is fed and carefully tended by the nurse bees. Several workers may be hatched in the same cell, but the royal cells are never used but once, being destroyed when the queen escapes. The eggs and larvæ of the royal family do not look different from the workers', but the young are more carefully nursed, and fed with a better kind of food, which causes them to grow so rapidly that in five days they are ready to spin their web; and on the sixteenth day they become perfect queens. Only one queen can reign in the hive, and the young ones are guarded carefully from the mother queen, because she might sting them to death if they were allowed to come out.