THE HONEY BEE AND OTHER BEES. 

 By James Fletcher, Dominion Entomologist. 



At the conclusion of Mr. Selwyn's lecture upon the life 

 and work of the Honey Bee, Dr. Fletcher spoke at some length 

 on the points brought out by the lecturer, emphasizing what 

 had been said with reference to the remarkable social and 

 communistic habits of these insects, and drawing special 

 attention to the many homologous characters common to them 

 and human beings. As with some men, the drones made a good 

 deal of noise, fussed a good deal, ate a good deal, and knew 

 how to stay where it was comfortable. The hard working 

 females on the other hand spent their whole lives in keeping 

 the house in order, in feeding the young and the almost worth- 

 less drones, and in laying up a store of food to sustain the 

 colony through the winter. 



They illustrated everv^ virtue we are taught to admire 

 in mankind, industry, providence, love of home, and loyalty; 

 even to the extent not only of feeding their queen from the 

 time she hatched from the egg and throughout her whole 

 life, but they went so far as to keep her in order and make 

 her do what was good for her, sometimes against her own 

 will. 



The speaker said: 



Every incident in the life of a colony of bees has been so 

 fully treated of by Mr. Selwyn that it is unnecessary to add 

 anything further on that subject. The Honey Bee is not a 

 native of North America, but was certainly introduced very 

 earlv in the settlement of the country. The colonies of wild 

 Hoiiey Bees which are sometimes seen in the woods, have 

 merely originated from swarms which left apiaries in the 

 vicinity and then established themselves in some convenient 

 hollow tree. There are, however, many kinds of wild bees in 

 Canada which are well worthy of study by naturalists; but 

 none of which produce honey of commercial value. Some of 

 the Bumble Bees do, it is true, store up a certain amount of 

 honey in their underground nests, as is well known to all 

 school-boys, and this is of a very rich aromatic flavor; but 

 unfortunately this honev is small in quantity, and moreover 

 has the unpleasant effect of producing intense headache in the 

 V case of many people who eat it. 



