APIARIJE. 117 



while the fore-wings have three subcostal (cubital) cells, the 

 middle of which is elongated and acutely wedge-shaped. The 

 eyes in the male are united above ; the mouth-parts are nearly 

 aborted, and the hind legs are smooth. In the female there 

 are two paraglossia on the ligula, and the maxillary palpi 

 are one-jointed. The worker only difters externally from the 

 female in the shorter abdomen. 



The larva of the Honey-bee closel}^ resembles that of Bom- 

 bus, but the body is shorter, broader, and more flattened, while 

 the head is less prominent, and the lateral tubercles along the 

 body are, perhaps, less prominent than in the young Humble- 

 bee, otherwise the two genera are, in the larval state, much 

 alike. In its natural position, the larva lies at the bottom of 

 the cell doubled upon itself. 



Though the larvne are said usually to feed upon pollen, 

 Mr. Desborough states that honey alone is the food of the 

 grub, as he reared 729 larvae with no other food than honey. 

 But as with the wild bees they may extract honey from the 

 pollen provided for them. He says the matured bees may be 

 observed feeding at night on the bee-bread (pollen). Lang- 

 stroth (The Hive and Honey-bee), hoAvever, states that "pol- 

 len is indispensable to the nourishment of the young. It is 

 very rich in the nitrogenous substances which are not contained 

 in the honey." 



The Honey-bee, Apis meUiJlca, is now distributed over the 

 civilized world. It was introduced into this country during 

 the seventeenth century, and into South America in 1845 (Ger- 

 stsecker). The Italian, or Ligurian, bee is considered by F 

 Smith as being a climatic variety. 



The cultivation of the Honey-bee is rapidly increasing in this 

 country, but the German Bee-masters have made the most pro- 

 gress in theoretical and practical Bee-culture. Convenient 

 hives are now constructed by which all the operations of the 

 bees can be observed at leisure. Gerstfecker thus sums up 

 the habits of the Honey-bee: A fertilized queen which, with a 

 few workers, has wintered over, lays its eggs in the spring first 

 in the worker, and afterwards, at a later period, in the drone- 

 cells (both arranged in two perpendicular rows of cells). Early 

 m summer, the workers construct the larger flask-shaped queen-. 



