HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 485 



yet been fathomed. Philosophers have in all ages 

 devoted their lives to the subject ; from Aristomachus 

 of Soli in Cilicia, who, we are told by Pliny, for fifty- 

 eight years attended solely to bees, and Fhiliscus the 

 Thracian, who spent his whole time in forests inves- 

 tigating their manners, to Swammerdam, Reaumur, 

 Hunter, and Huber of modern times. Still the con- 

 struction of a bee-hive is a miracle which overwhelms 

 our faculties.N 



You are probably aware that the hives with which 

 we provide bees are not essential to their labours, and 

 that they can equally form their city in the hollow of 

 a tree or any other cavity. In whatever situation it 

 is placed, the general plan which they follow is the 

 same. You have seen a honey-comb, and must have 

 observed that it is a fiattish cake, composed of a vast 

 number of cells, for the most part hexagonal, regu- 

 larly applied to each other's sides, and arranged in 

 two strata or layers placed end to end. The interior 

 of a bee-hive consists of several of these combs fixed 

 to its upper part and sides, arranged xterdcally at a 

 small distance from each other, so that the cells com- 

 posing them are placed in a horizontal position, and 

 have their openings in opposite directions — not \}i\% 

 best position one would have thought for retaining a 

 iiriid like honey, yet the bees find no inconvenience on 

 this score. The distance of the combs from each other 

 is about half an inch, that is, sufficient to allow two 

 bees busied upon the opposite cells to pass each other 

 with facility. Besides these vacancies, which form the 

 high roads of their community, the combs are here and 

 there pierced with holes which serve as posterns for 



