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THE HABITS OF THE HONEYBEE. 



Of all the insect associations there are none that 

 have more excited the admiration of men of every age 

 or that have been more universally interesting than the 

 colonies of the common honeybee. While ants, wasps, 

 and the true ants have all come in for their share of 

 study, and truly wonderful are the activities of their 

 colonies; but on account of its value to man as a 

 honey-producer the honey-bee, A'pis melUfera, has 

 received more attention and its habits are much better 

 known. It would seem that, of the making of books 

 on bees, there is no end; for in every age men have 

 written of these insects, and at present we see more 

 new books than ever before. Since there is so much 

 to be written about bees, nothing but a mere outline 

 can be expected in this article. In this case, as in all 

 others, it is better to follow the advice of the celebrated 

 naturalist Agassiz, " Study nature, not books," for 

 time spent with bees in an observation hive is worth 

 far more than time spent over bee-books, provided the 

 observer goes at the observation in the true spirit of 

 an investigator and does not first decide what he will 

 see and then find it. 



The ancients held many absurd views concerning 

 the generation and propagation of bees, believing that 

 they arose from decaying animals, from the flowers of 

 certain plants, and other views equally ridiculous from 

 our present point of view. The names of Swammer- 

 dam, Reaumur, Bonnet, Schirach, and Hnber will 



