HYMENOPTERA. — APID&. 985 
thematical accuracy observed in the formation of the cells *; whilst 
nearly a quarter of the second volume is occupied with descriptions 
and accounts of the duties of the various individuals composing the 
community ; descriptions of the preparatory states ; the singular power 
which they possess of causing the development of the queens from 
neuter grubs, in case of the death of the old queen ; the destruction 
of the female grubs by the latter, their swarming, &c. &c. 
The geographical range of the species of the genus Apis (which 
are distinguished by their possessing three submarginal cells in the 
wings) is believed to be restricted to the Old World; it is evident 
however, from the early records of the North American States, that a 
species of bee, congenerous with the common hive bee, was domesti- 
cated there; of which I have received specimens from Philadelphia, 
which cannot be specifically distinguished from Apis mellifica, A 
memoir upon this question is contained in the Zransactions of the 
American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, vol. iii. 1793 +; see also 
the remarks of M. Huevel, contained in the German Jsis for 1823, 
and republished in the Bull. Sci. Nat. March, 1825. 
The principal species of bees kept for domestic purposes are the 
following : — Apis mellifica Zznn., or the common hive bee of Europe, 
and which has also been introduced into the United States of America; 
Apis ligustica Spinola, kept in some parts of Italy; Apis fasciata 
Latreille, in Egypt and some parts of Asia Minor; Apis unicolor 
Fabricius, in Madagascar; Apis Indica Linn., at Bengal; Apis 
Adansonii Zatr., at Senegal; Lacordaire also observed hives of an un- 
described species at Chili, A considerable number of other species 
* The mathematical precision of the hexagonal cells of the hive has attracted the 
attention of some of the most profound mathematicians, Koenig and Réaumur 
having proved that the different angles of the sides and bottom are precisely those 
which were fitted for the required construction. Mr. G. R. Waterhouse, in an 
ingenious article, ‘‘ Bee,” in the Penny Cyclopedia, has endeavoured to show that the 
normal form of the cells is cylindrical ; but that, in consequence of the bees working 
in concert, the space between the cylinders is gradually altered into a straight side, 
thus forming hexagons instead of cylinders. Lord Brougham (in his Dissertations 
on Subjects of Science connected with Natural Theology, 1839) has entered deeply 
into the mathematical questions connected with the structure, in opposition to the 
view of Mr. Waterhouse. 
+ The fifth volume of the same American work contains an interesting paper “ On 
the Knowledge of the Ancients concerning poisonous Honey,” by Dr. Barton: and 
see Beck’s Elemenis of Medical Jurisprudence, edited by Dunlop and Foderé, vol. iv. 
p- 299. It has also formed the subject of a communication made to the Zoological 
Society of London, in 1834, by K. E. Abbot, Esq. from Trebizond. 
