30 THE HONEY-BEE. 



availed ourselves of the information dispersed through- 

 out a variety of publications, both ancient and mo- 

 dern,* with such additions of our own, as have been 

 acquired by the observation of Bees for a period of 

 thirty years. Our prescribed limits have restricted 

 us, in a great degree, to mere matters of fact, and 

 prevented us often from illustrating our subject, as 

 we might have done with advantage, by reference to 

 the habits and instincts of other of the insect tribes. 

 The same cause has operated as a bar to our indulg- 

 ing so frequently as our inclination would have led 

 us, in those reflections which the wonders in animal 

 economy are so well fitted to excite, and which lead 

 so irresistibly to the conclusion that there is a Wise 

 and Designing Cause. We trust, however, that the 

 facts detailed, will, of themselves, lead the mind of 

 the intelligent reader to such reflections, and thus 

 become the source of a purer gratification than would 

 have been derived from the suggestions of others. 



* We have to acknowledge our special obligations to the 

 Treatises of M. Feburier of Paris, and of Dr. Bevan of South 

 Wales, Author of" The Honey-Bee." 



%* Some of our readers may be inclined to question the 

 propriety of having placed the Queen-bee upon flowers, on 

 which she is never seen, but it has, throughout our plates, 

 been our endeavour to make them pictorial as well as scienti- 

 fically correct, the more necessary in a Volume such as the 

 present, where our materials are rather scanty, a loss, however, 

 fully compensated by the extraordinary interest in the subject 

 itself. 



