THE FARMfcR AT HOME. 23 



insects are thus conducted through the whole extent of Egypt ; and 

 after having gathered the rich produce of the banks of the Nile, are 

 re-conducted home, about the beginning of February. 



In France, floating bee-hives are very common. One barge con- 

 tains from sixty to a hundred hives, which are well defended from the 

 inclemency of the weather. Thus the owners float them gently down 

 the stream, while they gather their honey from the flowers along its 

 banks. A single bee-house, or Apiary of this kind, yields the pro- 

 prietor a considerable income. 



APIS. The character of the honey bee, or apis, has been the 

 subject of anxious investigation for ages ; and unquestionably more 

 singularities are exhibited by it than by any other insect, or perhaps 

 by any other animal, hitherto known. A single female lays the 

 foundation of a numereus colony ; she produces eggs which will be- 

 come males, females, and neuters or working-bees ; for the females 

 and males are engaged in nothing but perpetuating the race, while 

 the neuters collect the honey and fabricate the combs. By some un- 

 accountable Ifiw, her impregnation cannot take place within the hive. 

 If delayed beyond twenty days from the origin of her own existence, 

 instead of laying eggs, which produce the above variety of her species, 

 she will never lay any than those which will be hatched into males. 

 In the natural state, where there has been no delay, she lays numbers 

 of them, it is true ; but invariably after having produced thousands 

 that give birth to workers. Two queens cannot exist at once in the 

 game hive ; it is indispensable to the safety of the colony that one of 

 them be destroyed ; and in the bitterness of their combats, sometimes 

 both become victims of their mutual resentments. 



But without a queen the colony goes speedily to decay ; the work- 

 trs, however, possess the secret of converting a common worm, which 

 would hence become one of themselves, into a worm which will be- 

 come a queen, and the hive is thus preserved. The males are mer- 

 cilessly massacred by the workers at a certain season, unless a queen 

 be accidentally wanting, and then they are spared. The workers 

 testify the greatest regard for the queen ; some attend her wherever 

 she goes, surround her, supply her with honey, and brush her limbs ; 

 others keep a vigilant watch day and night at the entrance of the 

 hive ; nothing is permitted to enter without due and cautious exami- 

 nation ; others are employed in providing for the necessities of the 

 young worms, in sealing the cells, or in building the combs. Our ad- 

 miration of their art should rise still higher than it does, on reflecting 

 that these beautiful and delicate structures, which often yield to the 

 slightest pressure, are all made perfect and complete in total dark- 

 ness. 



APPLE TREE. One of the most valuable fruit trees in the 

 world ; this excellent tree is said to have been brought into Italy from 

 Syria and Africa, a very few years before the nativity of our Saviour. 



