THE HONEY-BEE. 

 APIS MELLIFICA. PLATE I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE domestic Honey-Bee has excited a lively and 

 almost universal interest from the earliest ages. The 

 philosopher and the poet have each delighted in the 

 study of an insect whose nature and habits afford 

 such ample scope for inquiry and contemplation ; and 

 even the less intellectual peasant, while not insensi- 

 ble of the profit arising from its judicious culture, 

 has regarded, with pleasure and admiration, its in- 

 genious operations and unceasing activity. " Wise 

 in their government," observes the venerable Kirby, 

 " diligent and active in their employments, devoted 

 to their young and to their queen, the Bees read a 

 lecture to mankind that exemplifies their oriental 

 name Deburah, she that speaketh" 



So high did the ancients carry their admiration of 

 this tiny portion of animated nature, that one philo- 

 sopher, it is said, made it the sole object of his 

 study for nearly three-score years ; another retired 

 to the woods, and devoted to its contemplation the 

 whole of his life; while the great Latin poet, the 



