THE HONEY-BEE. 115 



the works of the Bee demonstrate an intelligence, or, 

 if we please, an instinct superior to that of most ani- 

 mals ; and what is this instinct but the teaching of 

 the Almighty a manifestation, even in the organiza- 

 tion of a creature so unimportant as a tiny fly of his 

 eternal wisdom, which can render an insect of the 

 earth an object of wonder to man himself, with all 

 his boasted endowments ; and which, while it guides 

 the planets in their courses, and sustains and upholds 

 innumerable myriads of rational and immortal beings, 

 directs the minutest animalcule to do those things 

 that are necessary to the preservation and comfort of 

 its existence. 



On the different substances found in a hive 

 Honey, Wax, Farina or Pollen, and Propolis. 

 Honey is well known to be a vegetable product, 

 secreted in the nectaries at the base of the corollse 

 of flowers. It has been supposed by some writers 

 to be the elemental principle of all vegetables, with- 

 out exception, and indispensable to their existence ; 

 although there is, perhaps, no sufficient evidence of 

 the saccharine matter of plants being in all cases con- 

 vertible into honey. As one of its secondary uses, 

 it seems destined by nature for the food of bees ; and 

 these industrious collectors fail not to appropriate the 

 rich liquid. Sweeping the hollow of the honey-cup 

 with their little probosces, the little skilful chemists 

 eagerly imbibe the saccharine juices as they exude 

 from the nectarium, receive them into the globular 

 honey-bag, which forms their anterior stomach, and 

 hurrying homewards with their precious load, dis- 



