INSECTS I HAVE WATCHED 113 



to solve, but which has become more involved (at least so it 

 seems to me), as the riddle has been worked out. 



It appears, by the way, that Professor Sir Walter Raleigh, 

 among other eminent authorities, has approved of the long- 

 forgotten article in the Quarterly, which was written, it appears, 

 to prove that Shakespeare " knew nothing of Natural History, 

 saw nothing in Nature, and wrote practically nothing about 

 either." Though it may not have been known in the reign of 

 Elizabeth that there were Crickets in the meadows, they were 



MB 

 \ 



B 



FIG. 49. HONEY BEES : A, DKONE, 5, QUEEN, c, WORKER. 



no doubt there, although unmentioned by the immortal bard. 

 The fact that Sir Edward states that " The meadow variety was 

 then known by another name," seems to prove this ! 



My grandfather was an amateur apiarist, and, as a boy, I 

 was always interested in watching the worker Bees at the hive, 

 or gathering pollen from the early Crocuses. This was my first 

 introduction to the Hive, or Honey, Bee, and I have had a warm 

 place in my affection for it ever since those days of long ago. 

 The sight of the first worker Bee in Spring enthuses me, and I 

 have noted the date of its first appearance for more than twenty 

 years. 



Of the wonderful life history of these co-operative insects it 



