CHAPTER VI. 



The Bee-Master. 



If pigeons were Tegetmeier's boyish fancy, bees 

 may be said to have been his early manhood's 

 love, and all his life his interest in these insects 

 endured. For various reasons, however, he was 

 not so identified in the public mind with bees as 

 he was with domestic fowls, pheasants, etc., and 

 among his obituary notices there were few which 

 dealt with, or even touched upon this part of 

 his life's work. But from the scientific point of 

 view it was one of the most important, and the 

 one of which he himself was the most proud. 

 His friendship with Darwin, if not originated 

 through his knowledge of bees, was certainly 

 cemented by it. At the time Darwin was pre- 

 paring his Origin of Species and his Animals 

 and Plants under Domestication, Tegetmeier was 

 working on the construction of the bee's cell, 

 and his discovery of its cylindrical formation 

 was quoted by the great naturalist in the first- 

 named book. This discovery was made public 

 through the medium of a paper read before the 

 British Association at its meeting held at Leeds in 

 October, 1858. As the matter is one of consider- 

 able interest to scientists as well as to bee-lovers, 

 I reprint the chief passages from Tegetmeier's 



