THE BEE-MASTER 47 



right in his conception of the original form of 

 the cell being cylindrical, but it remained for 

 Tegetmeier, and Darwin following his example, 

 to prove the fact by actual experiment. 



In his garden at Wood Green, the bee-master 

 had, for the purposes of experiment, erected a 

 shed with a bench against the wall, to carry 

 the hives which were placed with their entrances 

 corresponding to holes cut in the planking. 

 Thus the work of the bees could be studied 

 without disturbing them in their incomings and 

 outgoings. The " observation hives " described 

 in the paper read before the British Association 

 were perfected only after considerable pains had 

 been taken and ingenuity exercised in their 

 construction. Leaving Wood Green, however (in 

 the year 1856), Tegetmeier settled at Muswell 

 Hill, where he found more suitable premises and 

 a more commodious garden. Here the Apiarian 

 Society of London, of which he was then the 

 hon. secretary, erected an " Experimental Bee 

 House for exhibiting the working of scientific 

 and improved hives," as the inscription to the 

 picturesque drawing lithographed and published 

 for the Society by T. Packer, of Hornsey, tells 

 us. I am, fortunately, able to give a reproduc- 

 tion of this highly interesting old picture, which 

 my wife tells me is decidedly too flattering to the 

 actual aspect of the place as she remembers 

 seeing it some years after. This Experimental 



