92 BEE-BOXES. 



ter xi. Reaumur's hives consisted of wooden 

 frames, with glass windows, but of such a width, 

 as to allow the bees to construct two combs pa- 

 rallel to each other. This form is unfavourable, 

 inasmuch as it conceals from the observer what- 

 ever passes between them. 



Mr. Thorley, who practised the plan of super- 

 hiving, surmounted his octagon boxes and flat- 

 topped hives, with a large bell-glass, over which 

 he placed a common straw hive, to take on and 

 off. From an extract which I have made from 

 Dr. Evans's book in the chapter on Instincts, he 

 appears to have adopted this method. 



It was by the aid of similar glasses that Ma- 

 raldi was enabled to give to the world so accurate 

 an account of the natural history and labours of 

 bees. 



" Long from the eye of man and face of day, 

 Involv'd in darkness all their customs lay, 

 Until a Sage, well vers'd in Nature's lore, 

 A genius form'd all science to explore, 

 Hives well contriv'd in crystal frames dispos'd, 

 And there the busy citizens inclos'd." 



MURPHY'S VANIERE. 



Wildman also, in addition to his usual mode of 

 keeping bees, upon the storifying plan, occasion- 

 ally employed flat-topped hives surmounted by a 

 large bell-glass ; and at the close of his Treatise 

 we are informed that he had latterly adopted 



