HISTORY OF INSECTS. 27 



CHAPTER VI. 



HISTORY OF THE BEE.* 



Class Hymenoptera. i Genus Apis. 



Order Apites. ! Species Mellifica. 



75. To the bee we are indebted for two valuable 

 articles of commerce, honey and wax : since the 

 introduction of sugar, honey has become less an 

 article of general use, and more one of luxury : 

 but wax is still extensively consumed throughout 

 the civilized world. 



76. Honey is collected from flowers, is swal- 

 lowed by the bees, and afterwards regurgitated : 

 the bee, laden with honey, returns to the hive, 

 enters a cell, pierces a hole in the crust on the 

 surface of the honey already therein, disgorges 

 the honey in large drops from its mouth, new 

 models the crust, and closes up the hole ; this 

 mode of proceeding is regularly adopted by every 

 bee that contributes to the general store. 



* Dr. Sevan's Honey Bee ; original authority, Huber's History of 

 the Hive Bee. 



