1 879-1880.] 425 



centuries. The use to which the towers were put is, perhaps, more 

 obscure than their origin, but there is some ground for believing 

 them to be due to the necessity of providing refuge and protection 

 for the ecclesiastics, during the incursions of the Danes or North- 

 men, which were at their height at this period. There seems to 

 have been a tendency on the part of the builders of the Irish 

 towers, towards the close of the period, to attach them to the 

 churches, and eight or nine instances are known, some attached 

 and some built on the church, as at Ireland's Eye and Killossy. 

 It is also probable, had the style been allowed to develop farther, 

 the circular form would have been abandoned, and square attached 

 towers, with well marked stages and panelled decoration, after the 

 manner of Cormac's chapel, Cashel, would have been universally 

 adopted. 



The paper was illustrated by a large number of sepia and pen- 

 and ink drawings of towers, churches, details, &c, and an interest- 

 ing and animated discussion followed, in which many of the members 

 joined. 



On 2nd March — the President (Mr. Wm. Gray, M.R.I.A.) in 

 the chair— a paper was read by Charles C. Russell, Esq., B.A., 

 Newtownards, on " The Honey Bee and its treatment." 



After referring to the antiquity of bee-keeping, as evidenced by 

 the Scriptural allusions to these insects, the essayist proceeded to 

 explain that in every properly constituted hive there should be 

 three forms of bees. First, the queen, the mother of the hive, 

 respected and attended by her retinue; next, the drones. or male 

 bees, easily recognised by their size and by the hum or drone which 

 they produce in flying. The drones are not armed with stings, 

 and only live a short time. They are all killed by the worker bees 

 when the hive is preparing to go into winter quarters. The third 

 class constitutes the great bulk of the hive, and are commonly 



