uncertain if they have ears ! But, four 

 hundred years later, Virgil wrote that 

 bees, on account of the niceness of the 

 nose, should be placed where there are 

 no ill-smelling things, and that noises 

 frighten them because of the delicacy of 

 their ears." 



"How do the naturalists classify honey 

 bees?" Edith asked; "are they true 

 insects ?" 



"They are classed as Articulates, 

 which includes animals whose bodies are 

 made up of rings, or segments, joined 

 together in a linear series, and whose 

 legs are jointed at the place of union with 

 the body, so the bee is a true insect. Bees 

 belong to the tribe Hymenoptera, having 

 delicate membraneous wings, together 

 with a high degree of intelligence. The 

 family of the honey bees is called Apidac, 

 the insects of which have broad heads ; 

 elbowed antenae, which are thirteen 

 jointed in males and twelve jointed in 

 females; jaws strong; tongue generally 

 long; a tibial spur on the four anterior 

 legs and the first joint of the posterior 

 foot is flattened to form a pollen basket." 

 "Only think," cried Madge, "a bee 

 carries a basket on its foot all the time !" 

 "Aunt Jane, can't you show it to us 

 through the microscope?" said John. 



"Yes, with pleasure, but to finish the 

 description of the bee you must know 

 that the larvae are helpless worms. The 

 bee's family, Apidae, is subdivided into 

 genera; every genus reproduces itself. 

 The name of the genus of bees is Apis. 

 Genera are subdivided into species, and 

 species into varieties, One of the species 

 of honey bees is called melliUca." 



"Then I suppose," interrupted How- 

 ard, "that when a modern naturalist 

 introduces the bee he says, "Mr. Apis 

 Mellifica." 



"Yes, though there are a number of 

 the species which are well established, 

 such as, Apis mellifica, Apis indica, Apis 

 zonata, Apis unicolor, and Apis -Horea. 

 Our two common varieties are called the 

 German or black bee, and the Italian or 

 Ligusian. The latter were first imported 

 into this country about i860." 



"Were any of the bees natives of this 

 country?" Alice inquired. 



"No true honey-bee is native here. 

 Just when bees were first introduced is 



unknown. The Indians named them the 

 'white men's flies.' " 



"Oh!" cried Edith, "don't you all 

 remember what Longfellow makes his 

 Indian warrior say on the advent of the 

 European ? 



' 'Wheresoe'er they move, before them 

 Swarms the stinging fly, the Ahmo, 

 Swarms the bee, the honey-maker.' " 



"Yes, the true poet is fond of weaving 

 the interesting facts of nature into his 

 rhymes. Of course you all remember 

 the pretty poem, 'Telling the Bees,' 

 where Whittier utilizes an old supersti- 

 tion regarding the death of the mistress 

 of the house." 



"I know it ; I recited it at school," 

 cried Madge. 



"Superstition invested the bee with a 

 kind of awe, but science supercedes this 

 with a more intelligent regard. The 

 natural history of the bee reads like a 

 fairy tale. You have all seen bees swarm. 

 The great cluster of perhaps" 20,000 bees 

 is formed by the bees clinging to each 

 other, each bee with its two fore legs 

 hangs to the two hind legs of the one 

 above it. Yet a bee can easily detach 

 itself and pass from the center outward 

 to the surface of the bunch." 



"It is astonishing," Aunt Jane con- 

 tinued, "how rapidly the bees take pos- 

 session of the hive, and how soon they 

 will begin that ceaseless industry for 

 which they are so famous. Care is taken 

 to stop every crack with propolis to make 

 the hive tight. The bee has eight little 

 wax pockets which it empties by picking 

 out the wax with the fore legs. It is 

 moistened, and worked by the mouth, 

 and then stuck to the top of the hive. A 

 large number of bees soon make a ball 

 of wax, and fly off for supplies. Then 

 the nursing bees make holes in this wax 

 by forcing their heads against it, and so 

 the bases of the cells are formed in the 

 same way on opposite sides, a series of 

 hollows are made back to back all over 

 the comb. The walls of the cells are 

 made six-sided tubes which fill all the 

 space, and with the use of the least possi- 

 ble quantity of wax. While the cells are 

 being prepared, some bees are away gath- 

 ering honey, and some are hanging in 

 clusters in the hive digesting honey which 

 forms wax and oozes out into the wax 

 baskets. But as soon as a few inches of 



