2 A MANUAL OF BEE-KEEPING. 



upon and studied the Bee, the wonders it unfolds are not 

 yet exhausted. 



The patience and sagacity of the naturalist have had 

 an ample field for exercise in the study of the structure, 

 physiology, and domestic economy of Bees; their pre- 

 servation and increase have been objects of assiduous 

 care to the agriculturist; and their reputed perfection 

 of policy and government have long, been the theme of 

 admiration, and supplied copious materials for argument 

 and allusion to the poet and the moralist of every age. 

 The accurate investigation of life within a Bee-hive has, 

 from the old form of the latter's construction, been beset 

 with so many difficulties that very often wrong deduc- 

 tions have been drawn from supposed facts discovered, 

 and succeeding authors without confirmation have un- 

 wittingly promulgated errors, until much of the written 

 history had become little better than fable, the correc- 

 tion of which is left to our own time and daily improving 

 means of observation. 



In Great Britain and on the Continent of Europe there 

 is cultivated, so far as I know, but one species of Hive 

 Bee, although of this there are several varieties. Our 

 common English, or Black Bee, has been scientifically 

 named Apis Mellifica; and the Italian, or Ligurian Bee, 

 Apis Ligustica; but all entomologists agree that they 

 are one and the same species. 



Dr. Gerstacker even goes so far as to consider the 

 Egyptian Bee, Apis Fasciata, and another African Bee, 

 Apis Adansonii, as varieties also. The best authorities 

 are in a difficulty as to which Bee should rank as the 

 species — whether to say Apis Mellifica var- Ligustica or 

 vice versa. The former, I think, is • the more generally 

 adopted ; but our distinguished hymenopterist, Mr. 

 Frederick Smith, late of the British Museum, seemed to 



