CHAPTER I 



THE ECONOMY OF THE HIVE 



Before commencing an explanation of the prac- 

 tical operations connected with bee culture, it will 

 be well to devote a few lines to a brief description 

 of the bee with which we have to deal, and which 

 is indigenous to these islands. 



The honey-bee is classed by entomologists as 



follows : Class, Insecta ; Order, Hymenoptera ; 



Family, Apidts; Genera, Apis; Species, Mellifica ; 



« and finally the various varieties — English, Car- 



niolan, Italian, etc., as the case may be. 



The honey-bee is possessed of six legs — anterior, 

 intermediate, and posterior. The posterior legs in 

 the case of workers are fringed with stiff bristles, 

 forming the well-known pollen baskets, in which 

 the pollen is conveyed to the hive. They have 

 two pairs of membranous wings, while the frame- 

 work of the body consists of an external skeleton 

 composed of a horny substance known as chitine, 

 arranged in the form of segments in the abdomen, 

 each segment being formed by, a dorsal and ven- 

 tral plate. The whole body is more or less thickly 

 covered with hair. There are three distinct kinds 

 of bee in a hive, all of which have much in 



