Natural History of the Honey-Bee. 



CHAPTER I. 

 The Bee's Place in the Animal, Kingdom. 



It is estimated by Heer and other eminent naturalists, 

 that there are more than 250,000 species of living animals. 

 It will be both interesting and profitable to look in upon 

 this vast host, that we may know the position and relation- 

 ship of the bee to all this mighty concourse of life. 



BRANCH OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



The great French naturalist, Cuvier, a friend of Napo- 

 leon I., grouped all animals which exhibit a ring structure 

 Into one branch, appropriately named Articulates, as this 

 term indicates the jointed or articulated structure which 

 so obviously characterizes most of the members of this 

 group. 



The terms joint and articulation, as used here, have a 

 technical meaning. They refer not only to the hinge or 

 place of union of two parts, but also to the parts themselves. 

 Thus, the parts of an insect's legs, as well as the surfaces 

 of -unions, are styled joints or articulations. All apia- 

 rists who have examined carefully the structure of a bee, 

 will at once pronounce it an Articulate. Not only is its 

 body, even from head to sting, composed of joints, but by 

 close inspection we find the legs, the antennae, and even 

 the mouth-parts, likewise jointed. 



In this branch, we also place the Crustacea — which 

 include the rollicking cray-fish, or lobster, so indifferent as 

 to whether he moves forward, backward or sidewise, the 

 shorter crab, the sow-bug, lively and plump, even in its 

 dark, damp home under old boards, and the barnacles, 

 which fasten to. the bottom of ships, so that vessels are 

 often freighted with life without as well as within. 



The worms, too, are Articulates, though in some of 



