IHE BEI. 



thick as arro'ns which leave the clanging strings of the Pai*- 

 thians when they make their first onslaught." 



Whether or no the efficacy of this mode of bee-breeding han 

 been tested in modem times, I can't say ; in my opinion, how- 

 ever, a two-year-old buU-oalf "in hand" is preferable to a 

 swarm of bees " in the bush." 



Another theory, much more elegant, but equally erroneous 

 with the above, was that they never generate, but spring from 

 the flowers. Many other theories, more or less fanciful, have 

 been from time to time ventured on this subject; but it is 

 doubtful if the most imaginative man could have invented a 

 fiction half so bewildering as what appears to be the /act ; which 

 is this, that the queen bee is capable of producing fertile eggs 

 in her virgin state, and without a union with the other sex ! 

 This, be it borne in mind, is not the dream of a philosopher, 

 but the cool and deliberate opinion of profoundly learned men 

 and diligent experimentalistB, among whom may be mentioned 

 Siebold, Cuvier, Emd Samuelson. It would seem, however, that 

 the only sort of bees who may justly claim never to have but 

 one parent, are the males, or d/rones;' when the queen bee 

 mixes with drone society, the result is worhimg heeg, which, 

 although of the female sex, are incapable of perpetuating their 

 kind. True, she does give birth to a limited number of fruit- 

 ful females ; but of the entire number that may be bom' in a 

 single hive, only, one (who, in her turn, takes the command of 

 the straw-encomp^sed kingdom) is suflered to live. 



Fassir^ by, for the present, this interesting feature of bee- 

 life, we will endeavour to describe the ordinary business of 

 the beehive. Supposing a swarm, to- ^^ 



gether with their queen, to have wintered '^^^fiS^F 

 together, and to be transferred, when ^^^4H|^^^^B^-a 

 the spring comes round, to a new hive. ^J^'j^"^^ ■■■.. m0 

 After spending a few hours in thoroughly "^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^ 

 investigatmg the new premises, certam 

 bees of an architectural turn, and known as fownd/rees heea] 

 proceed to sketch out the shape the combs should be, and lay 

 the foundation-stone, as it were. This is accomplished by 

 applying a tiny mass of wax, properly kneaded and prepared 

 by the labourers, and plastering it against the roof, sides, or 

 floor of the hive; more wax is added to the first slab, and 

 when enough is accumulated, the labourers come up, and with 

 their jaws make a little hoUow where the top cell ought to be ; 

 then they form two others a little below it, one right and left, 



