CHAPTER I. 



THE BEE AS AN INSECT. 



§ I. CLASSIFICATION. 



HERE is a self-complacency in commencing a 

 subject scientifically, so let us devote our first 

 half-page to defining the place of the bee in 

 the animal kingdom. The common English honey bee, 

 sometimes called the black bee, is known by the name 

 of Apis mellifica ; while the new favourite, the Italian or 

 Ligurian bee, has obtained the specific name of ligustica, 

 though naturalists are now satisfied that the two are only 

 varieties of a single species. The genus Apis belongs 

 to the order Hymenoptera, or membrane-winged insects, 

 which some entomologists have subdivided into families 

 and sections : of these, one family will comprise' the 

 honey bees, humble bees, etc. ; another the wasps, of 

 which the hornet is one ; and others respectively the 

 ants, the gall insects, the saw-flies, and certain parasites 

 and other winged creatures of little familiarity. The entire 

 order belongs to the class Insecta, and that to the grand 



