34 THE BEE AS AN INSECT. [Ch. I. 



"Ye light- winged labourers ! liail the auspicious sign, 

 When the twin stars in rival splendour shine ! 

 Cheered by their beams, your quickening numbers swell, 

 And pant your nations in the crowded cell. 

 Blithe Maia calls, and bids her jocund train 

 Breathe the warm gale, or softly falling rain ; 

 Inhaled at every pore, the dewy flobd 

 Spreads the young leaf, and wakes the'sleepingbud. 



***** 

 Yes, light-winged labourers ! still unwearied range 

 From flower to flower, your only love of change ! 

 Still be your envied lot, communion rare, 

 To wreathe contentment round the brow of care ! 

 No nice distinctions, or of rich or great, 

 Shade the clear sunshine of your peaceful state ; 

 Nor Avarice there unfolds her dragon wing, 

 Nor racked Ambition feels the scorpion sting ; 

 Your tempered wants an easy wealth dispense, 

 The public store your only affluence : 

 For all alike the busy fervour glows. 

 Alike ye labour, and alike repose ; * 

 Free as the air, yet in strict order joined, 

 Unnumbered bodies with a single mind. 

 One royal head, with ever-watchful eye, 

 Reins and directs your restless industry. 

 Builds on your love her firm-cemented throne. 

 And with her people's safety seals her own.'' 



§ V. THE ITALIAN OR LIGURIAN BEE. 



A new, or rather a re-discovered, variety of bee has 

 recently been brought into practical use amongst api- 

 arians in Germany and America, as well as in this 



* ' ' Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus unus. " 



Virgil, G. iv. 184. 



