THE HIVE AND HONEY BEE 



CHAPTER I. 



PHYSIOLOGY OP THE HONEY-BEE. 



1. All the leading facts in the natural history, and the 

 breeding of bees, ought to be as familiar to the Apiarist, as 

 the same class of facts in the rearing of his domestic ani- 

 mals. A few crude and half-digested notions, however sat- 

 isfactory to the old-fashioned bee-keeper, will no longer meet 

 the wants of those who desire to conduct bee-culture on an 

 extended and profitable system. Hence we have found it ad- 

 visable to give a short description of the principal organs of 

 this interesting insect and abridged passages taken from 

 various scientific writers whose works have thrown an entirely 

 new light on many points in the physiology of the bee. If 

 the reader will bear with us in this arduous task he will find 

 that we have tried to make the descriptions plain and simple, 

 avoiding, as much as possible, scientific words unintelligible 

 to many of us. 



2. Honey-bees are insects belonging to the order Hy- 

 menoptera; thus named from their four membranous, gauzy 

 wings. They can flourish only when associated in large num- 

 bers, as in a colony. Alone, a single bee is almost as helpless 

 as a new-bom child, being numbed by the chill of a cool sum- 

 mer night. 



3. The habitation provided for bees is called a hive. The 

 inside of a bee-hive shows a number of combs about half-an- 

 inch apart and suspended from its upper side. These combs 



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