CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I.— INTRODUCTION OF BEES. 



Native bees — First hive bees, by Captain Wallace — First adver- Page. 

 tisement — Controversary from 1822 to 1824 — Taken to Jervis 

 Bay in 1840 — White-fellow's sugar bag — Honey in the early 

 seventies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3 



CHAPTER II.— INTRODUCTION OF THE ITALIAN BEE. 



First Italian bees — Attacks by bee moth — "Australian Bee 

 Manual," references to, in 1886 — Value of Italian queens 

 in 1882, onwards — Bee-keepers' Association — Improvement 

 in hives — Foul brood, great destruction of bees by. . . . 4-6 



CHAPTER III.— BEES' POSITION IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



Classification — Vertebrata — Annulosa — Anthropoda — Lepidop- 

 tera, coleoptera, hymenoptera, and apidae contrasted — 

 Genera and species of bees — Honey-producing and wax-pro- 

 ducing bees . . . . . . . . . . 7-9 



CHAPTER IV.— SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 



Social bees of commercial value — The bee of the future — Apis 

 mellifica, English bee — Apis ligustica, Italian bee — Virgil's 

 description — Historical references thereto — Golden and 

 leather coloured — Italian drones, queens and workers — 

 Suitable for warm climates — East Indian bee, apis dorsata — 

 Great wax producers — Apis indica, description of — Apis 

 trigona, our native bee — Apis florea, description of — Car- 

 niolian bee — Tunic or Punic bee — Difference between species 

 and variety • . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-18 



CHAPTER V.— BEES' HOME. 



The bees' home — Various hives — Bees bringing home supplies — 

 Bee-glue — Drone and worker cells — Wax-workers — Bees- 

 wax — Brood in various stages — Nurse bees — Uses of bees' 

 legs — The queen and her cell . . . . . . . . 19-25 



CHAPTER VI— BEE-KEEPING. 



Bee-keeping — Ancient history of — Francis Huber — The inmates 

 of bees' home — Queen not royal — The mother bee — Always 

 a widow — Drones and workers always postbumas — Queen's 

 power of reproduction — Queen cells — Neuter, a misnomer — 

 The eggs — Royal jelly — The cocoon — The bee-grub . . . . 26-31 



