Natural History of the Honey /Bee, 



CHAPTER L 



THE BEE'S PIvACE IN THE ANIMAL, 

 KINGDOM. 



It is estimated by eminent naturalists, that there are more 

 than 1,000,000 species of living animals. It will be both inter- 

 esting and profitable to look in upon this vast host, that we 

 may know the position and relationship of the bee to all this 

 mighty concourse of life. 



BRANCH OF THB HONEY-BBE. 



The great French naturalist, Cuvier, a cotemporary of 

 Napoleon I, grouped all animals which exhibit a ring struc- 

 ture into one branch, appropriately named Articulates, as this 

 term indicates the jointed or articulated structure which so 

 obviously characterizes most of the members of this group. 



The terms "joint" and " articulation," as used here, have 

 a technical meaning. They refer not to the hinge or place of 

 union of two parts, but to the parts themselves. Thus, the 

 parts of an insect'slegs are styled " joints "or " articulations." 

 All apiarists who have examined carefully the structure of a 

 bee, will at once pronounce it an Articulate. Not only is its 

 body, even from head to sting, composed of joints, but by close 

 inspection we find the legs, the antennae, and even the mouth- 

 parts, likewise jointed. 



The worms, too, are Articulates, though in some of these, 

 as the leech, the joints are very obscure. The bee, then, which 

 gives us food, is distantly related to the dreaded tape-worm, 

 with its hundreds of joints, which, mayhaps, robs us of the 

 same food after we have eaten it ; and to the terrible pork- 

 worm, or trichina, which may consume the very muscles we 

 have developed in caring for our pets of the apiary. 



In classifying animals, the zoologist has regard not only 

 to the morphology — the gross anatomy — but also to the era- 



