_ THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
CHAPTER I. 
PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 
1. Aut 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 
satisfactory 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 advisable to give a short description of the principal or- 
gans 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 
numbers, as in a colony. Alone, a single bee is almost as 
helpless as a new-born child, being paralyzed by the chill 
of a cool summer night. 
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