THE GENEALOGY OF THE BEE 7 



throughout the North of Europe generally, 

 is of a dark-brown colour all over. 



Although found wild in many parts of the 

 Continent and even in Britain, it is improbable 

 that such wild colonies are original descendants 

 from wild bees, for bees have been kept under 

 human aegis — one can hardly say "control" — 

 from time immemorial. On the banks of the 

 Nile there are cylindrical mud hives which no 

 one knows the beginning of, while in Persia bees 

 have been kept in the walls of houses so long 

 that the memory of man runneth not to the 

 contrary. 



