INTRODUCTORY. 3 



tain and told that there is a town somewhere a few 

 miles distant, in which, if you can succeed in finding, 

 you will be able to procure a meal, but that you 

 must be sure to return by a certain hour, else the 

 steamer will proceed on her course without you. 



Picture to yourself the perplexity you would ex- 

 perience when you set foot upon the strange land, 

 not knowing in which direction to turn in search of 

 the locality that would have to be reached before 

 your appetite could be appeased. In the absence of 

 positive information you would probably seek some 

 eminence from whence to survey the surrounding 

 landscape, in order to trace, if possible, a road, or any 

 other guide, to the desired goal. 



If even you were so far successful, you would regard 

 your position as a very awkward one, and would be 

 apt to look upon the accomplishment of your journey 

 within the prescribed period as little short of a 

 miracle. But wonderful as it might appear in your 

 case, in the Bee such a feat would be nothing un- 

 usual, and it is one that its instincts enable it to 

 perform without the slightest difi&culty. You have 

 but to change the scene from the Mississippi to the 

 Nile, and the society of human beings for a collection 

 of inhabited bee-hives, and an opportunity will at 

 once be presented for the consideration of one of the 

 remarkable incidents in Bee-life. In Egypt, as well 

 as iu many other countries, including France, at is a 

 common practice for Bee-owners, in whose vicinity 

 there is not a sufiBciently rich pasturage for their 



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