THE 



HONEY-BEE. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



It would be paying but a poor compliment to those 

 talented authors who have at various times sought to 

 interest and instruct mankind through the publication 

 of works on the natural history of the Common Hive- 

 Bee, if we were to justify our selection of this insect 

 as the subject of our second little Treatise on Humble 

 Creatures, on the groimd that we deemed it necessary 

 for the purpose of rendering it familiar to the popular 

 mind. 



Himdreds of such works, including several of 

 marked excellence, have been given to the world ; but 

 recent improvements in the microscope, and our daily 

 increasing store of physiological knowledge, con- 

 stantly lead to the revelation of new facts in regard 

 to this and other insects, in addition to those already 

 ascertained ; and every day we find old and apparently 



