THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



CHAPTER I. 



PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



1. All 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 

 satisfactorj- 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 

 entirelj' 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 chiU 

 of a cool summer night. 



1 



