44 AUSTRALASIAN 



aid of illustrations, a clear view of the more important facts 

 relating to the physical structure and functional peculiarities 

 of these wonderful insects. For the present advanced state of 

 our knowledge on these points we are mainly indebted to 

 the investigations of Huber and Dzierzon, which have been 

 successfully followed up by the skilful dissections and micro- 

 scopic examinations more recently made by Professor Cook in 

 America, and by Mr. F. R. Cheshire in England. A familiar 

 acquaintance with these facts may be said to be indispensable 

 to all earnest apiarists, not only because the system of modern 

 scientific bee-keeping is based upon the knowledge so obtained, 

 but also because the close observation of the habits of the bee, 

 and of the operations performed in the hive, which constitute 

 the great charm of the bee-keeper's occupation, can only be 

 really effective and satisfactory when guided by the light of 

 those brilliant discoveries. A writer upon the fine arts, when 

 pointing out the necessity of a knowledge of anatomy to the 

 draughtsman of the human form, has remarked that " no one 

 can see things as they are, unless he knows how they ought to 

 be." This is perfectly true with all of us in our observation 

 of the works of nature. As long as we are uninstructed, we 

 "have eyes and cannot see." The bee-keeper who shall have 

 acquired some knowledge of the physiological peculiarities of 

 the honey-bee, and its " relation to flowers," will ever after- 

 wards view its every movement and all the phenomena of the 

 hive with new eyes ; he will take an entirely new interest in 

 the various structural features of the honey-bearing plants and 

 their blossoms ; he will have obtained at least some inkling of 

 the Divine intention in these varieties of form, and in the simple 

 act of watching a bee's visit to a flower, he will perceive, what 

 would otherwise have escaped his notice, how beautifully in the 

 different cases the instinct of the insect and the structure of the 

 flower combine to attain the object of the former — the collection 

 of the nectar and the pollen — and the intended beneficial effect 

 upon the latter — its cross fertilization. 



CLASSIFICATION OF SPECIES. 



All the different races of the honey-bee with which we are 

 as yet well acquainted are (as mentioned in Chapter II.) only 

 varieties of the one species, the Apis mellifica; that is to say, 



