INTRODUCTION. 
Tr has been computed that in our World, the different 
species of living animals number over a quarter of a million. 
Among this vast concourse of life, we tind much food for 
thought and meditation, but for instructive lessons none can 
rival the marvelous transformations that insect life under- 
goes in its processes of development ! 
The repulsive maggot of to-day, may to-morrow be the 
active little fly, visiting leaf and flower, in merry and sportive 
mood! Therepugnant caterpillar of to-day, may to-morrow, 
asa chrysalis, be decked with green and gold, awaiting its 
speedy transformation to the butterfly, of brilliant tints and 
gorgeous beauty. 
Such transformations give us a faint idea of the glorious 
state of existence that, we are assured, awaits humanity, 
after its passage beyond the present state of existence ! e 
are informed that “ its glories and pleasures untold ” will be 
fully realized by the pure and the good—yet of its realization 
we can have no adequate conception ! hile in the present 
state of development, like the chrysalis, awaiting the next 
transformation, we may but inquire—t What shall it be to 
be there??? For— 
“Dreams cannot picture a world so fair, 
Sorrow and death may not enter there; 
‘Time cannot breathe on its fadeless bloom— 
Far beyond the clouds, and beyond the tomb— 
. Itis there! It is there 1!” 
_ This is not a whit more wonderful than are the transforma- 
tions from the egg to the tiny larva, from the larva to the 
pupa, and from the pupa to the fully developed Honey Bee, 
with its wondrous instincts and marvelous habits! The 
student never ceases to wonder and admire, as he turns over 
leaf after leaf of ‘‘the book of nature,” devoted to this 
interesting insect. Indeed, there is a fascination about the 
Apiary, that is truly indescribable; but even that, richly 
. rewards the apiarist for all the time and labor bestowed upon 
it. Every scientific Bee-keeper is an enthusiast. The won- 
derful economy of the Bee Hive, from its very nature 
resents to the thoughtful student, both admiration an 
elight at every step ! 
_ A single bee, with all its industry, energy, and the 
innumerable journeys it performs, will collect only about a 
tea-spoonful of honey during one season—and yet more than 
one hundred pounds of honey is often taken from one hive! 
