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 IT.) only 
varieties of the one species, the Apis mellifica ; that is to say, 
