Structure, Habits, and Products i 3 



so impossible is it to do justice to this subject in a book of 

 reasonable length. 



It has not been the object of the author to exhaust the 

 subject of the bee in literature, — that would be a task, 

 indeed, — but rather to show the important place it holds 

 in the principal literatures of the world, and to share with 

 others the pleasure derived from pursuing the bee through 

 these extensive and very delightful pastures. 



It may not be out of place to say a word here concerning 

 the bee's place in nature. It belongs to the branch of the 

 animal kingdom known as Arthropoda, which contains 

 more species than all the other branches taken together, and 

 whose members are characterized by having the body 

 composed of a series of more or less similar rings or 

 segments joined together, some of the segments bearing 

 jointed legs. To the Arthropoda belong the spiders, 

 scorpions, centipedes, lobsters, and insects. 



The insects again form the largest division of this branch, 

 and they are distinguished as being air-breathing, with 

 distinct head, thorax, and abdomen, possessing one pair of 

 antenna, three pairs of legs, and usually one or two pairs of 

 wings in the adult state. 



The insects form about four-fifths of the whole animal 

 kingdom, and about a quarter of a million species have been 

 described and named ! And this enormous number is 

 only a fraction, some say not more than one-tenth, of those 

 actually existing. 



Insects, according to certain peculiarities in structure, 

 have been divided into several Orders, one of which 

 contains butterflies, another beetles, another flies, etc. ; the 

 Order to which the bees belong being the Hymenoptera, or 

 membrane-winged insects, though they do not alone de- 

 serve the name, as members of other orders have also 

 membranous wings. 



