INTRODUCTION. 
OF THE HONEY BEE. 
THE domestic Honey Bee has excited a 
lively and almost universal interest from the 
earliest ages. 'The philosopher and the poet 
have each delighted in the study of an insect 
whose nature and habits afford such ample 
scope for inquiry and contemplation, and 
even the less intellectual peasant, while not 
insensible of the profit arising from its judi- 
cious culture, has regarded with pleasure 
and admiration, its ingenious operations and 
unceasing activity. ‘Wise in their govern- 
ment,” observes the venerable Kirby, “ dili- 
gent and active in their employments, devo- 
ted to their young and to their queen, the 
