Chapter V. 



ARCHITECTURE OE THE HIVE-REE. 



Part of a honeycomb, and bees at work. 



Although the hive-bee {Apis imllifica) has engaged 

 the attention of the curious from the earliest ages, 

 recent discoveries prove that we are yet only begin- 

 ning to arrive at a correct knowledge of its wonderful 

 proceedings. Pliny informs us that Aristomachus, 

 of Soles, "in Cilicia, devoted fifty-eight years to the 

 study ; and that Philiscus the Thracian spent his 

 whole life in forests for the purpose of observing 

 them. But in consequence (as we may naturally 

 infer) of the imperfect methods of research, as- 



