BEES. 
33"ST W. S'. CLAK3CB. 
STRAW HIVE. 
Bees belong to that class in the animal kingdom known by naturalists iM 
tnseda. The division in which they range is called Hymenoptera, from twj 
Greek words denoting membrane and wings. Wasps, ants, ichneumon flies, 
■nd saw flies, are members of the same family. The natural history of bees 
is a large study in itself, and can only be dealt with in these pages, in so far as 
it bears on the management of an apiary. There are several varieties of been. 
That which has been domesticated by man is known as Apis Mellifica, or tho 
lioney-bee. The earliest historical references to this insect are found in tho 
Bible. Samson ate honey that had been stored in the carcass of a lion 
previously slain by him. Honey is mentioned several times in the Old 
Testament. It is spoken of as dripping from the flinty rock, an allusion 
which shows that in ancient times, as now, the bees of Palestine took possession 
of rocky cavities as hives and stored honey in them. Wild honey formed 
part of the diet of John the Baptist. Honey, and the honeycomb, are 
familiar Scripture emblems. Coming now to profane history, we find Aristotle 
writing of bees upwards of three hundred years B. c. Virgil immortalized 
them in his fourth Georgic, some three hundred years later. Columella and 
Pliny the elder wrote about bees during the first century, after which nothing 
worthy of note is on record concerning them, until two centuries after the 
revival of learning in Europe. Swammerdam, a Dutch entomologist, 
published about the middle of the seventeenth century, “ The Natural History 
of Bees.” A century later, Linnaeus, the great Swedish naturalist, threw a 
flood of light on the whole subject of insect habits, those of bees included. 
Keaumer of France, Bormet of Switzerland, Fabricius of Denmark, Kirby 
and Spence of England, Huber of Germany, Packard and others of 
America, also, later on, Dzierzon, the Baron of Berlepsch, Langs troth, 
Quiuby, Cook, and a host of others have written treatises on the honey-ba^ 
■o (bat the lite^t ure of Jhw siyject forjgs a large library in itself 
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