DWELLINGS OF BEES. 
47 
“ Nor bees are lodged in hives alone, but found 
In chambers of their own, beneath the ground : 
Theic vaulted roofs are hung in pumices, 
And in the rotten trunks of hollow trees.” 
But closer observation of the habits and wants 
of the honey-bee has enabled man to provide 
artificial homes for the little insect ; and the bee- 
hive is as familiar an object as the bee itself. 
Wherever the bee has chosen its home, wheth- 
er the cleft of a rock, or in a hive, it is not fit for 
habitation until a great deal of ingenuity and 
labor have been expended upon it. A family 
would as soon think of living in a house without 
furniture or food, as the bee of inhabiting the 
hive or the rock until it was fitted up and fur- 
nished in the elegant style of bee-architecture. 
The hive, or the cleft in the rock, are but the 
mere walls of the dwelling, rough and unfur- 
nished. The same divine goodness which has 
endowed us with faculties for adorning our own 
homes, and adapting them to our necessities and 
comfort, enables the bee to make for itself a 
home of surpassing skill and ' beauty. 
The bees must have shelter for themselves, 
