PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
15 
the honey; all the Rosacea, especially the dog-rose, and 
Primidaceee, the Orchidece, Ca ry op hy 11 ace a, Poly gone a, 
and the balsamic lilies; clover is very attractive to them, 
as are also tares; and the spots on those leaves of the 
bean which appear before the flower, and exude a sweet 
secretion; also the flowers of all the cabbage tribe. Be¬ 
neath the shade of the lime, when in flower, may be heard 
above one intense hum of thrifty industry. The bios- 
soms of all the fruit-trees and shrubs, standard or wall, 
and all aromatic plants are highly agreeable to them, 
such as lavender, lemon-thyme, mignonette, indeed all 
the resedas; also sage, borage, etc. etc.; but the especial 
favourites of particular genera and species I shall have 
occasion subsequently to notice in their series ; but to 
mention separately all the flowers they frequent would be 
to compile almost a complete flora. Bees are also en¬ 
dowed with an instinct that teaches them to avoid cer¬ 
tain plants that might be dangerous to them. Thus, 
they neither frequent the oleander ( Nerium Oleander) 
nor the crown imperial (. Fritillaria imperialis ), and 
thev also avoid the Ranunculacece , on account of some 
poisonous property ; and although the Melianthus major 
drops with honey, it is not sought. It is a native of the 
Cape of Good Hope, and may be attractive only to the 
bees indigenous to the country, which is also the case 
with other greenhouse plants equally rich in honey, but 
which not being natives, possibly from that cause the 
instincts of native insects have no affinity with them. 
Bees may be further consorted with flowers by the 
analogy and parallelism of their stages of existence. 
Thus, the egg is the equivalent to the seed j the larva 
to the germination and growth; the pupa to the bud; 
and the imago to the flower. The flower dies as soon 
