82 
BRITISH BEES. 
strengthening position as do ours; and also that the 
cells wherein the males are developed are oval, larger 
than the honey-cells, and less uniform. With all these 
similitudes it is fair to suppose that their economy may 
be the same; but their honey-cells, from their smaller 
size, (the bee which produces them being smaller,) have 
a more elegant appearance; and it is concluded from the 
largeness of the nest, taken conjunctively with the small¬ 
ness of the cells, and of the bees constructing it, that 
the communities thus associated must in their collective 
number be considerably larger than those of our hives. 
Instinct, as expressed in the habits, is as sure a line 
of separation, or means of combination, as structure, 
and is corroborative in tending to preserve generic con¬ 
junction in its inviolability. And, conversely, with 
certainty, is indicated that such-and-such a form, in the 
broad and most distinguishing features of its economy, 
is essentially the same in every climate. The habits, 
therefore, in whatever country the genus may occur, 
may be as surely affirmed of the species, from the know¬ 
ledge we have of those at home, as if observation had 
industriously tracked them. This is especially the case 
in a genus, the species of which present such a peculiar 
identity of structure as does Apis, whose specific differ¬ 
ences are derived only from colour and size, and this 
identity is a peculiarity, so far as I have observed, rarely 
found in other genera, numbering even no more species, 
but wherein slight differences of structure often yield a 
subsidiary specific character, complete structural identity 
being almost solely incidental to the genus Apis. 
The importance of honey and wax throughout the 
world, as well for the ceremonies of religion, as for the 
service of the arts, and for medical or domestic pur- 
