procures honey and wax. He adds that they form political 
associations, that they have councils, chiefs, and even a code 
of morality and principles. Perhaps you will see the truth 
of these statements before we have finished with the bee. 
Many people have wondered where bees came from, and 
years ago, before any one had seen what happened in the 
interior of a hive, many fables were invented to account for 
their origin. Some pretended that bees sprang from an ox 
recently killed and buried in manure; others claimed that 
bees came from the interior of sweet-scented flowers. But 
about two hundred years ago an Italian made a glass hive 
so that he could watch the bees at their work, and then 
discovered many of the interesting facts which concern the 
origin and development of bees. 
The honey-bees we have in this country are the descend¬ 
ants of importations from Europe made over two hundred 
years ago. There were no such bees here when the Indians 
occupied our land, and it has been said that bees moved 
westward more rapidly than man, so that the Indians soon 
observed that bees were the index of the approach of the 
white man. Bees are now found over all the world inhabited 
by man. Where they are not furnished with hives, they 
make their homes in hollow trees of the forests. 
Honey-bees live in large familes or societies, sometimes 
called colonies. They are known as social bees. Other 
kinds of bees are solitary in their habits ; while a third class 
are known as guest bees, because they form no nests of their 
own, but are entertained in the nests of other bees. There 
