58 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
LETTER VI. 
MY DEAR FRIEND, 
Of all associations of insects, there 
are none that have more excited the attention 
and admiration of mankind, in every age, than 
the colonies of the hive bee. It is a subject most 
fertile in wonders; even the most stupid and 
incurious must be struck with astonishment on 
viewing the inside of a bee-hive. It is a little 
city, divided into regular streets, composed of 
houses, constructed on the most exact geometrical 
principles, some serving for storehouses, others 
for the habitations of the citizens, and a few 
much larger for the palaces of the sovereigns, 
made of materials which the skill of man would 
in vain attempt to imitate, and this is all done by 
insects ! Well may Bonnet exclaim, " Quel abime 
aux yeux d'un sage qu'une ruche d'Abeilles ! 
Quelle sagesse profonde se cache dans cet abime ! 
Quel philosophe osera le fonder !" 
It is not necessary, as you must be aware, that 
bees should have a hive ; any other cavity would 
