True, there may be successful apiarists who are impelled by no warmth of feeling, whose superior intelligence, system and promptitude, stand in lieu of and make amends for absence of enthusiasm. Yet I believe such are rare, and certainly they work at great disadvantage.
PART FIRST.
NATURAL HISTORY
OF
THE HONEY BEE.
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
CHAPTER I.
THE BEE'S PLACE IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
It is estimated by Heer and other eminent naturalists, that there are more than 250,000 species of living animals. It will be both interesting and profitable to look in upon this vast host, that we may know the position and relationship of the bee to all this mighty concourse of life.
BRANCH OF THE HONEY-BEE.
The great French naturalist, Cuvier, a friend of Napoleon I., grouped all animals which exhibit a ring structure into one branch, appropriately named Articulates, as this term indicates the jointed or articulated structure which so obviously characterizes most of the members of this group.
The terms joint and articulation, as used here, have a technical meaning. They refer not only to the hinge or place of union of two parts, but also to the parts themselves. Thus, the parts of an insect's legs, as well as the surfaces of union, are styled joints or articulations. All apiarists who have examined carefully the structure of a bee, will at once pronounce it an Articulate. Not only is its body, even from head to sting, composed of joints, but by close inspection we find the legs, the antennæ, and even the mouth-parts, likewise, jointed.