The Mother. This bee is the sole perfect female, and is the sole head of the community; she is distinguished from the other bees by her size, her body being longer, though less in circumference; on the back she is of a dusky hue, the belly tinged with yellow, and yellow feet. She governs the whole with maternal love, and lays the eggs which perpetuate her race. Her sting is neither venomous nor offensive. When taken in the fingers she squeaks piteously, as if calling to her attached children for succour.

The Consorts, according to those who persist in the existence of them, form the second order. They are smaller than the mother or the drones, though somewhat larger and blacker than the workers; they are destitute of stings, and contribute nothing to the general store; they compose the train which waits upon the mother, and are thought to be males which impregnate her by turns. Upon this union depends all expectation of a future progeny; they are said never to have been seen to unite by day.

The Workers.-These though the smallest, form the most important class. They are of blackish-brown hue, and the most active, vigilant, laborious, and disinterested. They are considered as undeveloped females. On them depend the existence, safety, strength, and comfort of the republic, and the profits accruing to man. They

are armed with venomous stings, and form a sort of soldier-citizens, who fight only in self-defence and that of the community; they sting but once, and that act is death to them.

The Drones differ considerally in outward appearance from the workers; they are supposed to be imperfect males, and have no stings. The occupations ascribed to them are the nursing of the young by means of provisions from the storehouse, and the carrying the required quantity of water for home use. Some apiarians, that do not admit the order of consorts, consider the drones as males, but this is not proved as yet by ocular testimony. When bees augment the number of their drones more than usual, it is a sign that the year will be a prosperous one for breeding and labour. They are reproduced every spring, driven out every autumn, and may be represented as martyrs for the good of the community at large.

IV. ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CELLS, SO FAR AS IS NECESSARY FOR A BEEKEEPER TO KNOW.

Bees always begin their work from the top of their hives, gradually proceeding downwards. Their clusters of cells, called combs, are divided into different compartments, constructed so as to answer a specific purpose. One set of cells is for holding the eggs of working-bees; a second for

those of drones; a third for those of young mothers, or queens, hence called royal cells, which are surrounded by those of the consorts, and the remaining sets are for the reception of pollen and honey. The first are the smallest and most numerous; the second are much less numerous, but a little larger than the first. THE ROYAL CELLS are the largest and the least numerous. Pollen is also kept in cells of considerable size, larger than the royal cells, and few in number. It is of the utmost importance to a bee-master to be well acquainted with the whole number of royal cells, so as to be able to pick them out at first sight when required, as will be described

hereafter.

V. THE HIVE OF POLAND.

Podolia, Ukraine, and Volhynia, are the most wealthy provinces of my dismembered fatherland, possessing the most extensive and most profitable establishments of honey-bees, which is to be ascribed entirely to the great experience and simple management of the peasantry, who are in modern phraseology termed uneducated men, or, in other words, can neither read nor write. But before we pass so severe a sentence on the humbler classes of my native country, allow me, as a citizen of the world, to state, in a very few words, what