British Bees: An Introduction into the Studies of the Natural History and Economy of the Bees Indigenous to the British IslesShuckard, William Edward
Science
British Bees: An Introduction into the Studies of the Natural History and Economy of the Bees Indigenous to the British Isles
Shuckard, William Edward
Bees; Hymenoptera -- Great Britain
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 conjunction 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 knowledge 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
differences 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 purposes, is attested by the vigilance, care, and assiduity
with which bees are tended in every country. Although sugar, since its
introduction to those northern countries which have not been favoured by
nature with the cane that yields it, has superseded for ordinary uses
the produce of the hive, this still continues serviceable for many
purposes to which sugar cannot be applied. It is used in many ways in
pharmacy, and still retains in the interior of some continents, owing to
the deficiency of sugar, arising from the difficulties and expenses of
transit, all its primitive uses. In the East, even in countries
producing sugar in abundance, honey is extensively employed for the
preservation of fruits, which in their ripe state in those hot climates
would rapidly lose their fulness of flavour were they not thus
protected,—honey here being esteemed superior to sugar in the
circumstance of its not crystallizing by reason of the heat, and also
from its applicability to this use in its natural state.
This is especially the case in China, where a conserve of green ginger,
and of a fragrant orange (the _Cum Quat_), are in high repute, and which
are peculiarly grateful to Europeans on the spot. These, however, are so
delicately susceptible of change of climate, that they lose some of the
aroma that constitutes much of their attraction, upon transportation,
and, indeed, like many kinds of Southern wines, can be appreciated only
within their own country, from their extreme delicacy and tendency to
spoil.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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