nd about four inches wide, having a single
groove half an inch deep, and half an inch broad, running within its
whole length of eleven inches. The two largest sides have panes of glass
fixed in them with small brads. The top, bottom, and one end (this end
forming the back) of this frame, are made of solid wood; the back having
a small hole, _f_, 2/8 of an inch in diameter in the middle, to allow
the spindle before mentioned to pass through it. The end which forms the
front of the frame is open, so that any one of the bee-frames can be run
into the observation-frame, but may be closed by a piece of tin (_d_)
being slipt into the small grooves at _c c_. The observation-frame has
two pins, _a, b_, to fit into the 2/8 holes made along the bottom board
of the bee-box, shown by the figures, 1, 2, 3, &c., see Plate I, fig. 1,
and also two small bolts _r_ and _m_; _r_, the upper one to fix into the
holes above X X X, &c., in the mahogany bar; (but this bolt is only used
during the operation of drawing out the bee-frames into the observation
frame); and the other bolt _m_ at the back of the frame, to fasten into
the 2/8 holes, _a, a, a_, &c., made in the lid, I J. When the two pins
and the bolts of the observation-frame have been adjusted and fixed, the
groove in it will be in a straight line with one of the grooves formed
in the bottom board of the box, consequently a bee-frame can be made to
slide, by means of the long spindle, in and out of the box, into the
observation-frame.

The use of this "observation frame" must now be explained more fully:
the top lid of the bee box, Plate I, fig. 1. G. H. being thrown up,
will screen the "operator" from the bees, which are flying in and out
in the front of the hive or box. The back lid, I. J., is let down, and
supported by the quadrants Q. Q., and forms a table, the box having been
raised from the ground by the four legs, L L L L. The observation frame
is placed opposite to whichever bee-frame is to be examined; the two
pins, _a, b_, fig. 3, running into the holes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c., made
in the bottom board. The small bolts, Plate I, secured at the top, as
at _r_, and the back _m_: the long spindle, S, is run through the 2/8
hole in the back of the observation frame, as at Z, and the end of the
spindle screwed into the screw socket _t_, at the back of the bee-frame
_w_; the two pieces of tin on the right and left of the bee-frame are
pulled out (of course the observation frame being e