paft, owes its origin to a small infect, (See APHIS, 1.) the excrement thrown out by which makes a part of the moft delicate honey we ever talle. From whatever fource the bees have collected their honey, the inftant they return home, they feek cells in which they may difgorge and depo. fite their loads. They have two forts of ftores: one of which confifts of honey laid up for the winter; and the other of honey intended for accidental ufe in case of bad weather, and for fuch bees as do not go abroad in fearch of it. Their method of fecuring each of thefe is different. They have in each cell a thicker fubftance, which is placed over the honey, to prevent its running out of the cell; and that fubftance is raised gra dually as the cell is filled, till the bees, finding that the cell cannot contain any more, close it with a covering of wax, not to be opened till times of want, or during the winter. period, they might again be introduced into the hive, for the purpofe of renewing the prolific powers of the queen, and preventing the royal race from becoming barren or extinct. It may be farther obferved, as an additional argument in favour of the above conjecture, that although the queen and her daughter, none of whom ever faw a drone, might lay abundance of eggs, which would all produce bees; yet they might probably have laid a great many more, had the drones been in the hive with them. I must confefs, it appears fomewhat paradoxical, to fay that females will breed fucceflively for feveral generations without the affiftance of the males; and yet at laft prove barren, and give over breeding altogether, till their prolific powers are renewed by freth males cohabiting with them. But how ever paradoxical or unaccountable it may appear, that is not a fufficient reafon to reprobate the fuppofition as there are many of the arcana of nature that are equally wonderful and unaccountable, and the elucidation of which has, hitherto baffled the investigation of the most penetrating geniuses, and deepest enquirers into the fecret of natural philofophy." Mr Bonner adds, that one of these gentlemen offered him the ufe of his hives to try an experiment in proof of this theory, which he promises to execute the first leifure opportunity, and lay the refult befor the public; which, if it fhall prove fatisfactory, will entire ly fet afide Mr Debraw's doctrine of the little drones; the existence of which is utterly denied by Mr Hunter, a late English writer upon the fubject, as well as by Mr Bonner. Mr Hunter confiders the doctrine as merely calculated to furnish a convenient link in the chain of a favourite hypothefis. (13.) BEES, SOURCES WHENCE HONEY IS PROCURED BY. Honey is originally a juice digefted in plants, which fweats through their pores, and chiefly in their flowers, or is contained in refervoirs in which nature ftores it. The bees fometimes penetrate into thefe ftores, and at other times find the liquor exfuded. This they collect in their ftomachs; fo that, when loaded with it, they feem, to an attentive eye, to come home without any booty at all. Befides the liquor already mentioned, which is obtained from the flowers of plants, another fubftance, called HoNEY DEW, has been discovered, of which the bees are equally fond. Of this fubftance there are two kintis, both deriving their origin from vegetables, though in very different ways. The first kind, the only one known to hufbandmen, and which pafles for a dew that falls on trees, is no other than a mild sweet juice, which having circulated through the vellels of vegetables, is feparated in proper refervoirs in the flowers, or on the leaves, where it is properly called the honey dew: fome tumes it is deposited in the pith, as in the fugar cane; and, at other times, in the juice of pulpy fummer fruits when ripe. Such is the origin of the manna which is collected on the afh and maple of Calabria and Briançon, where it flows in great plenty from the leaves and trunks of thefe trees, and thickens into the form in which it is utually feen. The fecond kind of honey dew, which is the chief refource of bees, after the fpring flowers and dew by tranfpiration on leaves are (14.) BEES, STINGS OF. Though these wonder. ful inftruments, with which the queen and work. ing bees are armed, are already partly defcribed, (§ 3. N° 3.) we allot another section to a more particular defeription of them, and the effecAs of their wounds. When the whole fting is examined by a microscope along with a small needle, which has received the fineft polish that human art can give it, the fting exhibits all over the most beautiful polish, without the leaft flaw, blemish or inequality; while the needle appears full of holes, fcratches and ruggedness, like an iron bar from a fmith's forge. Yet this fine polished infirument is only the fheath of others ftill more exquifitely fine and curious. This fine horny fheath or fcabbard, includes two bearded darts. This theath ends in a tharp point, near the extremity of which a fit opens, through which, at the time of ftinging, the two bearded darts are protruded beyond the end of the fheath: one of thefe is a little longer than the other, and fixes its beard firft; and the other inftantly following, they penetrate alternately deeper and deeper, taking hold of the flesh with their beards or hooks, till the whole fting is buried in the flesh; and then a venomous juice is injected through the sheath, from a little bag at the root of the fting. Hence the wound occafions an acute pain and fwelling of the part, which fometimes continue feveral days. Thefe effects are beft remedied by enlarging the wound directly, to give it fome difcharge. This poifon feems to owe its mifchievous efficacy to certain pungent falts. Let a bee be provoked to frike its fting against a plate of glafs, and there will be a drop of the poifon discharged and left upon the glafs. This being placed under a double microfcope, as the liquor evaporates, the fait will be feen to concentrate, forming oblong, pointed, clear crystals.- Mr Derham counted on the fting of a watp 8 beards on the fide of each dart, fome what like the beards of fish hooks: and the fame number is to be counted on the darts of the bee's fting. When thefe beards are stuck deep in the fleth, if the wounded perfon starts, or difcompo fes the bee before it can difengage them, the sting is left behind fticking in the wound: but if he have patience to fland quiet, the creature brings the hooks down close to the fides of the darts, and withdraws the weapons, in which cafe, the wound wound is always much less painful. The danger of being ftung by bees may be in a great mauner prevented by a quiet corapofed behaviour. A thoufand bees will fly and buzz about a person without hurting him, if he tand perfectly fill, and forbear disturbing them even when near his face, in which cafe he may obferve them for hours together without danger: but if he molefts or beats them away, he ufually fuffers for it. It has been affirmed, that a perfon is in perfe&t fafety in the midst of myriads of bees, if he but carefully keep his mouth fhut, and breathe gently through the noftrils only: the human breath, it would feem, being peculiarly offenfive to their delicate organs: and merely with this precaution, the hives may be turned up, and even part of the comb cut out, while the bees are at work. (15.) BEES, SWARMING OF. A hive of bees has often been likened to a well peopled city, confifting of between 15,000 and 18,000 inhabitants: and its government has been generally fuppofed to be an abfolute monarchy, wherein the queen governed with unlimited fway. But Mr Bonner fhows, (§ 3, N° 2.) that it is rather a republic, or at moit a large family of dutiful children, over whom the queen-mother prefides, with a mild and parental authority; the far greater part of her fubjects being in fact her own offspring. When a hive is become too much crowded by the addition of the young brood, a part of the bees think of finding themfelves a more commodious habitation, and with that vier fingle out the moft forward of the young queens. A new fwarm is therefore conftantly compofed of one queen at leaft, and of feveral thousand working bees, as well as of fome hundreds of drones. The working bees are fome old, fome young. Scarce has the colony arrived at its new habitation, when the working bees labour with the utmoft diligence to procure materials for food and building. Their principal aim is not only to have cells in which they may depofite their honey: but a fronger motive feems to animate them. They feem to know that their queen is in hafte to lay her eggs. Their industry is such, that in 24 hours they will have made combs 20 inches long, and wide in propor tion. They make more wax during the first fortnight, if the feafon is favourable, than they do during all the rest of the year. Other bees are at the fame time bufy in stopping all the holes and crevices they find in the new hive, in order to guard against the entrance of infects which covet their honey, their wax, or theinfelves; and alfo to exclude the cold air, for it is indifpenfably neceffary that they be lodged warm. When the bees first fettle in fwarming, inded when they at any time reft themfelves, there is fomething very particular in the method of taking their repofe. It is done by collecting themfelves in a heap, and hanging to each other by their feet. They fometimes extend thefe heaps to a confiderable length. It would feem probable to us, that the bees from which the others hang muft have a confiderable weight fufpended to them. All that can be faid is, that the bees muft find this to be a fituation agreeable to themselves. They perhaps have a method of diftending the nselves with the air, thereby to leffen their specific gravity; as fifles VOL. III, PART II. do, to alter their gravity compared with water When a fwarm divides into two or more bands, which fettle feparately, this divifion is a fure fign that there are two or more queens among them. One of these clutters is generally larger than the other. The bees of the smaller cluster, or clufters, detach themselves by little and little, till at lauf the whole, together with the queen or queens, unite with the larger cluster. As foon as the bees are fettled, the fupernumerary queen, or queens, must be facrificed to the peace and tranquillity of the hive. This execution generally railes a confiderable commotion in the hive; and several other bees, as well as the queen or queens, lofe their lives. Their bodies may be obferved on the ground near the hive. The queen that is chofen is of a more reddish colour than thofe which are destroyed: fo that fruitfulness seems to be a great motive of preference in becs; for the nearer they are to the time of laying their eggs, the bigger, redder, and more fhining are their bodies. (16.) BEES, VARIOUS PHENOMENA OF, ILLUSTRATED. Plate XXXVIII. Fig. 1. reprefents the queen bee. 2. The drone, 3. The working bee. 4. The bees hanging to each other by the feet, which is their method of taking repofe. 5. The probofcis or trunk, which is one of the principal organs of the bees, wherewith they gather the honey and take their nourishment. 6. One of the hind legs of a working bee, loaded with wax. 7. A comb, in which the working bees are bred.— The cells are the smallest of any. Two of them have the young bees inclofed. A royal cell is fulpended on one fide. 8. A comb in which the drones are bred, being larger than the former; the young drones being included in feveral of them; with two royal cells fufpended on the fide. 9. A fimilar conib, in which the royal cell is fixed in the middle of the comb; and feveral common cells are facrificed to ferve as a bafis and fupport to it. In general, the royal cells are fufpended on the fide of a comb, as in fig. 7, 8. On the fide of fig. 9. two royal cells are reprefented as begun, when they refemble pretty much the cup in which an acorn lies. The other royal cells have the young queens included in them. Fig. 1o. exhibits the fting and all its parts, as feen through the microfcope, viz. the heath and two thanks, united to each other, and terminating in a fharp point, fo as to look like a fingle part. b, The poifonous bag. c, The tube that ferves to convey the poifon from its bag to the thickest part of the fheath. dd, The two thanks of the fting, mutually conveying to each other. ee, The fheath of the fting. ff, The thickest end of the fheath, where the tube opens into it, by which it receives the infect's poifon. g, The extreme point of the fting, formed by the two thanks of that organ, that are in this place clofely united. bb, The beards with which the flanks of the fting are armed at their extremities. i, The tube that ferves to fecrete the poifon, which it difcharges into the poifon bag. kk, The two blind extremities of the faid tube. 1111, Two pair of cartilages, of different forms, which are for the most part of a deep black, and articulated among themfelves and with the fhanks of the fting. mm, Two other cartilages almost entirely membranaceous, but lefs conipi cuous loweft joints of the first pair of legs. These little parts are not to be found, as they remain in the kin it sheds on quitting the nymph ftate. //, The fecond pair of legs. mm, The wings. nn, The blade bones. oo, The laft pair of legs. pp. The abdominal rings. 9, The hinder part of the body. The fting projects a little in this place.-r, Two little parts accompanying the fting. s, The anus. Fig. 21. a, A cell full of bee-bread, placed in layers. b, Little grains, of which that substance, viewed with the microscope, appears chiefly to confift. cuous than the former, with one pair of which they are articulated. nnnnnnnn, Eight places in which the foregoing cartilages are articulated among themselves, and with the fhanks of the fting dd.-oooo, Four muscles ferving to move the fting different ways, by the affiftance of the fame cartilages. pp, Two mufcles which draw the fhanks of the fting into its fheath. qq, Two appendages of the fting which are moved along with it, and feem to answer no other purpose but that of ornament. Fig. 11. The ovary. Fig. 12. Six eggs drawn after nature, and placed on their ends: Thefe eggs are oblong, very slender, but fomewhat thicker on their upper parts. Fig. 13. An egg viewed with a microfcope: it refembles the skin of a fish, divefted of its fcale, but ftill retaining the marks of their infertion. Fig. 14. Worms of bees of different fizes, drawn after nature. a, A worm newly hatched. bede, Four worms that received more nourishment, and are more grown. fg, Two worms ftill bigger than the former, having had more time to make use of the nourishment provided for them. They are here reprefented as they lie doubled in their cells. b, A worm placed on its belly, fo as to fhow on its back a black line, inclining to a light blue or grey. This line denotes the stomach, which appears in this place through the tranfparent parts that lie over it. i, A worm lying on its back, and beginning to draw in the hinder part of its body, and move its head. Fig. 15. A full grown worm viewed with a microscope. a a, Its 14 annular incifions or divifions. b, The head and eyes, &c. ecc, Ten breathing holes. Fig. 16. The worm forming its web. a a, The fides of the cell that contains it. b, The bottom of the cell. c, The entrance or door of the cell. The worm is here reprefented as making its web in the propereft manner to shut up this entrance. Fig. 17. The worm taken out of the web in which it had inclofed itself, and juft ready to caft its kin. Fig. 18. A cell containing the worm changed into a nymph, and perfectly lined with the faid worm's web.Likewife, the faid web entire, with the nymph contained in it, as they appear on opening the cell. a a, The fides of the cell lined with the worm's web. b, The mouth of the cell, perfectly closed by the web. c, The bottom of the cell. d, The web entire, as it appears on opening the cell, which it greatly refembles in form. e, The upper part of the web, of a convex form. This part fhows its filaments pretty distinctly. ƒ The inclofed nymph appearing through the tranfparent fides of the web. g, The bottom of the web anfwering to that of the wax cell. Fig. 19. A worm changed to a nymph, of its natural fize and form, yet fo as to exhibit its-limbs, which are folded up in a moft wonderful manner. Fig. 20. The nymph of the bee viewed with the microf cope, difplaying in a distinct manner all the parts of the inclofed infect, and the beautiful manner in which they are laid up. a, The head, bloated with humours. bb, The eyes, projecting confiderably. cc, The antenna, or horns. d, The lip. ee, The teeth, or jaw-bones. ff, The firft pair of joints belonging to the probofcis. gh, The probofcis itself. ii, The first pair of legs. kk, Two tranfparent ftiff little parts, lying against the (17.) BEES WAX, FORMATION OF. The balls which we fee attached to the legs of bees returning to the hives are not wax, but a powder col. lected from the ftamina of flowers, not yet brought to the ftate of wax. The fubftance of these balls, heated in any veffel, does not melt as wax would do, but becomes dry, and hardens; it may even be reduced to a coal. If thrown into water, it will fink; whereas wax fwims. To reduce this crude fubftance into wax, it must first be digefted in the body of the bee. Every bee, when it leaves the hive to collect this precious ftore, enters into the cup of the flower, particularly fuch as feem charged with the greatest quantities of this yellow farina. As the animal's body is covered over with hair, it rolls itself within the flower, and quickly becomes quite covered with the duft, which it foon after brushes off with its two hind legs, and kneads it into two little balls. In the thighs of the hinder legs there are two ca vities, edged with hair; and into these, as into a basket, the animal fticks its pellets. Thus employed, the bee flits from flower to flower, increafing its ftore, and adding to its stock of wax, until the ball upon each thigh becomes as big as a grain of pepper; by this time having got a fufficient load, it returns, making the best of its way to the hive. After the bees have brought home this crude fubftance, they eat it by degrees; or, at other times, three or four bees come and eafe the loaded bee, by eating each of them a fhare, the loaded bee giving them a hint so to do. Hurger is not the motive of their thus eating the balls of waxy matter, efpecially when a fwarm is firft hived; but it is their defire to provide a speedy fupply of real wax for making the combs. At other times, when there is no immediate want of wax, the bees lay this matter up in repofitories, to keep it in ftore. When this waxy matter is fwallowed, it is by the digeftive powers of the bee, converted into real wax, which the bees again difgorge as they work it up into combs; for it is only while thus foft and pliant from the fto mach that they can fabricate it properly. That the wax thus employed is taken from their flomachs, appears from their making a confiderable quantity of comb foon after they are hived, and even on any tree or thrub, where they have refted but a fhort while before their being hived, though no balls were vifible on their legs, excepting thofe of a few which may be juft returned from the field. This is farther confirmed by what happened in a fwarm newly hived: for two days together from the time of their quitting their former home it rained conftantly, infomuch that not one bee was able to ftir out during that time; yet at |