PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 191 



pounds*. What a wonderful idea does this give of the 

 industry and activity of these little useful creatures ! 

 And what a lesson do they read to the members of so- 

 cieties that have both reason and religion to guide their 

 exertions for the common good ! Adorable is that 

 Great Being- who has gifted them with instincts, which 

 render tlieni as instructive to us. if we will condescend 

 to listen to them, as they are profitable. 



While I am upon this part of the story of bees, I 

 cannot pass over the account Reaumur has given from 

 Maillet of the transportation of hives in Egypt from 

 one place to another, before alluded to'', to enable 

 them to make in greater abundance their collections 

 of honey, &c. Towards the end of October, when the 

 inundations of the Nile have ceased, and the husband- 

 rnen can sow their land, saintfoin is one of the first 

 things that is sown ; and as Upper Egypt is warmer 

 than the Lower, the saintfoin gets there first into blos- 

 som. At this time, bee-hives are transported in boats 

 from all parts of Egypt into the upper district, and are 

 there heaped in pyramids upon the boats prepared to 

 receive them ; each being numbered by tl;e individual 

 to which it belongs. In this station they remain some 

 days ; and when they are judged to have got in tlie 

 harvest of honey and pollen that is to be collected 

 there, they are removed two or three leagues lower 

 dov»'n, where they remain the same time ; and so they 

 proceed till towards the middle of February, when, 

 having traversed Egypt, they arrive at the sea, from 

 whence they are dispersed to their several owners. 



John Hunter observes, that when the season for lay- 



' lieaum. v. 434— " Vor,. I. 2d Ed, 331. Reaumur, v. 098-— 



