88 French National Tnjlitute. 



and, when difiblved in water, it may form a very good futy-« 

 iiitutc for certain kind? of ktlphureous mineral water. 



C Lat.reille has explained the habits and induftry of a 

 fnialt bee, which does not live in fociety like our donieftic bee. 

 It doc^ not build edifices like the common bee, remarkable 

 for their matter and the geometrical manner in which they 

 are conltrucled ; but it knows, at any rate, how to render its 

 fmail habitation agreeable. Bits of the petals of the corn- 

 poppv, cut round and rolled np with art, forms a fplendid 

 tent with real purple curtains, in which it depofits an egg, 

 ■with a portion of nourilhment fufficient for the young one 

 about to be hatched. Another infeft defcribed by C. La- 

 treille is remarkable for the havoc it occafions, as it feeds 

 onlv on the voung of the domcftic bees. It even fearches 

 for them when it is not deftitute of othdr prey, and dellroys 

 a great manv of thefe infects. It is of a genus which ap- 

 proaches near to diat of the wafp. 



C Hnzzard read to the Clafs the obfcrvations of the late 

 ■Flandrin on animals bit by a mad dog. It appears from 

 thefe obfcrvations that graminivorous animals, fiich as horfes, 

 •cows, &c. may become mad when bit, but that they cannoL 

 communicate this horrid malady to others. 



C Champagne gave the following account of the labours 

 of the Clafs of the Moral and Political Sciences during the 

 ■laft quarter of the year 7 : — 



C. Bouchaud rend two memoirs on the colonies and muni- 

 cipia of the Romans. C. Bougainville read an account of the 

 embalfy of the five nations during the war of Canada in 1757. 

 C. Mcntelle read a memoir on the extent and population 

 «f the kingdom of Poland, and the incrcafe of power which 

 Ruflia, Prullia, and Auftria have acquired by the partition of 

 that country. It refults from his refearches, that Poland, be- 

 fore the firll difmcmberment, occupied an extent of 13510 

 -fquare Polith leagues of 20 to a degree: that the population was 

 7,660,787 individuals, and 795 individuals to a fcjuare league: 

 that the total amount of the taxes both direA and indirect 

 was 37,1735237 florins, about 25,652,293 francs. The part 

 which fell to Ruflia by the two partitions amounted to 6069 

 fquare Polifli leagues, containing a population of 2,195,161 



individuals. 



