800 



A HISTORY OF 



or INSECTS or THE FOURTH ORDER. 



CHAPTER CLXXX1X. 



OF THE FOURTH ORDER OF INSECTS IN GENERAL. 



IN the foregoing part we treated of cater- 

 pillars changing into butterflies; in the pre- 

 sent will be given the history of grubs chang- 

 ing into their corresponding winged animals. 

 These, like the former, undergo their trans- 

 formation, and appear as grubs or maggots, 

 as aurelias, and at last as winged insects. 

 Like the former, they are bred from eggs ; 

 they feed in their reptile state; they continue 

 motionless and lifeless, as aurelias ; and fly 

 and propagate, when furnished with wings. 

 But they differ in many respects : the grub 

 or maggot wants the number of feet which 

 the caterpillar is seen to have; theaureliais 

 not so totally wrapped up, but that its feet 

 and its wings appear. The perfect animal, 

 when emancipated, also has its wings either 

 cased, or transparent like gauze; not colour- 

 ed with that beautifully painted dust which 

 adorns the wings of the butterfly. 



In this class of insects, therefore, we may 

 place a various tribe, that are first laid as 

 eggs, then are excluded as maggots or grubs, 

 then change into aurelias, with their legs and 

 wings not wrapped up, but appearing; and, 

 lastly, assuming wings, in which state they 

 propagate their kind. Some of these have 

 four transparent wings, as bees ; some have 

 two membranous -cases to their wings, as 

 beetles ; and some have but two wings, which 

 are transparent, as ants. Here, therefore, 

 we will place the bee, the wasp, the humble- 

 bee, the ichneumon fly, the gnat, the tipula 

 or longlegs, the beetle, the may-bug, the 

 glow-worm, and the ant. The transforma- 

 tions which all these undergo, are pretty 

 nearly similar; and though very different ani- 

 mals in form, are yet produced nearly in the 

 same manner. 



CHAPTER CXC. 



OF THE BEE. 



TO give a complete history of this insect 

 in a few pages, which some have exhausted 

 volumes in describing, and whose nature and 

 properties still continue in dispute, is impos- 

 sible. It will be sufficient to give a general 

 idea of the animal's operations; which, though 

 they have been studied for more than two 

 thousand years, are still but incompletely 



known. The account given us by Reaumur 

 is sufficiently minute; and 1 , if true, sufficient- 

 ly wonderful : but I find many of the facts 

 which he relates, doubted by those who are 

 most conversant with bees ; and some of 

 them actually declared not to have a real ex- 

 istence in nature. 



It is unhappy, therefore, for those whose 



