93 



cd up, bat like a besom to sweep, or a tongue to 

 lick it away. The animal is furnished also with teeth 

 which serve in making wax. This substance is ga- 

 thered from flowers like honey : it consists of that 

 dust or farina which contributes to the formation of 

 plants. Every bee when it collects this, enters into 

 the cup of the flower, particularly such as have the 

 greatest quantities of this yellow farina. As the ani- 

 mal's body is covered over with hair, it rolls itself 

 within the flower, and is soon covered over with 

 dust, which it brushes off with its two hind legs, and 

 kneads into two little balls. 



The habitation of bees ought to be very close, 

 and what their hives want, from the negligence or 

 unskilfulness of man they supply by their own indus- 

 try, so that it is their principal care, when first 

 hived, to stop up all the crannies. For this purpose 

 they make use of a resinous gum, which is more tena 

 cious than wax. When they begin to work with it, 

 it is soft, but it acquires a firmer consistence every- 

 day. -The bees carry it on their hinder legs, and 

 plaister the inside ot their hives therewith. Their 

 teeth are the instruments by which they model and 

 fashion their various buildings, and give them such 

 symmetry. Several of them work at a time, at the 

 cells which have two faces. If they are stinted in time 

 they give the new cells but half the depth, which they 

 ought to have ; leaving them imperfect, till they have 

 sketched out the cells necessary for the present occa- 

 sion. The construction of their combs costs them a 

 great deal of labour, they are made by insensible ad- 

 ditions, and not cast at once into a mould as some 

 are apt to imagine. There seems no end of their shap- 

 ing, finishing, and turning them neatly up. The celis 

 for their young are most carefully formed ; those de. 

 signed for drones, are larger than the rest, and that 

 for the queen bee, the largest of all. Honey is not 

 the only food on which they subsist. The meal of 

 flowers is one of their favourite repasts. This is a 

 diet which they live upon during the summer, and of 



