THE BEE. 



3^7 



from cell to cell, plunging the extremity of her body into many of them> 

 and leaving one fmall egg in each; if (h^ leave two, the latter is re- 

 moved. The bees which compofe her train are thought to be males. 

 Thefe are larger and blacker than comimonbees; without ftings, and 

 without induftry. They feem formed only to tranfmit a poilerity. 

 if their queen die^ the bees leave off workiog, and take no farther care. 

 If another queen is prcfented them, they acknowledge her for Idvcreign, 

 and apply to ih-ir labour. 



^bis fertility of the queen-beCt and the great attentions paid to her^ are 

 controverted by more recent cbfervers. They ajfertj that the common bees are 

 parents themjelves ; that they defofite their eggs in the cells which they have 

 prepared i and bring forth a progeny wholly their own. 



The egg is fixed to the bottom of the cell, in a fingle point. A day 

 or two after it is depofited, the worm is excluded like a maggot rolled up, 

 and lying foftly on a bed of a whitifh coloured jelly, on which it begins 

 to feed. The working bees attend it with the moft anxious tendernefs ; and 

 furnifh it every hour with a fupply of this whiti-h fubftance, which is 

 a compofition of honey and wax in their own bowels. The worm in lefs 

 than fix days comes to full growth, and lining the walls of its apartment 

 with a filken tapeftry, which it fpins in the manner of caterpillars, 

 foon becomes an aurelia, exhibiting legs and wings of the future bee. 

 In about twenty or one and twenty days the bee is completely formicd, and 

 opens its prifon, by piercing with its teeth the waxen door that confines 

 iti but is yet moift, and incommoded : the bees flock round it, and lick 

 it clean with their trunks ; while others- feed it with honey : others 

 cleanfe the cell that has beenjuft left, for anew inhabitant. The young 

 bee quickly repays their care by its induftry j for as foon as its external 

 parts are dry, it begins, the tafk, which it purfues unremittingly. In- 

 ftru6ted only by nature, it goes in queft of flowers, choofes only thofc that 

 yield it a fupply, rejefts fuch as are barren of honey, and, when loaded, re- 

 turns to the common habitation ; then it gathers the mealy powder of the 

 flower, which is converted into wax i and the very firft day returns with 

 targe balls in its thighs. 



Above a hundred are excluded in one day.; and often they are fcarce- 

 ly excluded, when they are obliged, by the old bees, to feek new habita- 

 tions i eve» notwithftanding their refiftanccj Ihould they attempt it. In 

 different countries, thefe fwarms or colonies appear at different times of 

 the year. The night before, an unufual buzzing is heard in the hive; 

 all labour is difcontinued , every bee is cither employed in forcings or re- 



3 F a. luctantly 



