394 



CHAP. XIV. 



INSECTS OF THE FOURTH ORDER. 



IN this class of insects we may place a various tribe, 

 that are first laid as eggs, then are excluded as maggots 

 or grubs, afterwards change into aurelias, with their 

 legs and wings appearing, and, lastly, having the use 

 of their wings ; in which state they propagate their 

 kind. Some of these have four transparent wings, as 

 bees ; some have two membranous cases to them, as 

 beetles ; and others have but two transparent wings, as 

 ants. Here then we shall place the bee, the wasp, the 

 humble-bee, the ichneumon-fly, the gnat, the tipula, 

 or long-legs, the beetle, the may-bug, the glow-worm, 

 and the ant ; for the transformations which all. these 

 creatures undeigo are very similar, though their forms 

 are very unlike. 



OF THE BEE. 



To give a complete history of this insect in a few 

 pages, which some have exhausted whole volumes to 

 describe, would be as weak an attempt as if by ex- 

 plaining a few Chinese characters we imagined the 

 whole of the language might easily be understood ; we 

 shall therefore merely give a concise de'scription of the 

 three different bees whicji inhabit every hive. 



The first part of these are the labouring bees, of 

 which greater part of the community are composed ; 

 they are supposed to be of a neuter gender, and their 

 chief employment consists in supplying the young 

 ones with food. The second sort are termed drones ; 

 these are thought to be males, and there are about a 

 hundred to seven thousand in every hive. The third 



