6 HISTORY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 



Mr. Morris of Isleworth, in the Transactions 

 of the Society for the encouragement of Arts, &c. 

 for 1791, gives it as his opinion that the drones 

 " sit upon the eggs, as the mother lays them ;" and 

 says that he has " often seen them sit in a formal 

 manner on the combs, when the brood is hatching, 

 while the other bees were very busy at work." 

 I suspect that Mr. Morris mistook sleeping for 

 brooding, and that the drones were only taking a 

 nap. Fabricius says that insects never sit on their 

 eggs. Messrs. Kirby and Spence, however, have 

 observed that the female ear-wig does : they also 

 make one other exception in favour of the field 

 bug (Cimex griseus), but add that these are the 

 only ones. De Geer has given a very interesting 

 account of both these insects, particularly of the 

 strength of parental affection exhibited by the 

 females. The female of the former assiduously 

 sits upon her eggs, as if to hatch them, and after 

 they are hatched, broods over the young as a hen 

 over young chickens. And when the eggs of the 

 latter are hatched, she also, after the manner of a 

 hen, goes about with the brood, consisting of thirty 



years an eminent physician in Shrewsbury, but has now 

 retired into Wales, where I hope he will find sufficient lei- 

 sure and encouragement to resume the truly classical theme 

 which he has so nearly completed. Of the three parts which 

 have been already published, I shall frequently avail myself 

 in the course of this treatise, as well as of the highly in- 

 teresting notes which are appended to them. 



