296 PHYSIOLOGY. 



There in soft slumber close their willing eyes, 

 And hush'd in silence, the whole nation lies." 



MURPHY'S VANIERE. 



LONGEVITY OF BEES. 



The several members of a hive have very dif- 

 ferent periods of existence. The general law 

 among insects is, that both male and female shall 

 perish soon after sexual union ; in a few days or 

 weeks at furthest, according to the time, probably, 

 that the female occupies in maturing and deposit- 

 ing her eggs. By retarding sexual union, the 

 lives of some insects may be very much prolonged, 

 even ephemerae have been kept alive by this 

 means for seven or eight days. Annual plants, 

 if prevented from] seeding, may be rendered bi- 

 ennial. The bee and some other insects are ex- 

 empted from this forfeiture of life after sexual 

 union, with the exception already alluded to in 

 page 33. The ancients were very deficient in 

 knowledge upon this subject. VIRGIL fixes the 

 term of a bee's existence at seven years*, having 

 probably copied from ARISTOTLE ; though Aristotle 

 says that bees who live to an extreme old age 

 may reach to nine or ten years. COLUMELLA f 



* " Ergo ipsas quamvis angusti terminus aevi 



Excipiat, neque enim plus septima ducitur aestas." 

 f " Durantque, si diligenter excultae sint, in annos decem." 



COLUMELLA. 



