166 THE PHILOSOPHY 



bours ceafcf, till a new one is obtained, whom they treat 

 with much refpecV, and renew their ufual operations J. They 

 make cells of three different diineniions, for holding work- 

 ers, drones, and females ; and the queen-bee, in depofiting 

 her eggs, dhlinguifhes the three different kinds, and never 

 puts a royal or a drone egg into the cells deftined for the re- 

 ception of the working bees. What is equally lingular, the 

 number of thcfe ceils is proportioned to that of the different 

 bees to be produced. One royal cell weighs as much as one 

 hundred of t;he common kind §. When there are feveral 

 females in a hive, the bees work little till they have deftroy- 

 ed all the females but one. If more than a fmgle female 

 were allowed to remain in a hive, a greater number of eggs 

 would be laid than the working bees are able to make cells 

 for receiving them. 



The v;ood-piercing bee, which is one of the folitary fpe- 

 cies, gnaws with amazing dexterity and perfeverance, a large 

 hole in old timber. After laying her eggs in the cells, fhe 

 depolits fuch a quantity of glutinous matter as nouriflies the 

 worms produced from thefe eggs till the time of their trans- 

 formation into flies. She then paftes up the mouth of the 

 hole, and leaves her future offspring to the provlfion flie 

 hag made for them. 



The bees of that fpecies which build cylindrical nefts with 

 rofe-lcaves, exhibit a very peculiar inftindl. They firft dig a 

 cylindrical hole In the earth. When that operation Is finlili- 

 ed, they go in quell of rofe-bufhes ; and, after fele6ling 

 leaves proper for their purpofe, they cut oblong, curved, and 

 even round pieces, exadlly fuited to form the different parts 

 of the cylinderlj. "^ 



The folitary wafp digs holes in the fand. In each hole flie 

 depolits an egg. But how is the worm, after it is hatched, 

 to be nourilhed ? Here the inftln^l of the mother merits 



f Ibid, page 320. t Ibid, page 340- 



( Ibid. torn. iQ. page 124, |j Reaumur, torn, x i. page 138. 



