VOL. LXXXII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TKANSACTIONS. 155 



Vlll. Observations on Bees. By John Hunter, Esq., F, R. S. p. 128. 



Of the Common Bee. — The common bee, from a number of peculiarities in its 

 economy, has called forth the attention of the curious ; and from the profit arising 

 from its labours it has become the object of the interested; therefore no wonder 

 it has excited universal attention, even from the savage to the most civilized peo- 

 ple : but it has hardly been considered by the anatomist ; at least the 1 modes of 

 investigation have not gone so much hand in hand, as they ought to have done. 



The history of the bee has rather been considered as a fit subject for the curious 

 at large, whence more has been conceived, than observed. Swammerdam indeed 

 has rather erred on the other side, having, with great industry, been very minute 

 on the particular structure of the bee. I shall here observe, that it is commonly 

 not only unnecessary to be minute in our description of parts in natural history, 

 but in general improper. It is unnecessary, when it does not apply to any thing 

 but the thing itself, more especially if it be of no consequence ; but whenever it 

 applies, then it should so far be treated accurately. Minutiae beyond what is 

 essential, tire the mind, and render that which should entertain along with in- 

 struction, heavy and disagreeable ; the more so too, if the parts are small, where 

 the sense can only take them in singly, and the mind can hardly comprehend the 

 whole, or apply all the parts combined to any consequent action. This has been 

 too much the case with Swammerdam: he often attempted too much aecuracy in 

 his description of minute things. But the natural history of insects has not been 

 sufficiently understood at large, so as to throw light on this subject where there 

 was an analogy, and where, without such analogy, it must appear in the bee 

 alone unintelligible, from the obscurity attending some parts of their economy ; 

 for there is hardly any species of animals but what has some of its economy ob- 

 scure ; and probably this is as much so in this insect, as in any other class of 

 animals we are at one season of the year almost daily seeing ; yet these parts of 

 the economy may be evident in some other species of the same tribe or genus, and 

 thus be cleared up, from analogy, so that the species assist each other in their de- 

 monstration. This is evident in the whole tribe of flying insects, for what is lost, 

 or cannot be made out in the one, may be demonstrated in another : and we find 

 there are some things in the economy of the bee that cannot be seen or demon- 

 strated in it alone, but which are evident in some other insects ; and while they 

 possess the same parts, and other circumstances are similar, we must conclude 

 the uses of those parts are similar in both ; for whenever a circumstance in one 

 animal cannot be found out in that animal, but can in another, then the natural 

 conclusion is, that the uses are similar in both. 



Though the bee may be classed in some degree among the domestic animals, 

 yet from there being such a cluster of them, and because they are an offensive 

 and irritable animal, their actions are rendered very obscure, and can only be ob- 



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