186 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1792. 



much larger than in the humble bee. This we suppose necessary, considering 

 the vast number of eggs the common bee lays, more than the humble bee does. 

 The external parts of generation of the male bee are rather more under the belly 

 than in the others of this tribe; not so much at the termination of the belly; 

 and they are rather more exposed, the last 1 scales, especially the under one, 

 not projecting so much: the 2 holders are not so projecting beyond their base, 

 nor are they so hooked, or sharp, as in the humble bee; hardly deserving the 

 name of holders. From the external parts, passes up into the abdomen a pretty 

 large sheath, whose termination incloses the glans penis. It is a bulbous part, 

 having a dark coloured horny part on it, which has 2 processes near its opening 

 externally, one on each side, of a yellow colour: it has another process, which 

 is white, and seems to be a gland. It can be made to pass along this sheath, or 

 prepuce, and appear externally : I have been able, with a pair of forceps, to in- 

 vert the sheath, beginning externally at the mouth, and pulling out a little at a 

 time, by shifting my hold, till the glans has appeared externally. 



The internal parts are the testicles, with their appendages. The testicles are 

 2 small oblong bodies, lying near the back, having a vast number of air-vessels 

 passing into them, and ramifying on them. They are of a pale yellowish colour. 

 From their lower ends pass down ducts, which may be called vasa deferentia, and 

 which enter 2 bags: these 2 bags, into which the vasa deferentia enter, are pro- 

 bably reservoirs for the semen. From the union of these 2 bags passes out a 

 duct, which runs towards the termination of the abdomen, and ends in the 

 penis. These 3 parts, namely, testicles with their ducts, the 2 bags, and the 

 duct arising from them, which I have termed urethra, are all folded on each 

 other, so as to appear as one body. 



In the introduction to this account of bees I observed, that several things in 

 their economy might escape us if we considered them alone, but might be made 

 out in other insects: an instance of this occurs in the impregnation of the female 

 bee. The death of the males in the month of August, so that not one is left, 

 and yet the queen to breed in the month of March, must puzzle any one not 

 acquainted with the mode of impregnation of the females of most insects. In- 

 sects, respecting the males, are of 2 kinds: one, where the male lives through 

 the winter, as well as the female; and the other, where every male of that species 

 dies before the winter comes on; among which may be considered, as a 3d, those 

 where both male and female die the same year. Of the first, I shall only give 

 the common fly as an instance; of the 2d, I shall just mention all of the bee 

 tribe; and the 3d may be illustrated in the silk-worm. The mode of impregna- 

 tion in the first, is its being continued uninterruptedly through the whole period 

 of laying eggs; while in the 2d, the copulation is in store; and, in the 3d the 

 female lays u[), by the copulation, a store of semen, though the male is alive: 



