THE BEE. 5H 



lyith which the bees have been well acquainted fron^ 

 time immemorial *. 



The teeth with which thefe infects are provided, ferve 

 another purpofe equally important ; they are the iuftru- 

 ments by which they falhionand give a proper coiidflenjy 

 to the wax. That valuable co-nmodity is not found in a 

 perfe£l ftate upon the flowers, as many have Imagined j 

 it is there fcattered upon the furface In the form of a fine 

 powder or dull, and fwept off bv the hairy legs of the ' 

 bee, and depoiited in a hollow part of each thigh, pre* 

 pared for its reception. A-fter being carried in that form 

 into the hive, it is all ate up by the bee ; and by the ac* 

 tion of the llomach is brought into ihe flate of genuine 

 wax. From the llomach, the working bee brings it 

 back in fmall parcels to the mouth, like a ruminnting 

 animal ; and, by chewing it there, fafhions it into pieces 

 proper for the conilru£lion of the cell, to which it is ap- 

 plied, and afterwards polilhed as the lituation requires. 



That fmali fcaly fpine, commonly termed the ftmg of 

 Ithe bee, is only the cafe of two needles or darts, ex- 

 tremely fine, and each dentated towards the point. The 

 wounds made by ihefe flender arms would be little to be 

 apprehended, were their points not impolfoned by a fmall 

 drop of acrid liquor. This liquor, which, vv'htn tailed, 

 burns the tongue, is conveyed along a fmall canal to the 

 cale of the iHng, on the tip of which it appears m fmall 

 drops, when the bee intends to make ufe of her offenfive 

 weapons. However difagreeable this inftrument may 

 fometimes prove to us, it is abfolutely nectiFary to the 

 bee, furrounded as that aniinal continually is v/ith many 



enemies, 



* The diligence of the bee is often alluded to in ancient poetry. 

 ,Apis rnantina; more modoq. grata carpentis thynia. Her. 



