OF NATURAL HISTORY. 95 



galls employed in the compofition of ink.— This order likewife in- 

 cludes the walp, the bee, and the ant. Many of the waf^i kind, like 

 the bees, live in fociety, make combs in which the females depofit 

 their eggs, and feed their caterpillars with an inferior fpecies of 

 honey. Others of them conftrua: a feparate neft for each individual 

 egg. — The bee is an infedl: too well known to require a particular 

 defcription. The males have no fting ; but the females, and the 

 drones, or neuters, have a very fharp pointed fting concealed in their 

 abdomen. The female of the honey bee is much larger than the 

 male, or the neuter. Her feelers contain fifteen articulations. Her 

 abdomen is compofed of feven fegments, and is much longer than 

 her wings. The feelers of the male contain only eleven articula- 

 tions. The neuters are much fmaller than the males or females, 

 and their feelers confift of fifteen articulations. — The fting, with 

 which the male and female ants are armed, is concealed within the 

 abdomen. The males and females of the ant are furnifhed with 

 wings, but the neuters are deprived of thefe inftruraents of motion. 

 The ants live in focieties which are compofed of males, females, 

 and neuters. The males are much fmaller than the females and 

 neuters. Soon after the males and females propagate the fpecies, 

 they all die. Some of the neuters, however, furvive the winter ; 

 but they remain in their habitation without movement, or difcover- 

 ing any figns of life. From thefe circumftances in the hiftory of 

 ants, it is apparent, that the induftry and fagacity fo long and fo 

 univerfally afcribed to thefe little animals could be of no ufe either 

 to themfelves or their progeny. The female, after depofiting her 

 eggs, takes no farther care of her offspring. But, what is fingular, 

 the important office of feeding the larn^ae, or caterpillars, after the 

 eggs are hatched, is left entirely to the neuters. This affedionate 

 and afliduous attention of the neuters to a progeny neither begot 

 nor brought forth by them, is fo aftonifhing, fo contrary to the ge- 

 neral oeconomy of Nature, that no reafoning or theory can account 



for 



