OF NATURAL HISTORY. 151 



The oftrich has been accufed of unnaturalnefs, becaufe fhe leaves 

 her eggs to be hatched by the heat of the fun. In Senegal, where 

 the heat is great, fhe negle£ts her eggs during the day, but fits upon 

 them in the night. At the Cape of Good Hope, however, where 

 the degree of heat is lefs, the oftrich, like other birds, fits upon her 

 eggs both day and night. 



Rabbits dig holes in the ground for warmth and protedlion. But, 

 after continuing long in a domeftic ftate, that refource being unne- 

 ceffary, they feldom employ this art *. 



Bees, when they have not room enough for their operations, aug- 

 ment the depth of their honey-cells "f. The female bee, when the 

 cells are not fufEciently numerous to receive her eggs, lays two or 

 three in each cell. But, a few days after, when the cells are in- 

 creafed, the working bees remove all the fupernumerary eggs, and 

 depofit them in the new conftrudled cells +. 



When a wafp, in attempting to tranfport a dead companion from 

 the neft, finds the load too heavy, he cuts off its head, and carries, 

 it out in two portions j|. 



In countries infefted with monkeys, many birds, which, in other 

 climates, build in buflies and the clefts of trees, fufpend their nefts 

 upon flender twigs, and, by this ingenious device, elude the rapaci- 

 ty of their enemies. 



The nymphs of water-moths, commonly called cod-bait, cover 

 themfelves, by means of gluten, with pieces of wood, ftraw, fmall 



fhells, 



* Gazette Liter, torn. 3. pag. 228. f Reaumur, torn. 10. pag. ■2£j». 



% Ibid. pag. 240, II Ibid. torn. u. pag. 241, 



