346 THE PHILOSOPHY 



hatched. When the worms efcape from the eggs, they are fed for 

 eight or ten days with honey by the working bees. After that pe- 

 riod they fhut up the mouths of the cells, where the worms conti- 

 nue inclofed for ten days more, during which time they undergo 

 their different transformations. 



' I immerfed,' fays Mr Debraw, 'all the bees in water; and, 



• when thpy appeared to be in a fenfelefs ftate, I gently prefled every 

 ' one of them between my fingers, in order to diftinguifti thofe 

 ' armed with flings from thofe that had none, which lafl I might 

 ' fufped to be males. Of thefe I found fixty-feven, exadly of the 

 ' fize of common bees, yielding a little whitifh liquor on being pref- 

 ' fed between the fingers. I killed every one, and replaced the 

 ' fwarm in a glafs-hive, where they immediately applied again to 

 ^ the work of making cells ; and, on the fourth or fifth day, very 



* early in the morning, I had the pleafure to fee the queen-bee de- 

 ' pofiting her eggs in thofe cells, which fhe did by placing the po- 

 *• fterior part of her body in each of them. I continued to watch 

 ' moft part of the enfuing days, but could difcover nothing of what 

 ' I had feen before. The eggs, after the fourth day, inftead of 

 ' changing in the manner of caterpillars, were found in the fame 

 ' ftate they were in the firfl; day.' The next day about noon, the 

 whole fwarm forfook the hive, probably becaufe the animals per- 

 ceived, that, without the affiftance of males, they were unqualified 

 to multiply their fpecies. To fhow the neceffity of the eggs being 

 fecundated by the male influence, Mr Debraw relates an experiment 

 fiill more decifive.. 



' I took,' fays he, ' the brood- comb, which, as I obferved before, 

 '•had not been impregnated; I divided it into two parts; one I 

 '' placed under a glafs-bell, No, i. with honey-comb for the bees 

 ' food ; I took care to leave a queen, but no drones, among the com^ 



