BEE 



nets of lifL", the Formation of tlieir neRs, and many otlici' par- 

 ticulars. Some are called leaf-cutters, others wood-picrccrs, 

 mafons, earth-diggers, &c. correfponding with what the 

 French call " abeilles coupeufes, abeilles pierce-bois, abeilles 

 ma^onnes, abeilles qui creufent la terre, Sic. Under each of 

 thefe families many fpecies are arranged by entomologifts. 

 A fimilar mode of nidiiication (it has been well remarked) 

 may be, and indeed very often is the charafteriftic of a fa- 

 mily, or rather that of a fpecies ; thus the cells of the diffe- 

 rent fpecies of bombanitrices are compofed of fimilar mate- 

 rials, and rcfemble each other in form ; and the various ge- 

 nuine fpecies of the genus Vespa {IVaJ'p) conftruft cells, 

 for the moll part, of the fame figure, and employ the fame 

 kind of inaterials, according to Reaumur ; the mode of ni- 

 diiication, therefore, (hould never be aflunied as charaiiteriftic 

 of a fpecies, but after the moil mature confidcfation, and the 

 clofeft inveftigation of its hillory ; for it generally happens 

 that thofe infeits which agree together in habit, and be- 

 long to the fame natural divifions or fubdivifions of a ge- 

 nus, are connedled likewife by their mode of life. 



Of the leaf-cutters there are feveral fpecies ; thefe are 

 fo named becaufe they cut the leaves of trees, chiefly thofe 

 of the rofe, into pieces of a convenient llze to compofe their 

 little cells, in whicli the eggs of the future brood aredepofited. 

 This defcription of bees is injurious ; the female perforates 

 the folid timber of trees in a furprifing manner in order to 

 place her egg; (which are carefully wrapped up in thcle cy- 

 lindrical pellets, if they may be fo termed, of leaves), within 

 the cavity. The hollow or pipe which fhe bores for their 

 reception is ufually about the thicknefs of a fmall finger, but 

 the depth is vei-y various, being from a few inches to a foot 

 or more ; the whole cavity is filled with thofe little pellets, 

 each of which contains an egg, with a provifion of honey 

 for the larva when hatched ; fo nicely are thefe pellets formed 

 that they precifely fit the cavity in diameter, and are placed 

 one above the other from the opening to the very bottom of 

 the cavity. Apis centuncularis is one of the fpecies belong- 

 ing to this natural family. There are others which belong 

 to it likewife, that conftrudl their cells in the fame manner, 

 of leaves, but place them in cylindrical cavities in the eaith, 

 inilead of timber. Some line or envelop their nidus with 

 the downy fubftance collefted from the woolly leaves of parr 

 ticular plants ; the tapeflry bee employs the tender petals of 

 the rofe to hue its cells, &c. The mafon bees are alfo fin- 

 gular for the mode of nidification which they adopt. Reau- 

 mur has entered at length into its hillory, a brief account of 

 which mnft clofe our general remarks upon the fubjeft for 

 the prefent, fince thefe mull be again repeated when fpeak- 

 ing of the refpeftive fpecies, or of the families to which thofe 

 habits are peculiar. — " The female of thefe bees (for the 

 males, like the drones of the hive -bee, do not work, and 

 thefe infefts have only two fexes) undertakes the whole la- 

 bour of the building, and is at the fame time both architect 

 and mafon. Her firfl Hep is to fix upon an angle, flieltered 

 by any projeftion, on the fouth fide of a ftoae wall. Some- 

 times (he contents herfelf with a more expofed part of the 

 lurface, where the ftone happens to be uneven, and fit for her 

 purpofe. Having chofen a fpot proper to receive the foun- 

 dations of the future manfions of her offspring, her next 

 care is to provide materials. As her houfe is to be built en- 

 tirely of a kind of mortar, the bafis of which mull be fand ; 

 fte is very curious in her choice of it, felefting it grain by 

 grain, from fuch as cor.tains feme mixture of earth. To 

 ihorten her labour, before ihe tranfports it for ufe, by means 

 of a kind of faliva, which is very vifcid, file glues as many 

 grains as fhe can carry into a httle mafs, about the fize of a 

 Imall fhot. Taking this up with her maxillx, (he conveys 

 it to the fpot flie has fised upon for the fcite of her «aftle. 



BEE 



A circular plane, compofed of many of thefe little maffi^s, 

 forms the bafis on wluL-h it is to becredled ; it contains from 

 three to eight cells, which are fimilar to each other in their 

 form, arid equal in dimenfions. Each cell is about an inch 

 in length, and fix lines in diameter; and, before its ori- 

 fice is clofed, in form refembles a thimble. When its walk 

 are raifed to a fufficicnt height, our little mafon lays up 

 in it a ftore of pollen feafoncd with honey, for the fulle- 

 nance of its future inhabitants ; fometimes the proportion 

 of honey is fo great that this provifion is entirely hquid. 

 This bufinefs fettled, (he depofits her egg, finiflies and co- 

 vers in the cell, and then proceeds to the ered'tion of a 

 fecond, which fhe furniflies and finiflies m the fame man- 

 ner, and fo on with refpeft to the whole neft. Thefe 

 cells are not placed in a line, or any regular order ; fome 

 are parallel with the wall, others are perpendicular to it, 

 and others are inclined to it at different angles ; this oc- 

 cafions fome empty fpaces between the cells, which this 

 laborious architedt fills up with the fame kind of cement, 

 and then bellows on the whole group a common covering, 

 made with coarfer grains of fand ; fo that at length the 

 neft becomes a mafs of mortar, very hard, and not eaCly 

 penetrated, even by the blade of a knife ; its form is more 

 or lefs oblong ; its colour depends on the colour of the 

 fand employed in its conftruftion." — Another fpecies fornrs 

 its nidus, with earth intermixed with chalk, upon ftonc 

 walls ; and a third for the fake of greater fecurity prefers tha 

 hollows and cavities in the ftone itfelffor this purpofe. 



Bees, Wild Honev, Hunting of. In the Philofophical 

 Tranfaftions, No. 376, Mr. Dudley fpeaks of a method of 

 hunting bees in order to difcover the fpot in which their 

 netts are fecreted, as praftifed fome years ago in the woods 

 of New England in America. It confifts merely in catching 

 a bee, then letting it fly, and duly obferving the way to 

 which it direfts its courfe : this points out to the hunter the 

 dire£lion in which the neft is to be fought after. To find 

 the diftance, he takes an ofF-fet of an hundred perches, and 

 then lets fly another bee, but which muft be of the fame neft; 

 and it is afterted, that the angle or point where thefe two 

 courfes interfeft, is the fpot in which the neft is concealed. 

 Bees, Sirarming of. See Swarm. 

 Bees, IFritsrs on. Many authors h:ive written on bees. 

 Among the ancients, Ariftomachus is faid to have ftudied 

 them fixty years. Phillifcus retired into a defert wood, that 

 he might have the opportunity of obferving them to better 

 advantage ; Ariftotle made a great number of curious obferva- 

 tions on this infeft, which Virgil has put into Latin verfe : 

 they have been enlarged and confirmed by Pliny and others. 

 Theophraftus has a fragment ftill extant, nt,-i jju'm-xv, ccnceitf 

 ing liees ; or as entitled in Laertius, Ilrfi /xs^i-C;-, of honey. 



Among the moderns, the number of writers who have 

 treated on bees is very great, a few only of which it will 

 be expedled in this place to mention. Prince Frederic Cefi, 

 inftitutor of the Roman Academy of Sciences, wrote ex- 

 prefsly on bees, as did alio Swammerdam, Maraldi, and Reau- 

 mur, each of whom have treated minutely of them. Schi- 

 rach is a diftinguilhcd writer on this fubjeft. Hattorff de- 

 ferves notice. Among the Englifli, Butler, Gurnay, Mills, 

 Levets, Thorley, Southern, Remnant, Rufden, Warder, 

 White, Wildman, Debraw, Hunter, and others, have pub- 

 lillied difcourfeson the management of bees, &c. Writers, 

 who have treated fcientifically of the fpecies in their entomo- 

 logical works, are fuch as Linnxus, Fabricius, GeoflVoy, 

 SchjEiTcr, Villicrs, Poda, Rcefel, De Geer, Fourcroy, Do. 

 novan, Coquebert, Sec. A monographia of b;es has lately- 

 appeared in this country by Kiiby, and another in France 

 about the fame time by Latreille. Nor fliould we omit to 

 mention feveral works of reputation on this fubjeit that have 

 Q_2 beea 



