org Microscopical Essays. 



them, till at laft he brought his treatife of bees to the wifhed-for 

 perfection, a work which all the ages, from the commencement 

 of natural hiltory to our own times, have produced nothing to 

 equal, nothing to compare with it.* " Read it, fays the great 

 Boerhaave, confider it, and then judge for yourfelf." Reaumur, 

 however, thought he had in fome meafure removed the veil, and 

 explained their manner of generating : he fuppofes the queen bee 

 to be the only female in the hive, and the mother of the next 

 generation ; that the drones are the males, by which fhe is fecun- 

 dated ; and that the working bees, or thofe that collect wax on 

 the flowers, that knead it, and form from it the combs and cells, 

 which they afterwards fill with honey, are of neither fex. The 

 queen bee is known by it's fize, being generally much larger than 

 the working bee or the drone. 



f* High on her throne, the bright imperial queen 

 Gives the prime movement to the ftate machine : 

 She in the fubjeci fees the duteous child ; 

 She the true parent, as the regent mild ; 

 With princely grace inverted fits elate, 

 Informs their conduct, and directs the ftate. 



* * * * * * * * 



* * * * * * * * . 

 The cluttering populace obfequious wait, 



Or fpread the different orders of the ftate ; 

 Here greet the labourer on the toilfome way, 

 And to the load their friendly {boulders lay j 

 Or frequent at the bufy gate arrive, 

 And fill with amber fweets their fragrant hive ; 



Or 



* Boerhaave's Life of Swammerdam. 



