Microscopical Essays^ 



285. 



large an edifice muft be very great, as the bee can only carry a, 

 few grains at a time. The exterior form is rude and irregular, 

 but the conftru&ion and art exhibited in the interior parts make 

 up for this feeming defect ; it is generally divided into twelve or 

 fifteen cells, feparated from each other by a thick wall ; in each 

 of thefe an egg is depofited by the parent bee. The cells are not 

 conftru&ed, all at once, for when one is fimlhedfhe places an egg 

 therein, with a fufficient quantity of honey to nourifh the larva ; 

 me then builds another. When the infefi: is arrived at a* proper 

 ftate, it penetrates through it's inclofures by means of it's ftrong 

 jaws. When all the bees have quitted the nefl, there are as many 

 holes on the furface thereof as there are cells within. We find no 

 neutral bees among this fpecies,.. or at lead we do not know of any 

 being yet difeovered.. 



Another fpecies of the folitary bee (apis centuncularis, Linn.) 

 eonftru&s her neft in pieces of rotten wood, and has therefore 

 been called the carpenter bee. * She divides it into ftages, dif- 

 pofing them fometimes in three rows, with partitions curioufly 

 left between each 5 in thefe {he depofits her eggs, with the food; 

 neceffary for the young ones when hatched. They feparate the 

 wood in a very expeditious manner, by dividing it's ligneous, 

 fibres, or threads, till they have made a proper fized hole.. 



The art and fagacity difplayed by another bee, f whofe neft is 

 conftruaed of fmgle pieces of leaves, is truly wonderful. The 

 neft itfelf is cylindrical, formed of feveral cells, placed one within 

 the -other as thimbles are in a. Hardware mop. The cells confift 



* GeofFroy Hift. abregee des Infeftes, torn. 2, p. 401. 



f, Reaumur Memoires pour l'Hiftoire des Infeftes, torn. 6, par. i, p.i 22, 



