Ml C R'OS'COP IC AL ESSA'YS. gQj 



M. Reaumur thinks it is ufed as a tongue to lap up the fluid 

 which is conveyed down between, the fheath to the mouth of the 1 

 Bee. To prove this, he placed a bee in a glafs tube, the infide of 

 which was rubbed, over with honey, and little pieces- thereof pla- 

 ced in different parts ; he obferved the trunk lying on the honey, 

 the end thereof being flretched beyond the honeyed heap,; fhe 

 bends it into the form of a bow, and inferts the moil convex part 

 of this bow into the liquor, and then rubs the glafs backwards 

 and forwards with the fame fide of the prohofcis, fo as very foon 

 to clean thai part of the glafs, to which fhe applies it. Ifcis after- 

 wards conveyed to the throat by the various vermicular motions 

 ©f the probofcis. Thofe-who wilh for a fuller account of this 

 curious apparatus, will do well to confult the interefting. memoirs - 

 of M. de Reaumur, who has, with a wonderful fagacity, dis- 

 covered the principal fprings of this aftonifliing machine. He has 

 there defcribed more than twenty parts of which it is made, and 

 almoft given a complete anatomy of this little, organ. Like a 

 workman who takes to pieces a watch which he himfelf has 

 made, he lays before us the feveral pieces, makes us remark their 

 fitnefs, their adjustment, their ufes, the play of their fprings, 

 pivots, and pillars; for all thefe parts, .and many more, are to be 

 found in the probofcis of the bee. . 



Of, the Wings- of< Insects, 



The attentive obferver will find a very pleafmg variety of oh- 

 jeds in the wings of different- infeds.- The beauty of their 

 colours, the delicacy of their ftru&ure, the ait with which they, 

 are connected to the body, the curious manner in which fome are 

 folded .up, the admirable texture of their joints, imprefs on the 



