88 
MEMO IE OF 
batter of the consistence of a jelly, or something 
thicker ; of a middle colour, between syrup of 
violets, and the conserve of red roses, of an acid 
taste, and unpleasant smell. In each of these, at 
the concave end, there lies one bee-maggot, 
which feeds upon the forementioned matter till it 
grows to its full bigness, and then makes and 
encloseth herself in a theca or husk of a dark red 
colour, and ovate figure, in which she is changed 
into a bee ; the remainder of her food you may 
find dried into powder at the convex end, and her 
excrements at the concave without the theca. 
The bees I found in your box (which are the only 
ones I have yet seen) were of a shorter and thicker 
shape than the common honey bee, more hairy, 
&c. But the surest mark to distinguish them is, 
that the forcipes or teeth of these are bigger, 
broader, and stronger ; in shape like those of a 
wasp or hornet ; from which she also sufficiently 
differs in having a tongue like a bee, which they 
want. 
“ The}' made their way out along the channel 
thorough all the intermediate cartrages, and not 
thorough the solid wood. Of the corruption of 
the matter within the cases, when the bee mag- 
gots or nympha? happen to miscarry, are bred 
like little hexapods, which produce beetles, mag- 
gots which produce flies, mites, &c. From what 
hath been observed concerning this tree, and by 
a great many more parallel instances, we may 
answer the quaere of some that have written of 
bees, whether it be the old bee or the bee maggot 
