533 
THE BEE. 
the fame fpecies : this is larger in hie, and more vafie- 
gated in colour : It conitrutts its neit in a halty manner, 
of piles of mofs, collected in the meadows. The vault- 
ed roof proves a fecurity againft rain, and the flooring of 
mofs below preferves the neit from damps. 
The female bee collects unwrought wax, and a fpecies 
of honey, in a few cells coarfely conftrudled, and there 
fhe lays her eggs ; the hive gradually inereafing, till it 
contain fifty or iixty bees, which, by the froils and rains 
of winter, are almoll wholly deilroyed. A few impreg- 
nated females furvive the feverity of the feafon, and build 
new ncils in the fpring, which are to be the cradles of 
new hives. Field mice, hornets, and ants, often plunder 
from thefe induftrious animals the little veffels of honey 
which they had laid up for the winter f. 
f Barbut, p. 268. 
