34 * 
OF INSECTS IN GENERAL. 
Fully afcertained by the hillory of the common domeftic 
bee : all thofe which are employed in colledting the ho- 
ney, and conftru&ing the cells, and which conftitute by 
lar the greater part of the hive, are of the clafs ot neu- 
ters, to whom nature has denied the power of propagat- 
ing their kind. It is only upon the drones, and one or 
two females in each hive, that lhe has conferred the 
fexual dlftin&ion, and the powers of generation. 
Hitherto we have uniformly beheld animals either 
male or female ; and the neuters of the order of hyme- 
r.optera which form the full exception to the general 
Jaw of nature, appear not only an anomalous but a de- 
fective race. The hiflory of infedts exhibits another in- 
flance of animals deviating from this rule, from a diffe- 
rent caufe. All the animals belonging to that genus, 
termed the aphus puceron , appear to be hermaphrodites of 
the mod perfefi kind: A fmgle animal of this tribe, 
though kept in the mod careful manner from every other, 
will propagate its kind by itfelf ; and if the offspring 
thus produced be preferved, it will alfo breed. An in- 
genious naturalifl has well afcertained this fa£t by expe- 
riments, which he has repeated to the ninth generation*. 
This mode of generation, fo different from that effedt- 
ed by the joint co-operation of the fexes, natttralifts have 
aferibed to a different power, fomething refembling that 
pofl'efled by the vegetable tribes ; We have already, how- 
ever, feen inftan.ces of animals among whom fecundation 
by the male, impregnated the females for feveral gene- 
rations. If that faft'be well afcertained, it will explain 
the peculiarity of that tribe, without invefting it with 
powers fo different from all thofe poffeffed by the reft of 
the animal kingdom. 
* M. Bonliet. 
Infects 
