A P 
lar year of 365 days, was alfo regarded as the genius who 
E refided over the overflowing of the river. The priefts, 
y fixing the courfe of his life to 25 years, and by mak¬ 
ing the installation of a new Apis concur with the re¬ 
newal of the period above-mentioned, had probably per¬ 
ceived, as the rcfu.lt of long meteorological observations, 
that this revolution always brought about abundant fea- 
fons. Nothing was better calculated to procure a favour¬ 
able reception of this emblematical deity from the people, 
fince his birth was a prefage to them of a happy inunda¬ 
tion, and of all the treafures of teeming nature. The So¬ 
lemnity of this inauguration was called Apparition. That 
which was renewed every year towards the 12th or 13th 
of the month Payn, which correfponds with the 17th 
or 18th of June, was called the birth of Apis. It was a 
time of rejoicing, which Ailian deferibes in the following 
manner : “ What feltivals ! what Sacrifices take place in 
Egypt at the commencement of the inundation ! It is 
then that all the people celebrate the birth of Apis. It 
would be tedjpus to deferibe the dances, the rejoicing's, 
the fhows, the banquets, to which the Egyptians abandon 
themfelyes on this occafion, and impofiible to exprefs the 
intoxication of joy which breaks forth in all the towns of 
the kingdom.” 
Dr. Bryant, however, apprehends, that the name of Apis 
was an Egyptian term for a father; that it referred to the 
patriarch Noah ; and that the crefcent which was ufually 
marked on the fide of the animal was a representation 
of the ark. 
A'PIS [from a, priv. and mu;, a foot, becaufe they are 
born without feet; or from apio, to knit together, becaufe 
they colled together in fwarms ; or from o<pt?> a ferpent, 
on account of their firings. Ape, Ital. abeja, Span, abelha, 
Portuguefe.] The Bee ; in entomology, a genus belong¬ 
ing to the order of hymenoptera. The mouth is furniflied 
with two jaws, and a probofeis infolded in a double 
fheath ; the wings are four in number, the two foremoft 
covering thofe behind when at reft: in the anus or tail 
of the females and working bees there is a hidden firing. 
Thefe infects are diftinguifhed into Several fpecies, each 
of which has its peculiar genius, talent, manners, and dis¬ 
position. Variety prevails in the order of -their architec¬ 
ture, and in the nature of their materials. Some live 
in Society, and Share the toils; Such are the common bee 
and the drone. Others dwell and work in Solitude, build¬ 
ing the cradles of their families ; as the leaf-cutter bee does 
with the rofe-tree leaf, the upholfterer wdth the gaudy 
tapeftry of the corn-rofe, the mafon-bee with a plafter, 
the wood-piercer with faw-duft. All are employed in 
their little hermitage, with the care of providing for the 
wants of their posterity. The fpecies enumerated by 
Gmelin are 212 ; of which the following are the mod re¬ 
markable : 
1. Apis fioriformis, the black bee, with a cylindrical 
incurvated belly, having two toothed-like protuberances 
at the anus, and a kind of prickles on the hind-legs. This 
bee Sleeps in flowers. 
2. Apis dentata, the Shining green bee, with black 
wings, and a kind of teeth on the hind thighs. The tongue 
of this bee is almoft as long as its body. 
3. Apis variegata: the breaft and belly are variegated 
•with white and black Spots ; the legs are of an iron co¬ 
lour. It is a native of Europe. This Species Sleeps in the 
geranium phaeum, or Spotted crane’s-bill. 
4. Apis roftrata; the upper lip inflected and of a coni¬ 
cal Shape, and the belly invefted with bluilh belts. They 
build their nefts in high Sandy grounds, and there is but 
one young in each nelt. 
5. Apis ferruginea, the Smooth black bee, with the 
feelers, mouth, belly, and feet, of an iron colour. This 
is a Small bee, and fuppofed to be of an intermediate kind 
between the bee and waS'p. It is a native of Europe. 
6. Apis carioSa, the yellowish hairy bee: feet and front 
•of a bright yellow colour. It builds in the rotten trees 
©f Europe. 
7. Apis bafilianorum, the pale-red hairy bee, with the 
•3 
I 
balls of the thighs black. This is a very large bee, every 
where covered with a teftaceous Skin. It is a native of 
America. 
8. Apis lapidaria, the red hairy bee, with a yellow 
anus, builds in holes of rocks. 
9. Apis terreftris, the humble bee : black and hairy, with 
a white belt round the breaft, and a white anus ; it builds 
its neft very deep in the earth. 
10. Apis violacea, is a red bee, and very hairy, with 
bluiSh wings. It is a native of Europe; it is faid to per¬ 
forate trees, and hollow them out in a longitudinal 
dire&ion ; they begin to build their cells at the bottom 
bf thefe holes, and depofit an egg in each cell, which is 
compofed of the farina of plants and honey, or a kind of 
gluten. 
11. Apis mufeorum, a yellow hairy bee with a white 
belly, builds in moSTy grounds. 
12. Apis centuncularis, the leaf-cutter, or black bee, 
having its belly covered with yellow down. The nefts 
of this fpecies are made of leaves curioufly plaited in the 
form of a mat or quilt. There are feveral varieties, all 
equally induftrious. 
13. Apis melliSica, the domeftic honey-bee, an infefl 
whofe hiftory has been the fubjeff of many volumes. 
Almoft every writer on entomology has made the man¬ 
ners and economy of thefe animals a confiderable part of 
his work ; and many authors have treated of them, who 
have entered into no other department of natural hiftory. 
The celebrated Reaumur, in detailing the economy of 
thefe animals, an object to which he applied himfelf with 
a perfeverance fuperior to all mankind, has abftrafted 
much of the marvellous from their hiftory; hut in return 
he has enlarged it with many fafts and oblervations for¬ 
merly unknown, and which fucceeding experiments have 
feldom contradicted. 
There are, of the domeftic bee, at certain feafons of 
the year, three kinds in every hive; the males, the fe¬ 
males, and the bees without fex. The latter every perfon 
is acquainted with ; their number is beyond comparifon 
greater than that of the other two kinds. Nature feems 
to have deftined them folely for the purpofe of labour; 
and the whole drudgery of the hive lies upon them ; 
hence they have properly been termed working bees. It is 
only during one or two months of the fummer, when 
the hive is mod crowded, that males are found in it; and 
even then, they do not amount to a tenth part of the 
whole : but they are of a fuperior fize. During the 
whole courfe of the fealon, except a few days, there is 
only a lingle female to be difeovered in the moft nume ¬ 
rous hive. Her fecundity, however, is fo prodigious, 
that flie is foon capable of multiplying her family to fuch 
a degree, that the hive can no longer contain it. To 
her the whole fwarm, amounting from twenty to forty 
thoufand, owe their birth. Her refidence is generally in 
the interior apartments of the lodging ; when fhe fliovvs 
herfelf, llie is readily known by her fize, being longer 
than even the male bees, but inferior in thicknefs. It is 
this female whom the ancients dignified with the title of 
king of the bees, and whom, with more propriety, the 
moderns have denominated their queen. From a number 
of well-attelted experiments and obfervations, it appears 
that her life is more precious than any of the reft ; for 
file is the foul of all their operations. If a hive is de¬ 
prived of her, however numerous, it will undertake no 
labour ; and the individuals will hardly give themfelves 
the trouble of collecting their daily fubfiftence. A fwarm, 
bufil)' employed from morning to night conftniCring cells 
and coliefling wax, immediately upon this accident feem 
to forget that the flowers contain their food ; they fcarcely 
ftir from the hive, conftruft no new cells, nor even finifh 
what was begun ; but, the moment fhe is reftored, their 
wontedfpirit and activity is refumed by the whole fwarm. 
The external parts of bees are happily accommodated, 
by their ltrucrure, to the delicate operations they are de¬ 
ftined to perform. Each of them is furniihed with a trunk 
or probofeis, commonly folded up, but capable of being 
extended 
