160 The BOOK of 
On the twenty-fecond of Auguft 1673, I 
opened a Bee-hive, after the Bees had {warmed, 
I found fome thoufands of common Bees in it, 
fome hundred drones, and one king. But as, 
properly {peaking, neither king nor drones are 
to be found in the hives, as has been already 
obferved ; and fince it happened, through a very 
great and inexcufable error, that thofe wrong 
names were given to thofe creatures, 1 would 
therefore here in the beginning infotm the 
reader, that through this whole treatife I fhall 
call that pretended king by the name of the 
female Bee; and to that which is commonly 
called the drone, I fhall give the title of the 
male Bee, and the common Bees, I fhall, for 
diftin€tion’s fake, denominate working Bees: I 
fhall alfo in the following pages, {hew the very 
clear and evident reafons which have induced 
me to make this innovation. 
When I had opened and deftroyed a hive at 
the time above-mentioned, befides the males, 
females and working Bees, I found therein three 
different {pecies of cells, or little houfes of the 
infects, which are called by the general name 
of honey-combs. In fome hundreds of thefe 
ceils the males were fed and grew, in fome few, 
females were generated; and in the reft, of 
which there were fome thoufands, the common 
Bees were nourifhed, brought up, and finally 
changed. ‘The cells of the males and females 
were are this time empty, but the cells of 
the common Bees, though they feemed for the 
moft part empty, were many of them really 
full and covered with wax. When I broke 
thefe cells open with a {mall needle fixed on a 
skewer, I found fome of the Worms of the 
Bees placed upright without any motion. In 
fome other cells that were covered in the fame 
manner, there were Nymphs or Worms of 
Bees, which, by due accretion, had already 
acquired the form of Bees, and were to be let 
out from thence. In others I found honey. 
The reft of the cells were open, and not covered 
or fealed up; and fome of them had eggs, 
others contained Worms very lately hatched 
out of their eggs, and provided on every fide 
of them with food: others again had larger 
Worms ; and finally, others were arrived at 
their full bignefs. Thefe are called the offspring 
or ftock, by the keepers of Bees in our coun- 
try, and they had yellow excrements under 
them. 
In the middle between thefe eggs and the 
ftock, were feen fome little cells alfo fealed up, 
which, when I opened, I found filled with 
honey; for the Bees never leave any place empty 
in their hive, but as foon as any Worm is 
changed into a Bee, theyimmediately fill its cell 
with fomething elfe. ‘Therefore, if the combs 
in the upper part of the hive are firft emptied 
NG Ae TW .Revk 3 cor 
of the young Bees, they firft put their honey 
into them; but if thofe in the combs in the 
_ middle of the hive become mature before the 
others, they firft fill them with honey: and 
laftly, when the combs of the loweft part of 
the hive are emptied, they in the fame manner 
fill them before the others with honey: but 
they afterwards carry the honey repofited there 
to the upper part of the hive. This Clutitis 
obferved;. but I have not yet feen it. The 
Bees proceed in this manner, when the year 
is fruitful, in order to fhorten the time, fo as to 
enable them to gather the more honey, or 
when they are more numerous in the hive ; for 
then they immediately lay the honey as foon 
as there is room, and afterwards, when the 
time of making honey is paft, they carry it 
elfewhere. 
This hive, therefore, as a common and 
fraternal habitation, contained the rudiments 
and ftock, the males and females, with their 
labouring fervants, that is, the common Bees ; 
and laftly, plenty of food. Therefore it was 
well provided and prepared to bear fecurely, 
and, in a regular order, the inclemency of the 
approaching winter. ‘The order under which 
the Bees that live in the winter months con- 
duct themfelves is this: they frft open the 
cells and eat the honey depofited in the loweft 
part of the hive, afcending by degrees up to 
the upper parts. This they do in order to 
preferve a mutual warmth between them ; 
and the female depofits her eggs in the little 
cells as they are emptied. Therefore about — 
the beginning of March I difcovered the ftock 
and the Nymph. Let no one be furprifed at 
this, fince towards the beginning of Auguft I 
have feen fome thoufand eggs enclofed in the 
ovary in the female’s body ; fo that it is natu- 
ral for the Bees at any time of the year to lay 
their eggs, and increafe their family. Bees are 
not therefore confined to the time of {warming 
in regard to the bufinefs of generation ; indeed, 
they are always at this work, fince they lofe 
fome of their fellow-citizens by the injuries 
of rain and winds, and other inconveniences 
and diforders; in the place of which they are 
obliged to fubftitute young ones by a con- 
tinued generation. 
Our keepers of Bees are wont to exprefs 
by the following proverb, how foon the young 
Bees are hatched, when they fay, that the 
firft Swallow and the firft Bee give notice of 
each other *. There are fome, indeed, who ° 
think this fhould be underftood of the flying 
off of Bees, but this does not feem to be the 
proper fignification of the proverb. 
We mutt obferve here, that fome of the 
cells in the hives are filled with a matter of 
various colours, which has been gathered and 
* Among the wonders in the real ceconomy of Bees, nothing more deferves our attention than the certain prefage they have 
of rain. It has been fuppofed they fee clouds gathering for it, and know where they will fall, but their eyes are not made 
for fo remote objects. It is certain they have fame notice, and that it never deceives them. They haften to the hive and get 
in before the moit fudden fhowers. One never fees a Bee in the rain, uniefs it be a lame or difabled drone. In all probability 
they feel the temperature of the air which brings rain; and if we obferve the amazing ftruéture of their pulmonary tubes, as 
defcribed by this author, there will appear no wonder that they feel very fuddenly all changes in the atmofphere. 
aid 
