The HIS FOR Yo 6 EN SE CT 8, 
wax. The Bees, therefore, ufe the fame pre- 
caution in refpect to their imperfect cells, as 
if any perfon fhould cover the extreme edges 
or borders of the tender and broken fides of 
a glafs cup with fealing wax, in order to 
ftrengthen it and handle it with lefs danger. 
The cells of the males are one third lefs 
than thofe of the common Bees, but they are 
made in the fame manner; and they are 
commonly placed in the loweft part of the 
comb; for they are built after all the other 
cells are finified ; fometimes there are three 
hundred, four hundred, or even more of thefe 
in one hive, but often fewer. The Bee-keepers 
attribute the fmaller number of thefe cells to 
the drynefs of the year, and the greater num- 
ber to plenty of rain in the air: hence they 
fay that a great number of males in a hive is 
a fign of a very wet year. But thefe are mere 
fancies, arifing from a notion, that the Bees, 
when the feafons are dry, are intent only on 
gathering honey; and, on the contrary, in 
wet feafons, mind principally generation, but 
though thofe perfons have kept Bees fifty 
years, they underftand nothing of the bufi- 
nefs of their generation, nor do they know 
what fort of a creature the breeding Bee is, 
for they call it the male. I would not have 
it underftood here, that the number of the 
cells which I exhibit is abfolute and exaé, 
for I have made the calculation in general 
from their numbers ; nor have I even, very 
accurately, counted them all. 
There are fometimes thirty female cells 
found in onehive few are perfect, but a great 
many unfinifhed ; their ftruGture is not regular, 
but they are for the moft part oblong, and 
roundifh, and fomewhat pear-fhaped: fome- 
times they are confiderably ftraighter, and havea 
lefs {welling than a pear, but others again are 
fomewhat more globular. Their external fur- 
face is unequal, rough, and marked or diftin- 
guifhed by little holes and exuberant promi- 
nences, and is conformed only to the figure 
of the comb. The infide of the cells of the 
common Bees has avery fmooth and polifhed 
furface ; but thefe differ again from them in 
that they form a cavity like that of a bottle or 
a {cooped pear ; from this fhape, they are very 
capacious, and furpafs in bignefs the cells of 
the common, and thofe of the male Bees. 
The females therefore have a much larger 
fpace than the other Bees to turn themfelves 
more freely in their cells; the reafon of this 
difference I fhall explain in its proper place. 
The cells of thefe females are ufually, nay, 
almoft always fituated near the borders and 
prominent extremities and edges of the hive, 
and are feldom found placed in'the center or 
in the middle between the other cells; all 
thefe particularities tend to certain ufeful ends, 
and therefore the laws of making them were 
not impreffed on thefe little creatures without 
defign, by the moft wife Creator. I thall 
now endeavour to illuftrate with figures what 
I have hitherto related. The firft figure, 
168 
Tab. XXII. exhibits a regular hive of com- 
mon Bees, as it prefents its hexagonal and 
regular fections to the eye, when viewed in 
the upper fide ; nor could it be poffible to de- 
lineate thefe feCtions, without the affittance 
of fome new-invented lines; which being al- 
lowed, it is then eafy to defcribe the feCtions, 
for which reafon I here delineate fome of 
thefe lines. The fecond figure under the letter 
a exhibits three fingle cells of the common 
Bees, broken from the reft of the comb, with 
their triangular bafis running down obliquely. 
The letter d reprefents one cell only, entirely 
feparated from all the reft; in this, befides 
the obliquely defcending triangular founda- 
tionc, are likewife feen under the letters d d 
two unequal or uneven parts or productions 
of the hexagonal fides. Now if you fuppofe 
this cell 6 placed on the cells a; it will follow 
that its three oblique angles agree with the 
three angles of thefe cells, and are fupported 
by them. The third figure thews a little cell cut 
through the middle, in which may be feen the 
triangular foundation and the fix fides; one of 
them is formed out of the oblique angles, as 
appears at the letters 44. Moreover, fig. iv. 
fhews fifteen little cells, cut on each fide, be- 
tween which a part of the triangular founda- 
tion which runs obliquely, is plainly feenin each 
cell. It is here alfo evident in what manner 
thefe cells a are built upon the fame founda= 
tion d whereon the cells of the other fide reft c. 
Again, the letter d very exactly reprefents the 
the triangular foundation, which runs in 
obliquely, as it really is feen in nature. The 
fame is likewife delineated under the letter g 
between the cells of each fide, but it is here 
divided by a fection which paffes through the 
two angles. The letters ffff exhibit two 
long fides of the cells; but the letters eece 
the two fhorter fides. For every cell, as I have 
obferved before, has in its lower part three 
longer and three fhorter diverging fides, which 
in the upper part are of an equal length. 
The fifth figure which follows next, reprefents 
fome cells of the males, which are a third part 
larger than thofe of the common Bees. In 
order to render this difference the more con-= 
{picuous, I have delineated them fomewhat 
larger than they really are. Between each of 
thefe cells is feen that triangular obliquely di- 
verging bafis, each of whofe angles agrees with 
the defcending fides of the cell. But I have 
not delineated the cells that are built on one 
fide of this bafis, becaufe it did not feem ne= 
ceflary. ‘To the upper part of thefe cells is 
obferved to adhere a pear-fhaped lodgement of 
the nature of a cell: this is defigned for the 
females. It is irregular in the upper part, and 
is adorned as it were with depreflions or little 
holes, here and there impreffed on the wax. 
If the cells hitherto defcribed have been 
lately finifhed, and have not yet any honey, or 
Bee-bread, or eggs, or Worms, or riper iffue 
in them, in that cafe their fubftance is genuine 
virgin wax, which has no foulnefs among it, 
ee and 
