Whe Wel (PSO. WR AY 
ral hiftory ; and therefore, I hope I fhall, with 
the affliftance of God, at fome time write 
a particular treatife thereon. I have here given 
‘the hiftory of this ring of eggs, becaufe it will 
be hereafter made ufe of in its proper place, 
and produced for the fake of illuftration. 
I fhould never conclude this part of the 
work, if I attempted to exhibit the deferip- 
tion, induftry and art of thefe creatures, or to 
give but a rude delineation thereof. I cannot 
help mentioning here, the fingular skill and ad- 
drefs, not indeed of an infec, but of a fangui- 
ferous animal, that is, of a young houfe Dog 
which I keep. This creature is afflicted with 
a running ulcer or fiftula, which is fituated fo 
high at the lower part of the eye, that his 
tongue cannot reach thither to lick it. There- 
fore this creature follows a remedy happily in- 
vented and difcovered, as it were, by reafon, 
and applies it to this evil; it firft wets its foot 
with its fpittle, and then rubs the moifture with 
wonderful dexterity over the ulcer, endeavour- 
ing to cure it in this manner: nay, when the 
mouth or orifice of the fiftula has at any time 
clofed, the creature rubs it fo long with its 
foot, that the furface becomes very red like 
blood. 
To return to the Bees. They are about the 
beginning of Auguft inflamed with fo much 
hatred againft the males, that they unmerci- 
fully and for no crime kill them: whereas, at 
the end.of May, and fometimes fooner, they 
build houfes for them, carefully nourith them, 
bring them there, and take all pofiible care of 
them. I hall afterwards endeavour to explain, 
in its proper place, the reafon of their changing 
this love into hatred; fince I have refolved to 
compote this hiftory to the glory of God alone, 
without any other view. 
Before I proceed further in this refearch, I 
fhall-defcribe the male, female, and common 
Bees together, and compare them one with 
another as to their external parts, beginning 
with the common Bees, which are moft eafy 
and familiar to be known, and which have 
been at one time or other feen and handled by 
every petfon. In the common Bees as well as, 
in all the other kinds, we are principally to ob- 
ferve the twelve divifions or rings of their body; 
five of them are placed about the head and 
thorax, and that flender and delicate part which 
connects the belly with the thorax, and the 
other feven in the body. 
The head of the common Bee js oblong, 
fomewhat rounded above and fharp below. 
The head of the male is throughout of a round- 
ed form, and that of the female Bee is oblong. 
The eyes in the head of the common Bees 
are of an oval or lunated figure. They are of 
the fame form in the males alfo, but they.are 
two thirds larger than thofe of the common 
Bees: this deferves to be wellregarded. ‘There 
is fomething like this in the Ephemerus or 
Day-Fly; the eyes of the female Bees are fome- 
what larger alfo than thofe of the common 
Bees, ‘The eyes of thefe three fpecies of Bees 
oa NS Ea T S. 167 
are covered or furrounded with briftly hairs, 
and are feparated from each other by a num- 
ber of the like hairs. Thefe hairs are twice, 
nay thrice as long as the diameter of the little 
fpheres into which the eyes are divided. . The 
fame thing is likewife obferved in other infects. 
In the upper part of the head fomewhat higher 
than where the hairs juft now mentioned are 
fituated, we likewife difcover many {mall fea- 
ther-like hairs in the common Bees, and nearly 
in the fame part alfo, three peculiar little eyes. 
Thefe feather-like hairs are not found in the 
males, for their eyes are extended fo far in that 
part that they touch each other. And this is 
alfo the reafon, that three of their eyes in par- 
ticular are fituated much lower than they are 
in the common Bees, and juft above the horns. 
The female agrees with the common or working 
Bees in thefe particulars, that her eyes are fe= 
parated in the fame manner from each other, 
and there are three peculiar little eyes likewifé 
placed in her head in the fame manner, 
All Bees have two horns or antennz. Thofé 
in the working Bees have only five joints, but 
thofe of the males have eleven, and thofe of 
the females the fame number. The firft joint; 
where the horns rife from the head, is oblong 
in the common Bees, but in the males it is 
fomewhat {fhorter, and it is again fomewhat 
longer in the females. In the common Bees 
there is a {mall quantity of fhort hair, under 
the horns, but the hair under the horns of the 
males is more in quantity, longer and feathery : 
in the females again it is obferved to be like 
that of the common Bees. 
Above the teeth in the common Bees is feen 
a remarkable kind of horny or bony lip, which 
is not fo obvious in the males; but it is found 
in the females in the fame manner as it is in the 
working Bees. 
The common Bees have two long teeth, thé 
males have very fhort and fmall ones ; thofe of 
the females are fomewhat larger than thofe of 
the male Bees, fo that they hold as it were the 
middle place. 
The probofcis is very long in the common 
Bees ; in the males it is fhorter by one half. 
I have hitherto miffed the opportunities of ex= 
amining it in the females. 
The thorax is roundith in all the kinds of 
Bees, and in the upper fide of the hinder part 
it is provided with a fomewhat prominent bora 
der or margin. In the common Bees this tho- 
rax is covered with thin feather-like hairs: in 
the males thefe hairs are more clofe {et toge- 
ther, and thicker, but not quite as long; they 
are alfo of a more gray colour than in the 
common Bees and females. The females have 
a lefs number of thefe hairs than either, 
All the kinds of Bees have four wings. 
Thefe are longer and broader in the male than 
in the common Bees; but in the females, 
though the wings be longer, and probably 
longer than even thofe of the common Bees, 
yet they feem fhorter, becaufe the lower part 
of the female’s body is vaftly larger and longer 
than 
