168 
than either of the others, in order to give room 
for the eggs. 
Each of the three kinds of Bees makes a 
noife by the motion of its wings, which is in- 
creafed by the internal air propelled out of 
their bodies through the air tubes at the fame 
time ; for fome of thefe pipes open with wide 
apertures under the wings. Certain cavities 
alfo, fit for receiving and vibrating the air, and 
formed under and between the wings, contri- 
bute to this. Nor muft the fhoulder-blades 
be excluded from their fhare in this mufick, 
they being placed juft above the wings, joined 
to the thorax, and having under their breadth 
the gaping orifices of feveral air-pipes. It is 
thus the motion of the wings, with the affift- 
ance of all thefe parts, and by the force of the 
propelled air, make the humming noife peculiar 
to that infect. 
All Bees are provided with fix legs, each of 
which confifts of nine joints; the thigh has 
three of thefe, the leg two, and the feet four. 
In the common Bees the hinder legs are broader 
than the fore ones; but this difference is not fo 
remarkable in the males or females. On the 
fifth and broadeft joint of the hinder legs, 
which is the firft joint beyond the thigh, the 
common Bees on each fide carry wax, or the 
Bee-bread, collecting it into a heap at the out- 
moft fide of the leg, for there the leg is not 
fo hairy as on the inner fide. In that part alfo 
the lower, and near the next joint of the leg, are 
placed fome briftly and almoft horny hairs which 
are neither found in the males, nor are fo diftinct- 
ly vifible in the females. The third or laft 
joint of the leg is longer than the two former, 
but the two next joints are fmooth and fome- 
what broad, and thofe are clofely covered on 
the infide with fine feather-like hairs. The 
leaft of the four joints of the legs is alfo fome- 
what broader than the three former; and in 
this part are inferted {trong mufcles, defigned 
for moving the claws of the feet. 
The feet are armed with two larger and two 
fomewhat fmaller claws; but the fmaller are as 
it were jointed or articulated into the larger. 
Between the claws of every foot 1s feena 
very foft matter, of a membranous texture, 
from which, when wounded, there flows a 
clear liquor, The Bees in walking can at 
pleafure turn out this tender part of the foot, 
and therefore I fhould think, that having drawn 
back the claws of their feet, like Cats when 
they are playing, they are able in this manner 
to run over their young brood, or over the new 
formed wax, without doing the leaft hurt. to 
either. 
The four hinder legs are placed at the lower 
and hinder part of the thorax, the two others 
are fixed to the fore part. And this is the rea- 
Th BOOK of NATURES; or, 
fon why thefe two fore legs, when you take 
the head of the Bees from the body, are fepa- 
rated together with that, and remain with it, 
being fixed to it as it were by a kind of liga- 
ment. 
In the common Bees the feven laft rings of 
the abdomen are of a blackifh brown: in the 
males they are yellowifh, as they are likewife 
in the females, but more efpecially about the 
lower part, for there the rings of the abdomen 
are almoft all yellow; and this is the reafon 
the queen Bee is faid to be of a golden colour. 
The fting, which in the common Bee. is 
protended ftraight from the body, is wholly 
wanting in the males, and in the females it is 
bent 
The common Bee is little more than of. half 
the bignefs of the male, the female is alfo_ 
fmaller than the male or drone, but it has a 
much flenderer and longer body, in which, as 
well as in bulk, it confiderably exceeds the 
common or working Bees. 
The colour of the common Bee approaches 
to an obfcure yellow ; the males are fomewhat 
grayer, and the body of the females is more 
of a gold colour. 
The parts of the Bees hitherto mentioned 
are almoft all hairy or fhaggy, and when they 
are viewed with a microfcope, we obferve that 
thofe hairs are in reality very beautiful feathers, 
as is fhewn in Tab. XVII. fig. viir. This fhall 
be explained afterwards more at large. 
The common Bees may be confidered as na- 
tural eunuchs as it were, belonging to neither 
fex; though, however, with refpect to their 
ftru€ture and difpofition, they approach nearer 
to the female than to the male fex. The 
males have very con{picuous and large genital 
organs. The females have an ovary, and in 
it an infinite number of eggs, as I fhall defcribe 
in its place. But the common Bees are not 
furnifhed with either mafculine or feminine ge- 
nital parts. 
As to the internal parts of the Bees, the 
three fpecies have fome common to each of 
them, and others peculiar to each. The in- 
ternal parts common to all, are in the head, 
the brain confifting of the cerebrum and cere- 
bellum; the beginning and globular dilations of 
the fpinal marrow, which thence pervades the 
whole body from one extreme to the other; 
and laftly, the nerves iffuing as well out of the 
fubftance of the marrow, as from its dilated 
little knots; all which I have defcribed and 
delineated in the diffection of the male Bee. 
The internal ftructure of the eye is alfo in ge- 
neral the fame in the three kinds; the tunica 
uvea, the inverted pear-fhaped fibres, and the 
cortical fubftance which performs the office 
of an optic nerve, are very little different in 
* The beft way of viewing the fting of the Bee by the microfcope, is to hold the creature faft by. the thorax with a pair of 
knippers, and it will thus thruft out the fting, often, in its fury. This fhould be cut off with a fine pair of {ciflors, 
thus be preferved entire between two flips of ifinglafs. 
Another way is, to make the Bee fting a thick leather glove. 
and it may 
This will be eafily obtained, by catching one with fuch a 
glove upon the hand. The Bee will ftrike with its fting, and it muft be immediately frighted off. By this means it leaves its 
iting in the glove, which may be picked out and viewed. 
either, 
