The 
Bee by accretion, and when arrived to this 
ftate, it is no more increafed in bulk. The 
Bees indeed daily procure and provide food for 
thefe Worms, with as much labour and {foli- 
citude as birds do for their young. And it is 
neceffary that it fhould be fo, fince the Worms 
of the Bees donot ftir out of their cells till they 
are nourifhed fo far, that, acquiring the form 
ofa Bee, they increafe no more. This is com- 
mon to all infects, whether they are brought 
forth {mall or larger, they never increafe fur- 
ther when arrived at this flate. Nay, this law 
is fo univerfally eftablifhed among infects, that 
after they have acquired their laft or moft per- 
fect form, which they retain for life afterwards, 
they always remain {maller or larger in their fe- 
veral kinds, in proportion as their Worms have 
by force of nutrition increafed more or lefs 
while in that ftate. . 
However, it is neceffary to obferve, that it is 
not honey with which the Worms of the Bees 
are fed; it is indeed another and peculiar fub- 
ftance ; it is of a white colour refembling the 
white of an egg when it begins to harden, or 
a white pafte made of flower and water ; it is 
fomewhat thicker than honey, and is of fo mild 
a tafte that it f{carce affects the tongue. From 
whence the Bees obtain or bring this food, or 
whether it be honey which is firft changed in 
their own ftomach or probofcis into this form, 
and which they afterwards caft out, as is ufual 
with Pidgeons and other birds, which give a 
half digefted food to their young at firft, I have 
‘not hitherto difcovered. Be this as it may, the 
Bee-keepers who regard nothing but gain, and 
have no knowledge in any thing elfe, tell us 
fome idle ftories on this fubje¢t, though they 
fcarce know any thing elfe of Bees, but how 
much a year is to be made by keeping them. 
The moft fenfible of thefe people call that fub- 
ftance falival honey. Nor is it to be doubted 
but the Bees can, when they pleafe, throw up 
the honey again. Clutius indeed confirms this 
bya very remarkable example, whereof Voffius 
makes mention in his treatife on idolatry. If 
the body of the Bees be gently {queezed on the 
under fide, the honey will be preffed out again 
and make its way up through the trunk. But 
notwithftanding this, a doubt remains, whe- 
ther the Bees difcharge that honey out of their 
ftomach, fince they can hide a great quantity 
of it in the cavity of the probofcis or trunk: 
probably the fame thing is the cafe here as in 
Pidgeons who difcharge a fubftance like chyle 
out of their craw. But though honey is col- 
lected, not made by the Bees, being firft pre- 
pared by nature herfelf in the parts of flowers, 
and is only taken into their bodies by the pro-_ 
bofcis; yet I do not doubt but it is changed, 
digefted, and converted into durable and good 
food for the young, not only in their body, 
HAS V.O.R VYioeiilin:s BG. ¥S.. 
* 
TK3 
but even in the probofcis or trunk itfelf. This 
fubject it would be worth while to examine 
more ftrictly: nay, what is here advanced is 
the more probable, becaufe we obferve, 
that the honey which the Bees gather from 
flowers is not always of one and the fame 
confiftence, but is found fometimes thicker, 
fometimes thiner, fometimes watry, fometimes 
aromatic in the fower, and therefore it is ne- 
ceflary that it fhould be afterwards prepared by 
the Bee to render it all alike *. 
To return to the falival or difcharged honey. 
I remember that I have often feen a peculiar 
fubftance diftilling from willow trees, which I 
am inclined to think is very like this falival 
honey, and which Hornets, Wafps, the diur- 
nal Butterflies and Flies all greedily feek after. 
It is particularly beloved by the Butterflies, 
which by fhaking their broad wings often drive 
away the Flies that then fit feeding thereon. 
It is fingular that I never faw Bees bufy them- 
felves about this matter, which they might have 
eafily carried into their hives to feed their 
young. When I further confider that the Bees 
in the midft of winter, and when they do not 
fly out, ftill nourifh their young, I have no 
further doubt of this matter, but am convinced 
that the ftock of young Bees are nourifhed with 
honey, thrown out or difcharged in a very fin- 
gular manner from the trunks of others, what- 
ever the Bee-kepers fay to the contrary. 
How long the worm of the Bee feeds, be- 
fore it is arrived at the perfect condition of a 
Bee, and has legs, I am not able to determine, 
But if what the Bee-keepers have aflured me, 
as a certainty, be true, that is, that the young 
{warm may poflibly {warm again in a month 
or fix weeks, then it would be no difficult 
matter to compute that time, and I thould 
think that according to this calculation it may 
be completed in about twenty-four days in 
fummer. ‘Thefe Worms, however, do not in- 
creafe in bignefs fo faft as thofe of Flies, for 
they are excluded out of a very fmall and ten- 
der egg, and have at firft very little motion. 
We muft likewife confider in this matter the 
hotter and more favourable conftitution of the 
atmofphere ; for the temperature of the air only 
is fufficient to detain a Worm or Caterpillar in 
the bufinefs of its change, ten days beyond the 
ufual time. This I have often experienced. 
This is fo true that the change of a Worm into 
a winged infeGt, which in the middle of fum- 
mer is performed in the fpace of a month: 
is fometimes prolonged to eight or nine months; 
this happens principally when the preceding 
change happens in the laft part of the autumn; 
for if in that cafe the winter cold comes on 
immediately after, the creature inftantly be- 
comes motionlefs, nor does it recover motion 
before the next year’s hot weather comes, and 
* It is but of late that the fubftances of which wax and honey confifts, have been diftin@ly knowns but it is now perfeily 
afcertained. They are both colleéted from flowers. 
The anther or buttons placed on the filaments in flowers, contain a 
dufty fubftance, intended by nature for impregnating the feeds in the bottom of the flower, and of thefe the Bees make wax ; 
they feed upon this fubftance firft, and then difcharge the remains, which have not been taken into the veffels as nourithment 
at their mouths, and with a little moulding this becomes wax. 
in the bottom, or in the glands called netarie. 
The honey they find perfect in the flowers, either lodged loofe 
Yy 
nourifhment 
