BOOK. of 
nourifhment is ready prepared for it, and for 
its future offspring. This is alfo the reafon why 
feveral {pecies of infects do not die fo foon to- 
ward the end of the year as in the heat of 
fummer. Hence alfo, when the Butterflies of 
Silkworms are changed later in the year, they 
have fometimes remained alive with me for fix 
weeks after their laying their eggs, which is 
certainly a very fingular incident. So great is 
the effect of heat and cold on thefe little crea- 
tures, that the one feems to give them life and 
the other immediate death, for death is no- 
thing elfe but the ceffation of natural motions. 
In the examples juft now mentioned, the life 
of thefe creatures is prolonged by means of cold, 
fince the ftrength of life, and the fluids on 
which it depends, are flower diffipated, by rea- 
fon of the flower motion. This isa fact that 
indeed deferves particular attention. 
When the Worms of Bees are increafed to 
fome bignefs, they begin to fill the whole cell 
in which they were placed, and turn themfelves 
as it were into a globe, asa Dog does when 
he lies down to fleep ; or, like that {pecies of 
the Woodloufe which turns itfelf round like 
the Hedg-hog. Now that I am upon this 
fubjeft, I remember a very remarkable ftory. 
One of our maid fervants had at one time found 
a great number of Woodlice in the garden, 
contracted into round balls in the manner before 
mentioned, and thinking fhe had found a kind 
of coral beads, fhe began*to put them one 
after another on a thread, but it foon happened 
that thefe little creatures, which roll themfelves 
up in fuch a manner only for fear of harm, 
and appear as if they were dead, being ob- 
liged to throw ‘of the mask refumed their mo- 
tions. On feeing which the maid fervant was 
fo greatly aftonifhed, that fhe threw away the 
Woodlice and the thread, and cried out, and 
run away. 
If the Worm of the Bee is taken out of 
its cell about this time, there is found under it, 
in the bottom of the cell, a kind of yellowith 
matter of a fomewhat thick confiftence. This 
is the excrement of the Worm. 
In the mean time, whilft the Worm is thus 
increafing in bulk, I do not doubt but it fome- 
times, like other infects, changes its skin, but 
how often it does this before it arrives at full 
bignefs, I cannot determine. I have obferved 
that when this Worm cafts its skin, and is 
changed into a Nymph, its pulmonary tubes alfo, 
fituated in the body, change theirskin and throw 
out through the orifices in the body a thin pelli- 
cle. Indeed, it feems to me very admirable, 
that this change of skin is fo common to all 
infects in general, that even Lice themfelves 
and the minuter Mites undergo it: nay, Spiders 
and Locufts obey this law fo perfectly that they 
caft skins from their eyes, their tecth, and the 
very claws of their feet; even the horns are not 
excepted, which, though as theyare {maller than 
a hair in the Locufts, yet they likewife caft a 
tender skin. The cruftaceous and teftaceous 
animals alfo, as the Crabs, Lobfters, and the 
i74 ’ The 
NAb TURE Bispg Gt 
like, change their skins. I have likewife ob- 
ferved, that when Serpents are cafting their 
flough, a skin is likewife thrown off from their 
eyes, and the inner furface of the skin is turn- 
ed outwards. . 
At length my curiofity went fo far, that I 
was not afraid to tafte and bite thefe Worms 
of Bees, in imitation of thofe, who, froma 
beaftly and depraved appetite, do not fear eat- 
ing the Maggots that grow in cheefe, that is, 
that {pecies of Worms which skip or leap by 
bending their bodies, and again {wiftly extend- 
ing them. The Bee-Worms are of a very dif= 
agreeable tafte, like that obferved in the pan- 
creatic juice of fifh, and they leave a very offen- 
five or nauceous rancour like that of rufty bacon 
in the mouth. 
was the very experienced and induftrious Peter 
Adrianus, who had then come to make mea 
prefent of fome male Bees, and by his affiftance 
has alfo greatly advanced this hiftory. When 
thefe Worms are boiled, they have a fomewhat 
more agreeable tafte; but if one continues 
chewing them, the former tafte prevails again. 
Before I proceed further, I fhall exhibit the 
Bee-Worms to the life, according to the vari- 
ous degrees of their bignefs, as they continue 
growing: the thirteenth figure ferves for this’ 
purpofe. The letter 2, Tab, XXIII. fig. xiir. 
reprefents a Worm juft come out of its egg, 
b¢deare Worms nourifhed longer and grown 
more mature; f and g exhibit others larger 
again and longer nourifhed, which are here re- 
prefented in the fame manner as they lie in 
their cells: 7 expreffes the Worm on its back, 
and beginning to draw the hinder part of its 
body inwards, and to move its head languidly. 
In the fame figure under the letter 4 I have 
delineated the Worm lying on its belly. In 
the back of this is {een a furrow of a blackifh 
or pale blue colour: this line fhews the fto- 
mach, which appears through the skin in that 
part, which I found to be all {tufted with a 
yellow matter. In the fecond figure, under the 
letter a, Tab. XXV. fig. 11. is exhibited a 
Worm, having attained its full increafe, which 
ftands up at that time in its cell, and fhuts it up 
entirely: after this it remains very quiet and 
without any motion in the cell, and begins to 
{well at the 1ft, 2d, and 3d annular divifions 
of the body, becaufe its hidden limbs, and other 
parts, which had increafed in bignefs under the 
skin, are now infenfibly {wollen with humours, 
and therefore difpofe the Worm to change its 
skin. This will be very diftinctly explained below. 
If any one afterwards more accurately exa- 
minesthe Worm of the Bee, and views it with 
a microfcope, he will obferve, as I have {hewn 
in Tab. XXIII. fig. x1v. that it iscompofed of 
fourteen annular incifions, aaa, including the 
head. In the head 4 are to be obferved the 
eyes cc, the lip d, two little parts ee, which 
afterwards become the horns, and two other 
little parts f/f, fituated under the former, which 
feem as if they were articulated and afterwards 
grow into the teeth. Moreover, between thefe 
two 
Of the fame opinion with me 
oo sical 
