‘Tie’: idl 8) TE O'"VRe Y jook IWN(S EE GATS: 
in the fame cell, for from thence arifes not 
only a vaft confufion about the article of raifing 
the young, but a mighty inconvenience like- 
wife about the building of the cells. It fhould 
be here confidered further, that Bees, for two 
neceflary reafons, namely, the building of the 
cells, and the rearing of the Worms in them, 
attend, and of neceflity muft attend, the fe- 
male, atall times and every where; for if fhe 
has by chance depofited her eggs in an im- 
perfect cell, the reft of the Bees are obliged, 
by virtue of their office as it were implanted 
by nature, immediately to make it complete, 
that the worm to be hatched may have room 
wherein to move itfelf, to eat, to change its 
skin, and to fpin its thread : whenever there- 
fore, which I would have obferved particu- 
larly, the two females, each with her retinue, 
meet one another, andthe Beesare hindered by 
it in their attendance and work, is it not eafy to 
be imagined, there muft arife a prodigious con- 
fufion? where is the wonder then that they 
burn with fury, and, urged by love to their 
offspring, violently attack one another, deter- 
mined upon killing and deftroying one or the 
other female? This is falfely afcribed by 
authors to the divided government of two 
fancied kings, as if they could not live together 
with a joint power; but this is an idle tale: all 
this fighting is caufed folely by the propaga- 
tion being hindered: take away this impedi- 
ment, and the two females will live very ami- 
cably together ; for as they have not the ufe 
of reafon, they are unacquainted with Virgils 
maxim, that a kingdom does not admit of two 
rulers * ; 
*< For two pretenders oft for empire ftrive.” 
Drypen’s Virg. 
That this matter may the more eafily be 
underftood, I fhall infert here a rude kind of a 
fimilitude. ‘The republick of the Bees may be 
compared in fome meafure to a houfe com- 
prifing five thoufand bed chambers, in which 
there is only one woman, who yearly by the 
‘fcent of the {perm in fome hundreds of men 
born within this houfe, and living in it for the 
{pace of fome weeks, is impregnated with a 
triple brood. Suppofe there were befide in the 
fame houfe fome thoufands of natural eunuchs, 
or virgins, who, employing themfelves in the 
finifhing of the chambers, and {taying in the 
paffages between the faid bed-chambers, con- 
ftantly attend that woman, that they may fee 
in which chamber fhe firit brings forth a girl, 
a boy, or an eunuch ; let thefe maids or eu- 
nuchs take care of and nourith this child that 
is born, as likewife all the reft of them, which 
that fingle woman afterwards in order, by 
going into each of the bed-chambers, is yet to 
i8g 
be delivered of, and let the bed-chambers not 
be a whit larger than may be able juft to 
contain the children, till they have arrived at 
their maturity. Thefe circumftances being 
rightly underftood, it is eafily to be imagined 
what a horrid confufion and difcord would 
arife, were another woman likewife to get into 
this houfe, and the body of the eunuchs being 
divided into oppofite parties, to fight again{t 
the former woman and her attendants, refo- 
lutely ftriving to lay yet another child in any 
of thofe {mall bed-chambers. Muft not thus 
the fettled order of the oeconomy be néceffa- 
rily fubverted ? and muft not all the inconve- 
niencies and broils that can be imagined ine- 
vitably arife ? 
Behold! this is the true ftate of the Bees 
government. It may be proper to take notice 
alfo. of this fingle particular, that in this houfe 
yearly by that one woman alone are brought 
forth three or four younger females, fome 
hundreds of males, and fome thoufands of 
eunuchs; and that then fome thoufands of 
thefe new-born eunuchs and males together, 
join themfelves either to the elder female, or 
to the firft-born of thofe four younger ones, and 
having left their original houfe, they build a new 
one folely for their own habitation ; but at laft 
that thefe eunuchs kill all the males, as foon 
as the female, who came out with themfelves, 
is impregnated by the {cent of their {perm, 
and after that they live with the female alone 
for the {pace of an entire year. If all thefe 
things are rightly applied to the republic of 
the Bees, it will be no longer difficult to affign 
a reafon for every action of the Bees, what- 
ever it be, fuch as their building, raifing their 
offspring, collecting of honey, and all the reft. 
From what has been here {aid, it evidently 
appears, that one female, and only one, is ne- 
ceflary to, or can be fuffered to fubfitt in one 
hive; therefore a hive that has no female in 
it, if it be provided with a due number of 
eggs, will continue in a better ftate, than if 
two or more females dwelt in it; for in that 
cafe, one female innocently fubverts and 
difturbs the whole order, whilft the other 
with her working Bees is labouring to perform 
the great bufinefs of producing and rearing 
the young, and building cells for them. J 
cannot but praife on this occafion the wifdom 
and circum{pection implanted in the Bees, that 
they on this occafion always kill one of the 
females, but preferve the other in fafety ; for 
without doubt it has appeared beft to all-wife 
nature, that one female fhould perifh, rather 
than that both of them, together with the 
hive, the eggs, the Worms, the Nymphs, 
and the reft of the Bees, be involved in an 
univerfal ruin, fince all this muft neceflarily be 
the confequence of fuch a diftarbance, 
* Nothing is lefs underftood in the hiftory of the Bees, than thofe battles we fee often about the entrances of their hives. From 
what I have obferved they appear to be of two kinds ; fometimes between the Bees of the fame fwarm; fometimes between them 
and ftrangers: any irregularity in their work may occafion their fcuffles with one another, and thefe terminate without mifchief, 
But in the other cafe, when ftrange Bees attempt to force their way into the hive, the conflict is fatal, and there are ufually many 
killed ; but the fuperior number always gives the victory to the proper poffeffors of the hive. 
But 
CG 
