The, Ha § HOR Ye oh DNs k © TiS 
and on the fame day, a little while afterwards, 
another f{warm. alfo iffued forth; the firft of 
thefe two, after a month, {warmed again twice, 
and the other {warm that quitted the hive on 
the fame day, after fix weeks were paft, {warm- 
ed three times. That fame year there iffued alfo, 
as well from the firft hive, the parent of all, 
as it were, and from the other hives he had ob- 
tained from it, three and twenty more {warms, 
which with the former feven make thirty. 
It appears manifeftly from hence, that thefe 
infects are very prone to venery and extremely 
fruitful. 
It is furprifing as well as pleafing to fee in, 
what numbers, and with what affiduity, the 
Bees befet the mouth of the hive all around 
and without, when they are going to {warm: 
the elder female, who is at this time impreg- 
nated for the year by the new-born males, often 
begins the fwarming. In the fecond fwarm, 
or when the Bees happen to {warm for the 
third time, fometimes you may obferve two 
or three females at once, each of which we 
diftribute into peculiar hives, if there be a fuf- 
ficient number of Bees for them, but we kill 
fome of them; if thefe are too few, the males 
for the moft part remain in the old hive, 
fince thefe, as I am fully perfuaded, have the 
moft convenient opportunity of impregnating 
the females. Sometimes, however, you will 
find males even in the late-formed hive of the 
new fwarm: ‘This perhaps is the cafe when 
the female has not yet been impregnated, but 
that work is ftillto be done. i 
Bees may be hindered from fwarming, if all 
the males and females are taken out from the 
hive, and though there fhould by chance fome 
young female remain in the upper part of the 
hive, yet the whole {warming will be ftopt, 
for this younger female continues barren. Who- 
ever is defirous to extirpate from the hive in the 
manner mentioned the Worms and Nymphs 
of the males, muft go about it foas by no means 
to cut away all the combs but thofe only which 
lic in the upper part, for thus the Nymphs 
and Worms of the males are lodged, and the 
Bees will be able then to carry out with activity 
the dead brood of males, and to cleanfe their 
combs again in a little time. Hence, indeed, 
this advantage arifes to the Bees, that they have 
nothing to do afterwards but folely to gather 
honey, becaufe there are already in the hive a 
fufficient number of cells prepared, which only 
want cleaning, and require but a little labour to 
repair them. 
The {warming being finifhed, when the 
Bees which have flown out have fettled and 
fixed themfelves upon the bough of a, tree or 
fome fubftance, it is aftonifhing to fee in how 
fingular a manner, by the help. of their legs, 
they ftick to one another, and form as it were 
a perfect bunch of grapes, hanging on one 
another by the affiftance of their claws. At 
that very time they can fly off from the 
bunch, and perch on it again ; nay, even make 
their way out from the very middle of the 
ii 
clufter, and ruth into the open air, though they 
feem to ftick to one another fo extremely 
clofe. 
Bees that have. weathered out the winter; 
begin in the month of March following to lay 
their eggs in great abundance; from that time 
they continue this work inceflantly: firft, the 
female lays her eggs in the cells of the common 
Bees; next, in four or five or more particular 
cells, from whence the young females are to 
come ; and laftly, fhe depofits the reft in the 
hotteft part of the fummer, or near the time 
of {warming, into the cells of the males. If 
it fhould happen that there are not in the hive 
any of thefe cells made for the males, for 
fometimes they are cut away with the honey 
at the end of the year, then the common Bees; 
endued as it were with an unaccountable pre- 
{cience, build fome exprefsly for that purpofe ; 
nay, thefe fame Bees nourifh the male brood 
in thefe cells with a care and affection no lefs 
than the hatred and fiercenef$ with which they 
kill the faid very males, when, after the 
{warming time is over, the female is im- 
pregnated by them. Nor, indeed, is it difficult 
for the Bees to kill thefe males, for they are 
not furnifhed with any weapon to defend 
themfelves, and befides they have wafted their 
ftrength in theact of generation, wherefore it is 
eafy to overpower them: indeed, they die other- 
wife naturally, for they are not fit either for 
collecting wax or honey for rearing up the 
brood, if they are not deftroyed before that 
time by the other Bees who have been their 
nurfes, and atone by a violent death for 
the pleafures they have enjoyed. Something 
fimilar to this is pethaps alfo the cafe among 
the Ants; for the males which are winged are 
found among the reft only at a certain time of 
the year. 
To return from my digreffion ; it is proper 
to take notice that the working Bees, when 
they have firft crept out of, or rather burft 
from their cells, are of a much paler colour 
and more inclining to dun than the old ones 5 
thefe being browner and ornamented with a 
yellownefs not fo deep as gold. Their fting 
at that time has not come to its full {trength : 
the bag that contains the poifon is as yet empty; 
from whence, if they are even then’ handled, 
they not only do not fting, but do not fo much 
as attempt it. After a very few days. thefe 
young Bees acquire as ftrong a colour as the 
elder; nor do they ever, as fome idly fable, 
learn from the old ones the art of making wax 
and collecting honey: this is implanted in them 
by nature, and to perform it rightly they need 
no more than follow their own inftinét. The 
reafon why the Bees are paler at firft than af- 
terwards is this, that thofe parts which are of 
a {ubftance between horn and bone, in the head, 
breaft, and body, being but lately ftript of their 
skin, have not yet inthe new-born ftate their 
full hardnefs: their down is at that time more of 
a Moufe colour, but afterwards their parts gain 
both hardnefs and colour, when more. of their 
fluids 
