208 
moving thefe thanks upwards out of the fheath, 
and again drawing them downwards into it, 
lie in reality in the female between the mar- 
gins of the fheath in the hinder cavity of it, 
and are there inferted in the two parts juft now 
mentioned. ‘Thus I at length found that thefe 
two little parts principally and chiefly contri- 
bute to keep the {hanks of the fting, whereof 
they contribute a part, in their places and pre- 
vent their, flipping out of the fheath; and this 
they can do more eafily, as they themfelves are 
contained in the cavity of the cafe, out of 
The By O @ Ke :.of «Ni Ag WU Rye: | tor, 
which I have, with the affiftancesof a microf- 
cope extracted them, and afterwards put them 
into it again without the leaft hurt to any 
att. 
I have likewife at length difcovered the true 
reafon why I had not before difcovered in thé 
working Bee what I have juft now faid: and 
it was this, that the thanks of the fting when 
drawn out of the fheath, inftantly bend them- 
felves, and hence it then happens that thefe 
ae little parts always appear on the oppofite 
10Ce 
The fifth obfervation on a real prolific Bee. 
N a female Bee brought to me in autumn, at 
the time when the honey is taken from the 
hives and the wax alfo, and for which reafon 
two hives are fometimes then formed into one, 
I difcovered the whole ovary to be ftill full of 
innumerable eggs; fo that I have from hence 
learned that the Bees never lay all their eggs 
together, as is the cafe with Hens, which com- 
monly clear their ovary entirely, leaving only 
fome {mall rudiments behind. I therefore 
think, fince the eggs in the ends of the ovi- 
duéts of the Bee are innumerable, and lie dif- 
_ pofed in an delicate order, that they are conti- 
nually difcharged out of it, and fucceed in the 
place of thofe eggs which were before laid. 
In this female, which I preferved for the {pace 
of a whole year in fpirit of wine; the poifon 
was likewife coagulated and ftuck in its bag 
like an oval particle of wax, but fo as that the 
inward furface of the bag was feparated all 
round from the furface of the contained poifon. 
As [had many Bees at the time when thefe 
females were brought to me, I had an incli- 
nation to try what would be the confequence 
if the poifon was mixed with the Bee-bread. 
The following was the event of the experi- 
ment. The friable and otherwife very eafily 
feparable Bee-bread, which is not naturally ft 
for working or kneading, nor is at all gluti- 
nous, was, by the admixture of the poifon, 
infenfibly rendered tenacious and clammy, and 
having loft all its friability, began to melt in 
fome degree at the fire, but it grew black af- 
ter fome time, exhibiting its former appearance 
of bread, which never catches the flame, but 
only grows black in the fire. The fame mafs 
thrown into water was not diffolved, but be- 
ing fomewhat agitated in the water, returned 
to its former difpofition, and at length began to 
melt. Some particles of Bee-bread kneaded 
or wrought with the poifon, and kept fourteen 
days, retained their acquired tenacity, nor did 
they again become friable ; but whether any 
thing can be inferred from this experiment I 
would not yet prefume to determine *. I¢ 
feems at leaft in {ome meafure to follow from 
thence, that there is no reafon to deny the 
Bee-bread, or that matter which the Bees carry 
fixed in their legs, and which is of a fimilar 
nature with the Bee-bread, may be made into 
wax. But when I began this experiment, I 
had not the matter now mentioned at hand; 
nor could I get it, as the hives were carried at 
that time into fome fields of buckwheat which 
was then in flames. 
I have frequently offered the Bee-keepers a 
confiderable prefent, if they would fhew me 
real wax adhering to the legs of Bees: but 
though they readily undertook this, they never 
could perform it. Therefore the method 
whereby wax is made, muft it feems yet be 
referred to or reckoned, amongft thofe things 
which we are hitherto ignorant of, and which 
ought to be inveftigated. The fame doubts 
may be raifed concerning the making of honey, 
though this difficulty may be more eafily re- 
moved. I have not hitherto been able to make 
all the experiments concerning this matter 
which I had defigned. I fhall therefore con- 
clude thefe obfervations on the female, after I 
have firft exhibited the manner of feeing dif. 
tinctly how the Bees make the wax. For this 
purpofe I ordered a wooden ftool with three 
or four feet to be fitted into a ftraw hive, in 
fuch a manner that the hive might be conve- 
niently taken off and again laidon it. I cover- 
ed the edges of this ftool with paper, and 
then in {warming time I put a new {warm into 
the hive. When I afterwards faw, that the 
Bees in the infide had made wax and propa- 
gated young ones, which happen in ten or 
twelve days. I immediately removed the hive 
from that ftool, and alfo took away the paper, 
and thus I could very diftin@ly fee the Bees 
working in the fun-fhine. But though I have 
never gone through with this experiment, yet 
I know the effect of it, for I have often feen 
that the habitation of the Bees which had made 
* Tn fine weather the Bees conftantly go out in fearch of the matter of wax, which they colle& from the anthere of flowers. 
They eat fome, 
to eat in bad weather, when they cannot go out. 
and lay up the reft in certain cells of the comb where it is preffed down by other Bees, and this ferves them 
After they have fwallowed this, and it has paffed the operations of their 
flomach, it is wax, which they complete by more working and moulding ; but though the farina of Howers be the real fub- 
fance of wax, human art can never make wax from it. 
their. 
