The dP rsvrmio RIV ef iN SP crs. 
for they are fo minute that neither the eyes, 
‘the hands, nor the underftanding of man, 
nor our inftruments we ufe can examine them 
juftly. The fame muft be acknowledged of 
the mufcular fibres of the jaws or teeth, fince 
“we are incapable of difcovering their excel- 
lent conftruGtion and beauty, or of juftly de- 
{cribing or delineating them. I hall, how- 
ever, fay fomething of the feather-like hairs 
-of the head of the Bee, when I treat of thofe 
-of the thorax ; which I fhall now proceed to 
defcribe. 
The external figure of the thorax is in the 
‘upper part convex, but towards the hinder 
‘parts it is finuated, and is adorned with a 
fomewhat prominent margin about its extre- 
mity. On each fide of the anterior part 
there appear the {capule or fhoulder-blades, 
by which the wings are joined : a little lower 
on each fide under the wings and fcapule 
are feen the points of refpiration ; whereof 
the orifices are oval, and furrounded with a 
horny margin. The under face of the breaft 
is divided into two parts, which are ftretched 
fomewhat obliquely and bent downwards, and 
give infertion to the laft pair of legs joined to 
the lower edge, as the firft pair of legs are 
articulated with the fore parts of the breaft: 
thefe, when the head is drawn from the 
trunk of the body, adhere to the head, and are 
pulled off with it. The breaft is of a horny 
or bony fubftance, and is thick fet above, be- 
low, and on the fides with feather-like hairs, 
which are of equal fize and length in the 
upper region of the breaft. 'Thefe hairs, 
which are diftributed over the whole furface 
of the body, and are found even in the head 
of the common or working Bee, as alfo between 
and under the horns of the males, are all of 
them, as hath been faid before, perfe@ly like 
downy feathers, and particularly like the down 
of Swans, or thofe remarkable hairy feathers 
con{picuous in the tails of Peacocks ; the mid- 
dle ftalk of which feathers is furrounded with 
many {cattered lateral hairs. 
Before I proceed to the dift#@ion of the 
mternal parts, I muft repeat again that Bees 
produce their humming noife with their wings 
only: fince the fmall,- membranous, move- 
able wings at the fhoulders, may eafily pro- 
duce fuch a noife, by means of the air pro- 
pelled from the fubjacent pulmonary tubes : 
for no points of refpiration open into the 
mouth, which is to be well obferved : to this 
may be added, that the narrownefs of the 
trunk is not adapted for modulating the air ; 
if any of the latter fhould be impelled thither 
out of the ftomach, in which indeed I have 
found air. The wings of Flies are wonder- 
fully formed in that part where. they make 
this noife ; though this ftructure is very diffe- 
rent in the various kinds, Some Loeufts in- 
deed make a noife by the rufhing together of 
the wings; and for this purpofe nature has 
' given them near the hinder part of the wing 
towards the breaft a fingular (mall part, which, 
ZY? 
when moved, forms a diftiné found like a 
thin plate of metal. Other fpecies of Locutts 
make a noife by rubbing their wings againft 
their legs. Crickets and Mole-Crickets mo- 
dulate the air in fuch a manner by the help of 
‘their wings, that the chirping noife they make 
is produced from thence. ‘The Grafshopper - 
has two peculiar fmall drums, like the drum 
of our ear, which, being ftruck by the help 
of two lunated cartilages, vibrate the air in 
fuch’a manner as to produce that found. Bee- 
tles make a noife by rubbing the horny parts 
of their head againft the articulations of the 
breaft, and the parts about the tail with the 
cafes of their wings. © All the infects to which 
nature gave fingular organs for making a 
noife are of the male fex: this may be feen 
diftin@ly in the Locufts, Grafshoppers, and 
others, the females of which make no noife. 
In regard to the wings of Bees, we may ob- 
ferve they are here and there briftly, and that 
the veins and nerves con{picuous in them, 
are only fcattered pulmonary tubes, by the 
help of which, as we have before exprefled 
in words and figures, the wings are for the 
moit part difpanded. 
The contents of the thorax are vatious : 
they are the moving fibres of the legs and 
wings, and alfo fome which are defigned for 
moving the abdomen, and others for moving 
the neck. Thefe mufcular fibres fill almoft 
the whole thorax. The other parts to be 
found there are the pulmonary tubes, fome 
fat, the gullet, and the fpinal marrow: all 
thefe I hall now pafs by, and only fay fome- 
thing of the mufcular fibres, and {hall then 
proceed to the contents of the belly. On this - 
occafion I fhall give a defcription of the fpinal 
marrow. The mufcular fibres of the breaft, 
as we have already related, fill its whole cavity, 
and may be divided eafily into thofe which move 
the fore, middle, and the hinder legs, and 
into thofe which ferve to move the wings : 
for where thefe parts are fituated, there are 
feen the tendons of thofe fibres, which are 
afterwards expanded and flefhy in the thorax, 
and afterwards becoming tendinous, above in 
the upper region of the breaft, are there fixed 
as it were into an horny little part. The 
fibres which are implanted in the middle of . 
the thorax ftand almot perpendicular, but 
thofe which are inferted fomewhat lower to- 
wards the fides, are more oblique ; and thofe 
that are in the anterior part united to the legs, 
run entirely oblique and are almoft flat. 
Where the mufcles are fixed to the wings, 
there is a kind of diftina articulation, befides 
that by the help of which the greateft-mo- 
tion of the wings is performed. ~If the fibres 
of the thorax are feparated from each other, 
they divide into oblong hairs, as it were, which 
are connected with delicate, white,” nervous, 
and tranfverfe fibrille, and are at length here 
divided fo minutely, that I muft ‘defitt from 
further f{carch ; being filled, as before, with 
admiration of the divine Archite@, who here 
Kkk in 
