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422 
matter. When therefore the Bee-keepers fee 
a hive fallen into this misfortune, which they 
amay eafily perceive, or indeed prevent, provided 
they now and then turn up and thoroughly ex- 
amine the hive, it is their bufinefs inftantly to 
cure it. The Wolf Caterpillar is to be expelled 
from the hive, by cutting and breaking open 
the unfinifhed wax ; and if the female be fick 
fhe muft be killed and the Bees put into another 
hive. If in this other hive there be too fmall 
a. number of Bees, two or three hives muft be 
put together, the Bees affociated, and to avoid 
new confufion one of the females mutt be like- 
wife killed ; the working Bees muft be com- 
pelled by fome of thefe means to mind their 
duty; and this may be very eafily done, fince 
they follow nature as their guide, and need no 
other mafter. Befides this Caterpillar produced 
from the Moth kinds, there are other creatures 
that are enemies to the Bees, whereof Virgil 
in Georg. IV. fays, 
For lurking Lizards often lodge, by ftealth, 
Within the fuburbs, and purloin their wealth, 
And Lizards fhunning light, a dark retreat, 
Have found in combs, and undermin’d the 
; feat : 
Or lazy Drones, without their fhare of pain, 
In winter quarters free, devour the grain ; 
~ Or Wafps infeft the camp with loud a- 
larms, 
~ And mix in battle with unequal arms: 
- Or fecret Moths are there in filence fed, 
- Or Spiders in the vaults their {nary webs 
have {pread. 
i DrYDEN’s VIRGIL. 
It is a common opinion that the Bees in 
rough and boifterous weather, and particularly 
in a violent {torm, carry a ftone in their legs, 
in order to preferve themfelves by its weight 
againft the power of the wind. Hence Virgil 
in Georg. IV. 
‘Nor dare they ftay, 
When rain is promifed, or a ftormy day: 
But near the city walls their watering take, 
Nor forage far, but fhort excurfons make. 
And as when empty barks on billows float, 
With fandy ballatt failors trim the boat ; 
So Bees bear gravel ftones, whofe poifing 
weight 
Steers through the whiftling winds their 
fteady flight. 
DryDENn’s VIRGIL. 
But this, as Clutius juftly obferves, has not 
been hitherto remarked by any Bee-keeper, nor 
indeed have I myfelf ever feen it. Yet I fhould 
think that there may be fome truth in this 
matter, and probably a certain obfervation, 
which I fhall prefently mention, has given rife 
* In fwarming, 
one leg for this purpofe, laying hold 
bough, or whatever other fubftance t 
The-) BiOL @ Be et WN A GT CR es 
or, 
to the ftory. There is a fpecies of wild Bees 
not unlike the fmalleft kind of the Humble Bee, 
which, as they are accuftomed to build their 
nefts near {tone walls, and conftruét their habi- 
tations of pieces of {tone and clay, fometimes 
carry fuch large ftones, that it is {carce credible 
by what means fo tender infects can fuftain fo 
great a load, and that even flying, whilft they 
are obliged to fupport alfo their own body. 
Their neft by this means is often fo heavy as to 
weigh one or two pounds ; though only ten or 
-twelve young Bees are brought up in it. This I 
have obferved in the year 1666, at the country 
honfe of Mr. Thevenot, fituated in the village 
of Iffy, not far from Paris, near the, bottoms of 
fome windows, in the prefence of Dr. Steno. 
‘In this neft I at that time found a red Worm, 
with fix legs, Tab. XXVI. fig. 111. 2, which 
was changed intoa Nymph 4. But this Nymph 
after in the {pace of a whole year did not change 
into a Bee, but into a very beautiful Beetle c; 
nor could I in the mean time obferve that this 
Worm, inall this time, took any confiderable 
food, unlefs perhaps the ftony and clayey parti- 
cle of this neft ferved it for food. See further 
the explanation of the figure. Befides, I likewife 
found there a fingular kind of Wafp, and in 
fome oblong hollowed tubes, I alfo found the 
membranous webs of Bees already broke open 
and deferted. From all thefe appearances it is 
therefore evident that ’tis poffible Bees may be 
fometimes feen to carry little {tones, but thefe 
were not common Bees, nor have I hitherto 
found that any perfon has obferved this practice 
inthem. The nefts juft mentioned were like- 
wife known to the learned Aldrovandus, but 
thofe he faw were made as it were of clay only, 
as may be feen in his ‘remains or chronicles, 
where he rudely delineates the Worm of the 
little Bee, together with the neft, and relates 
that Ariftotle alfo, in Hift. Anim. Cap. 24. 
makes mention of this {pecies of Bees; but as 
Ariftotle in writing his hiftory did not apply 
himfelf to anatomy, ‘he could therefore {carce 
advance any thing certain; and hence it has 
arifen that his account is very confufed, for he 
undoubtedly compiled it from the relations of 
others, and this often leads into the greateft 
errors. Indeed, nobody can accurately under- 
ftand thefe my obfervations, unlefs he hath 
borrowed light from the experiments them- 
felves *. 
As Bees frequent only herbs, plants, trees, 
and flowers, carefully avoiding fuch things as 
are ever fo little flinking or foul, and therefore 
are never feen to light, much lefs make any 
ftay upon the dead carcafles of animals; the 
account given of Sampfon in the book of Judges 
chap. xiv. is a paradox with fome, whilft others 
look upon it as altogether incredible. Sampfon, 
according to that hiftory, having killed a young 
Lion, found in fome days after a fwarm of 
one Bee with its fore legs lays hold of the hinder legs of the Bee next above it, and fometimes they ufe only 
only of one of the hinder legs of the Bee next above. In this manner they hang from the 
he firft has fixed upon ; and this firft fupports the weight of all the reft. The whole clufter, 
though fingly they are light, is of confiderable weight, and by this we may form fome idea of theftrength of this infect. 
Bees, 
