232 The BOOK of NATURE: ot, 
entire volume would be requifite to defcribe 
all thefe particulars ; for which reafon I fhall 
here make an end of this treatife upon Bees. 
Certainly the nature, difpofition, and ftructure 
of thefe infects are fo furprifing, that they 
without ceafing loudly proclaim God’s good- 
nefs, wifdom, power, and majefty ; and indeed 
all other animals, according to their feveral 
ranks, do him honour in the fame manner, 
and conftitute in the air, the water, and upon 
the earth, fo many inftruments and voices to 
publifh his praifes. I will join the univerfal 
choir, and fay with the four and twenty elders 
in the Apocalypfe, ‘* Thou art worthy, O 
« Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and 
“« power ; for thou haft created all things, and 
« for thy pleafure they are and were created.” 
I fhall conclude this long effay upon Bees with 
the words of the royal Pfalmift. 
“« Praife him all ye angels of his; praife 
« him all his hoft.” 
Pfal. cxlviil. 
Some peculiar obfervations relating to the hiftory of Bees. 
Al defcription of a hive opened the tenth of March, with an account of the number 
of cells it contained. 
N the tenth of March laft I opened a 
hive *, in which a young fwarm of 
Bees had been fettled during the month of 
June, the preceding year, but they all died 
in the intervening February for want of 
honey. I examined the cells built from, the 
month of June till the winter feafon, that isin 
the fpace of about four months, and counting 
them one by one, I found them to amount to 
22,574; and the whole of this prodigious 
number was only of that kind of cells, in 
which the working Bees are hatched and 
nurfed, or the honey and Bee-bread is ftored 
up. Thofe in which Bees had been already 
hatched, amounted to 7814; for it was very 
eafy to diftinguifh them certainly from the 
others, by means of the skins and webs found 
in them, fuch things being always left behind 
by Bees that have been hatched. All the 
other cells were formed-for keeping honey, 
and the other cells are made to an{wer the fame 
purpofe, as foon as the young Bees contained 
in them have acquired wings to fly abroad. 
It appeared likewife that all thefe cells were 
contained in nine combs, as they are generally 
termed, or nine portions of the whole wooden 
ftruGture, and thefe portions were large, ob- 
long; of different forms, fome diverging equally, 
others running out into two, three, or four 
angles. This variety in the figures of the combs 
is owing to fome of them being built alone 
by themfelves, and others clofe to each other ; 
or to the neceffity the Bees were under of 
keeping clear of the flicks placed acrofs the 
hive to fupport the wax, for this occafions 
them to make their combs fometimes of .a 
triangular, and fometimes of other forms. 
Nor can we perceive, that in this bufinefs the 
Bees obferve any certain rule or order, fince 
the figure of the cells themfelves does not 
fuffer by this liberty they give themfelves. 
Many of the little cells in which the honey 
was ftored up, were twice as long as thofe 
intended for nefts and nurferies, and were 
alfo irregularly built, crooked, and full of 
angles. Even the fides of the hexagonal cells. 
did not every where exactly correfpond with 
one another, but here and there might be feen 
a gap large enough to contain a pin’s head, 
a thing never to be met with in atruly regular 
comb. 
All the half combs of cells on one fide of 
the perpendicular foundation, which runs 
through the middle of them, and againft which 
the cells are horizontally placed, were buile 
full one half as long again as thofe on the 
other fide. There appeared here alfo many 
other irregularities, not to be feen in the 
cells that had ferved the purpofe of hatch- 
ing, fach of them at leaft as had been quite 
finifhed, 
From this predigious number of cells, built 
between June and September, or October, we 
may entertain fome idea of the great number 
ef thofe that the Bees conftruct from the. 
month of March to the June or July of the 
following year. I believe they may amount to 
50,000, as this is the time for fupplying with 
cells the male, female, and working Bees: 
but as yet I have not counted them. 
A perfon fond of Bees, and whofe account 
I could credit, once told me that he had a 
hive placed upon the bare ground, and ex- 
ceedingly well ftocked with Bees, infomuch 
that to make room for their combs, they had 
hollowed out the earth under their hive, ex- 
tended their conftructions very deep into 
this hollow, and thereby encreafed their 
numbers to a prodigious degree. But this 
is oftener practifed by Wafps and Hornets, 
as thefe infe€ts naturally make their nefts 
under ground. 
* The danger of being flung by Bees may be in a great meafure prevented by a quiet. and compofed deportment; and even when 
they have given the wound, the fame fedatenefs is the beft conduct. A thoufand Bees will fly and buz about a perfon without 
hurting him, if he fland perfeétly fill, and let them alone: but if he ftrike at them, probably he willbe ftung. If this happens, he 
fhould fuffer the Bee to reft upon his flefh in quiet: if it be Jet alone it will draw out the fling, and the confequences will be lefs 
troublefome; bat if difturbed, the fting is left in, and the wound is much the worfe. 
A bive 
