836 The BO OK. of 
fitted of 5669 Bees, and was therefore a very 
good one, according to the judgment I had 
formed of it on its firft appearance. Never- 
thelefs, as the feafon was very far advanced, 
and the fpot the Bees lighted upon very ill 
furnifhed with materials for making honey; 
T thought it worth while to facrifice them to 
the curiofity-I had of knowing what work 
fuch a number could perform in fo fhort a 
time, and withal in fo unfavourable weather. 
Among this great multitude, there was but. 
one female Bee. The greateft number of them 
were working Bees, which are neither males 
nor females ; and there were befides thefe and 
the female Bee already mentioned, only 33 
male Bees, prepofteroufly called by the vul- 
gar hatching Bees; for the young Bees are 
hatched by the mere heat of the fummer, and 
that which is caufed by the perpetual hurry and 
motion of the old Bees flying about, or work- 
ing in the hive. It is very remarkable that the 
bottle into which the firft 1898 Bees driven 
out of the hive had been received, was 
thoroughly heated by the perpetual motion of 
thefe imprifoned creatures, and the warm va- 
pours which exhaled from their bodies. 
The number of waxen cells begun and 
finifhed, including thofe of the comb I had 
found on the ground on my firft examining the 
hive, amounted to 3392: they were all of 
the fame fize and form, and were intended 
only for nefts to hatch the working Bees. In 
236 of the cells fome honey had been ftored 
up, but it had been afterwards made ufe of, 
as very little could be then gathered abroad. 
It was no difficult matter to diftinguith the 
cells thus made ufe of from the others, for 
they had received a yellow tincture from the 
honey depofited in them, whereas thofe which 
had not as yet been employed this way were 
of a fhining white. 
There were alfo 62 of thefe cells, in which 
the Bees had already begun to lay up their 
ordinary food or bread called erithace. "This 
fubftance was of a changeable colour, between 
a yellow and a purplifh red; but perhaps this 
tinge might be owing to the fumigation: the 
whitenefs of the unemployed wax was in 
fome parts alfo impaired by the fame means ; 
coloured and covered befides with black fpots. 
In 35 cells I found as many eggs fixed 
in them at one end, fo that including the- 
eggs found in the comb, which had fallen to 
the ground as already mentioned, there were 
45 eggs in all. There were befides in 150, 
of the cells fo many new hatched Worms, 
but thefe lay almoft infenfible and motionlefs. 
‘They were of different fizes, the largeft of , 
them being very like that reprefented under 
the letter c, fig. x11. Tab. XXIII. All thefe 
Worms were furrounded with that kind of 
food, which the moft expert obfervers of 
Bees think is honey thrown up by «he old 
ones, out of their ftomachs. finis icing ob 
honey is white, like a folution of gum traga- 
NATURE, &4- 
canth, or ftarch diffolved in water, and js ala 
moft infipid : it fhews nothing remarkable on 
being viewed with the microfcope. In the 
Worms themfelves I could perceive pulmona- 
ry tubes of a filver whitenefs running moft 
beautifully on each fide through their little 
tranfparent bodies. 
I examined attentively the wax cemented 
by way of foundation to the top of the hive, 
but I could find no difference between that 
and the other wax of which the cells confit, 
They appear both to have the fame nature 
and properties. I could not, however, but ad- 
mire this ftrong union or faltening ; this fub- 
{tance being juft fpread upon the hive like a 
cruft, and confequently faftened to it by a 
very {mall portion of its farface; whereas the 
reft of the wax hung perpendicularly from 
this foundation, without any lateral or other 
fupport whatfoever, as if a wooden bowl were 
fixed to a plain ceiling by a {mall part of its 
circumference. | 
This hive contained the rudiments of a 
great many more fuch combs of wax, of an 
oval form, and full of cells on each fide: the 
empty fpaces left between the combs, for the 
Bees to pafs and repafs, did not exceed half 
an inch in breadth, fo that it is plain the 
comb I found open upon the ground, and in 
which J reckoned 418 cells, had been torn 
from its foundation by its own weight, and 
that of the Bees walking upon it. Hence it. 
appears, with what good reafon thofe who 
keep Bees, . place fticks crofsways in their 
hives, that the combs may have the more 
fupport ; and accordingly we obferve that in 
thefe hives, the Bees themfelves on each 
fide fufpend their combs to thefe flicks. 
Confidering the great multitude of Bees 
employed in building the waxen cells, which 
I have been juft examining, there is no great 
reafon to be furprifed at their having done fo 
much work that way, though the time they 
had to do it in was fo fhort, and the weather 
fo unfavourable. But it is really aftonifhing to 
think how a fingle female could lay fo many 
egos in the fame fmall interval, and withal 
depofit every egg in a feparate cell, and there 
firmly faften it. We muft alfo allow fome 
time for laying the perpendicular foundations. 
It is, moreover, very furprifing how thefe eggs 
fhould fo fpeedily turn to Worms, and how 
thofe Worms fhould grow fo very fuddenly 
to their ftate of change. But I muft now 
conclude, and I fhall do it with the following 
account of what the hive I have been de- 
fcribing contained, 
33 males. 
i female. 
5635 working Bees. 
3392 waxcells, for the ufe of the working Bees. 
4.5. €88s. 
150 Worms. 
62 cells containing Bees bread. 
236 cells in which honey had been laid up. 
The End of the FIRST PART. 
TIPE 
ee 
