usual time underwent the necessary transformations, and a numerous young colony was produced. Naturalists have observed, that the queen bees are produced in a manner peculiar to themselves, and different from the drones and working bees. Some have supposed, that the eggs laid by the queen in a hive, and destined for the production of queen bees, are of a peculiar kind; but though this is not the case, as M. Schirach has lately discovered, yet there are particular cells appropriated for this purpose. These cells are generally near the edges, and at the bottom of the combs, and sometimes on the sides of a honeycomb they are of an oblong orbicular form, and very strong; and are more or less numerous in different hives, as occasion seems to require. It has been also supposed, that the matter with which they are nourished is of a different kind and quality from that employed for the nourishment of the other bees; that which has been collected out of the royal cells being of a gummy glutinous nature, and of a deep transparent red, and dissolving in the fire rather than crumbling to powder. It was long supposed that the queen bee was the only female contained in the hive; and that the working bees were neutral, or of neither sex. But M. Schirach has lately established a different doctrine, which has been also confirmed by the latter observations of Mr. Debraw and Mr. Bonner. According to M. Schirach, all the working or common bees are females in disguise; and the queen bee lays only two kinds of eggs, viz. those which are to produce the drones, and those from which the working bees are to proceed; and from any one or more of these, one or more queens may be produced; so that every worm of the latter or common kind, which has been hatched about three days, is capable, under certain circumstances, of becoming the queen, or mother of a hive. In proof of this doctrine, new and singular as it may seem, he alleges a number of satisfactory and decisive experiments, which have been since verified by those of Mr. Debraw and Mr. Bonner. The final result of these experiments is, that a colony of working bees shut up with a piece of common brood comb, not only hatch it, but are found, at the end of eightteen or twenty days, to have produced from thence one or two queens; which have apparently proceeded from worms of the common sort, pitched upon by them for that purpose; and which, if they had remained in the old hive, (there is reason to suppose) would have been changed into common working bees. Hence we may justly infer, that the government of the bees is not a jure divino, or hereditary monarchy, but an elective one, in which the choice of their future ruler is made by the body of the people, while she is yet in the cradle, or in embryo; who are determined by motives of preference, which will perhaps for ever elude the penetration of the most sagacious naturalists. The conclusions drawn by M. Schirach, from experiments of this kind, often repeated by himself, Mr. Bonner, and others, with the same success, are, that all the common or working bees were originally of the female sex; but that when they have undergone their last metamorphosis, they are condemned to a state of perpetual virginity,

and the organs of generation are obliterated; merely because they have not been lodged, fed, and brought up in a particular manner, while they were in the worm state. These authors suppose that the worm designed by the community to be a queen, or mother, owes its metamorpho sis into a queen, partly to the extraordinary size of its cell, and its peculiar position in it, but principally to a certain appropriate nourishment found there, and carefully administered to it by the working bees while it was in the worm state; by which, and possibly other means unknown, the development and extension of the germ of the female organs, previously existing in the embryo, is effected; and those differences in its form and size are produced, which afterwards so remarkably distinguish it from the common working bees. This discovery is capable of he ing applied towards forming artificial swarms, or new colonies of bees, by which means their number might be increased, and their produce in honey and wax proportionally augmented. We cannot conclude this subject without taking notice of a conjecture, suggested by Mr. Bonner, or rather by a friend of his, respecting the fecundation of the queen bee, which, however singular it may appear, is not without analogy in the natural history of insects. See APHIS. Mr. Bonner mentions, that in a conversation with two intelligent gentlemen after seeing his experiments, proving that queens lay eggs, which produce queens, commons, and drones, without having ever seen a drone, they asked him, What then is the use of the drone?' In answer to this, I candidly acknowledged, that I could not tell, as any conjecture that I could form respecting their use appeared to be attended with insurmountable objections. We all agreed, however, that they certainly must be of some use, as nature, or, more properly speaking, the God of nature, does nothing in vain. One of the gentlemen said, that perhaps bees might be like some other insects, whose males were not necessary in every act of generation; and that, perhaps, although a queen bee who had never seen a drone could lay an egg which would produce a queen, and that queen again do the same, and thus the production of queens and bees be continued with equal success, for perhaps six, eight, or ten generations, yet it might perhaps turn out, that these queens would gradually become more and more unfruitful, and at last grow altogether barren, unless they should cohabit with the drones. The other gentleman, however, was of opinion, that if one queen was fruitful without the agency of the drones, every other one would be so likewise to the end of the world. There is one thing, however, that seems to favor the former gentleman's conjecture; viz. that some hives, which had not a single drone in them, have been known to breed well for one summer, pretty well the next, and even tolerably the third; but at last have bred drones, and thereby turned out much more prolific thereafter; although it must be owned that such hives generally fail at last. Seeing the drones are great consumers of honey, though they do nothing to provide any; should the above conjecture, therefore, turn out to be true, a practical inference may be drawn, that a

hive may thrive fully as well, or rather better, for three or four years, without drones than with them; after which period, they might again be introduced into the hive, for the purpose of renewing the prolific powers of the queen, and preventing the royal race from becoming barren or extinct. It may be farther observed, as an additional argument in favor of the above conjecture, that although the queen and her daughter, none of whom ever saw a drone, might lay abundance of eggs, which would all produce bees, yet they might probably have laid a great many more, had the drones been in the hive with them. I must confess it appears somewhat paradoxical, to say that females will breed succesively for several generations without the assistance of the males; and yet at last prove barren, and give over breeding altogether, till their prolific powers are renewed by fresh males cohabiting with them. But however paradoxical or unaccountable it may appear, that is not a sufficient reason to reprobate the supposition; as there are many of the arcana of nature that are equally wonderful and unaccountable, and the elucidation of which has hitherto baffled the investigation of the most penetrating geniuses, and deepest inquirers into the secrets of natural philosophy.' Mr. Bonner adds, that one of these gentlemen offered him the use of his hives to try an experiment in proof of this theory, which he promises to execute the first leisure opportunity, and lay the result before the public; which, if it shall prove satisfactory, will entirely set aside Mr. Debraw's doctrine of the little drones; the existence of which is utterly denied by Mr. Hunter, a late English writer upon the subject, as well as by Mr. Bonner. Mr. Hunter considers the doctrine as merely calculated to furnish a convenient link in the chain of a favorite hypothesis.

Honey is originally a juice digested in plants, which sweats through their pores, and chiefly in their flowers, or is contained in reservoirs in which nature stores it. The bees sometimes penetrate into these stores, and at other times find the liquor exuded. This they collect in their stomachs; so that, when loaded with it, they seem, to an attentive eye, to come home without any booty at all. Besides the liquor already mentioned, which is obtained from the flowers of plants, another substance, called honey-dew, has been discovered, of which the bees are equally fond. Of this substance there are two kinds, both deriving their origin from vegetables, though in very different ways. The first kind, the only one known to husbandmen, and which passes for a dew that falls on trees, is no other than a mild sweet juice, which, having circulated through the vessels of vegetables, is separated in proper reservoirs in the flowers, or on the leaves, where it is properly called the honey-dew; sometimes it is deposited in the pith, as in the sugarcane; and, at other times, in the juice of pulpy summer fruits when ripe. Such is the origin of the manna which is collected on the ash and maple of Calabria and Briançon, where it flows in great plenty from the leaves and trunks of these trees, and thickens into the form in which it is usually seen. The second kind of honey-dew, VOL. II.

which is the chief resource of bees, after the spring flowers and dew by transpiration on leaves are past, owes its origin to a small insect, (see APHIS,) the excrement thrown out by which makes a part of the most delicate honey we ever taste. From whatever source the bees have collected their honey, the instant they return home they seek cells in which they may disgorge and deposit their loads. They have two sorts of stores; one of which consists of honey laid up for the winter, and the other of honey intended for accidental use in case of bad weather, and for such bees as do not go abroad in search of it. Their method of securing each of these is different. They have in each cell a thicker substance, which is placed over the honey to prevent its running out of the cell; and that substance is raised gradually as the cell is filled, till the bees, finding that the cell cannot contain any more, close it with a covering of wax, not to be opened till times of want, or during the winter.

The queen and working bees are armed with stings; when the whole sting is examined by a microscope along with a small needle, which has received the finest polish that human art can give it, the sting exhibits all over the most beautiful polish, without the least flaw, blemish, or inequality; while the needle appears full of holes, scratches, and ruggedness, like an iron bar from a smith's forge. Yet this fine polished instrument is only the sheath of others still more exquisitely fine and curious. This fine horny sheath, or scabbard, includes two bearded darts. This sheath ends in a sharp point, near the extremity of which a slit opens, through which, at the time of stinging, the two bearded darts are protruded beyond the end of the sheath: one of these is a little longer than the other, and fixes its beard first; and the other instantly following, they penetrate alternately deeper and deeper, taking hold of the flesh with their beards or hooks, till the whole sting is buried in the flesh; and then a venomous juice is injected through the sheath, from a little bag at the root of the sting. Hence the wound occasions an acute pain and swelling of the part, which sometimes continue several days. These effects are best remedied by enlarging the wound directly, to give it some discharge. This poison seems to owe its mischievous efficacy to certain pungent salts. Let a bee be provoked to strike its sting against a plate of glass, and there will be a drop of the poison discharged, and left upon the glass. This being placed under a double microscope, as the liquor evaporates the salt will be seen to concentrate, forming oblong, pointed, clear crystals. Mr. Derham counted on the sting of a wasp eight beards on the side of each dart, somewhat like the beards of fishhooks; and the same number is to be counted or. the darts of the bee's sting. When these beards are stuck deep in the flesh, if the wounded person starts, or discomposes the bee before it can disengage them, the sting is left behind sticking in the wound: but if he have patience to stand quiet, the creature brings the hooks down close to the sides of the darts, and withdraws the weapons, in which case the wound is always much less painful. The danger of being stung by bees may be in a great manner prevented by

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