264
T o be further fatisfied, Mr. Debraw took the brood comb,
which had not been impregnated, and divided it into two parts;
one he placed under a glafs bell, No. 1, with honey comb for the
bees food, taking care to leave a queen, but no drones, among
the bees confined in i t : the other piece of brood-comb he placed
under another glafs bell, No. 2, with a few drones, a queen, and a
proportionable number o f common bees. The refult was, that
in the glafs, No. 1, there was no impregnation, the eggs remained
in the fame ftate they were in when put into the glafs; and on
giving the bees their liberty on the feventh day, they all flew
away, as was found to be the cafe in the former experiment;
whereas in the glafs, No. 2, the very day after the bees had been '
put into it, the eggs were impregnated by the drones, and the
bees did not leave their hives on receiving their liberty.
The editor o f the Cyclopaedia fays, that the fmall drones are
all dead before the end o f May, when the larger-fpecies appear,
and fuperfede their u le ; and that it is not without reafon-, that a
modem author fuggefts that a fmall number of drones are referved,
to fupply the neceflities of the enfuing year ; but that they are
very little, if any, larger than the common bee.
It does not enter into our plan to notice further in this place
the wonders of this little fociety. A bee-hive is certainly one o f
the fineffi objefts that can offer itfelf to the eyes o f the beholder.
It is not eafy to be weary o f contemplating thofe workfhops,
where thoufands o f labourers are conftantly employed in different
works. While one party is employed in coliefling the matter of
the wax, and filling their magazines with it, others work this
wax, and build with it their cells; this is again polifhed and
g perfected
perfefted by others: fome wander abroad to extraft the honey
from the flower, which they afterwards depofit in cells, as well
for the neceffities o f the day as thofe of the inclement feafon:
fome cover with wax the cells that contain the honey, which is
to be preferved for the enfuing winter: others feed the young,
&c. with various other employments, too numerous to be inferted
here.
The eggs o f infefls are contained and arranged in the body of
the infefl, in veffels which vary in number and figure in different
fpecies ; the feme variety is found in the eggs.; fome are round,
others oval, fome cylindrical, and others nearly fquare; the
{hells o f fome are hard and fmooth, while others are foft and
flexible. It is a general rule, that eggs do not increafe in fize
after they are laid ; among infefls we find, however, an exception
to this ; the eggs o f the mouches a fcie (tenthredo, Linn.)
increafe after they are laid, but their {hell is foft and membranaceous.
The eggs of infefls differ in their colours ; fome may be found
o f almoft every fhade, o f yellow, green, brown, and even black.
The eggs o f the lion puceron * (hemerobius, Linn.) are a very
fino-ular objefl, and cannot have efcaped the eye o f any perfon
who is converfant among the infefls which live on trees; though
o f the many who have feen them, few, if any, have found what
they really were. It is common to fee on the leaves and pedicles
o f the leaves of the plumb-tree, and feveral other trees, as alfo
on their ypung branches, a number o f long and flender filaments,
running out to about an inch in length; ten or twelve o f thefe
K k are
* Reaumur Hift. de Infe&es, vol. xi. p* H2*