ed the palm of the band, which is covered with a thick cuticle : it has often been about the one-twelfth of an inch. To per form this by mere force, two things are necessary, power of muscles, and strength of the sting, neither of which they seem to possess in sufficient degree. I own I do not understand this operation. I am apt to conceive there is something in it distinct from simple force applied to one end of a body : for if this was simply the case, the sting of the bee could not be made to pierce by any power applied to its liase, as the least pressure bends it in any direction : it is possible the serrated edges may assist, by cutting their way in like a saw.
" The apparatus for the poison consists of two small ducts, which are the glands that secrete the poison : these two lie in the abdomen, among the air-cells, &c. ; they both unite into one, which soon en ters into or forms an oblong bag, like a bladder of urine ; at the opposite end of which passes out a duct, which runs to wards the angle where the two stings meet, and entermgbetween the two stings, is continued between them in a groove, which forms scans] by the union of' the two stings to this point. There is another duct on the right of that described above, which is not so circumscribed, and contains a thicker matter, which, as fitr as I have been able to judge, enters along with the other ; but it is the first that contains the poison, which is a thin, clear fluid. From the stings having serrated edges, it is seldom the bees can disengage them ; and they immediately upon stinging endeavour ,to make their escape, but are generally prevented, as it were caught in their own trap ; and the force they use commonly drags out the whole of the apparatus for stinging, and also part of the bowels; so that the bee most frequently falls a sacri fice immediately upon having effected its purpose. Upon a superficial view, one conceives that the first intention of the bee having a sting is evident ; one sees it has property to defend, and that therefore it is fitted for defence ; but why it should naturally fall a sacrifice in its own defence does not so readily appear ; besides, all bees have stings, although all bees have not property to defend, and therefore are not under the same necessity of being so provided. Probably its having a sting to use was sufficient for nature to defend the bee, without using it liberally ; and the loss of a bee or two, when they did sting, was of no consequence, for it is seldom that more die." Some naturalists suppose that the queen is formed from the lame ()fate workingbee; by aparticular mode of treatment,or peculi arity or quantity of food,th e bulk is augmen ted, and the generative organs developed.
We now proceed to notice some of the species. The apis centuncularis, or car penter-bee, is remarkable for its faculty of forming long, tubular, and slightly flexuose cavities in wood, even of the most solid kind, as oak, &c. Sometimes it performs this•operation in living trees, and some times in dry wood, posts, &c. When the tube is properly finished, the animal pro ceeds to line each of the above-mentioned spaces with rose-leaves rolled over each other, the bottom of each being formed by several circular pieces of these leaves, placed immediately over each other to a sufficient thickness. The animal then de
posits an egg at the bottom, and having left in the cell a sufficient quantity of a kind of honey for the nourishment of the young larva, when hatched, proceeds to close the top with circular bits of and, thus proceeding, finishes the whole series. This is usually done towards the close of summer ; and the young, having passed the period of their larva state, change into that of chrysalis, and remain the whole winter, not making their ap pearance till pretty late in the ensuing season. This bee is about the size of the common, or honey-bee, but shorter and broader bodied in proportion, and is of a dusky colour above, the lower parts tie ing covered with a bright ferruginous down or hair. In seasons when this species happens to be plentiful, it does considera ble injury to the trees which , it attacks, large trunks of apparently healthy oaks having been found very materially injured by the numerous trains of cells distributed through them in different parts; thirty,for ty, or fifty tubes sometimes lying within a very small distance of each other. In defect of rose-leaves, the cavities are sometimes lined with the leaves of elm, &c. A species, very nearly allied to the preceding, pur sues a similar plan of forming a continued series of cylindrical nests with rose or other leaves, rolling them in such a man ner as to resemble so many thimbles, the top of each being closed as before. In stead, however, of being placed in the timber of trees, they arc laid in horizontal trains, at a certain distance beneath the surface of the ground. Of the villose, or hairy bees, popularly called humble-bees, one of the largest and most common in England is the apis lapidaria of Linnpens, so named from the circumstance of its nest being generally situated in strong or gravelly places. This species is entirely of a deep black colour, except the end of the abdomen, which is red or orange-co loured, more or less deep in different in dividuals. The female is of large size, measuring near an inch in length ; the male is considerably smaller ; and the neu ter, or labouring bee, still smaller than the male. The humble-bees in general live in small societies of 40 or 60 together, in an oval or roundish nest, excavated to a small depth beneath the surface of the ground, and formed of branches of moss, compact ed together, and lined with a kind of coarse wax. In this nest, which measures from four to six inches in diameter, are constructed several oval cells, which, how ever, are not the work of the complete in sects, but are the cases spun by the large, and in which they remain during their state of chrysalis : the eggs are deposited among heaps of a kind of coarse honey or bee-bread, placed here and there at uncer tain intervals: on this substance the Larva: feed during their growing state : lastly, in every nest are placed a few nearly cylin dric cells or goblets of coarse wax, and filled with pure honey, on which the com plete insects feed. See Plate T. Entomo logy, fig. 4-6. For the management of bees, see BEE.