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1751. Of HERRINGS, and their amazing Shoals.

of its nobleft ardour. This kind of life
eftablishes that peace within, which only
tan arife from the teftimony of a good con-
fcience: This prevents all ill, and inspires
all good that is in our power: This gives
us that ferenity of mind, without which all
other pretended pleasures lead to remorse :
This is the health of the foul; this diffufes A
that univerfal fatisfaction, that uninter-
rupted chearfulness, over it, that gives its
relish to the highest enjoyments: This,
while it infpires the foul every moment to
renew the commerce with him who form-
ed it, gives a conviction of the greatne's
of its origin; and while it urges it on to
approaches, though at an infinite distance,
to the refemblance of the Divinity, con-
vinces it that it is a ray of that eternal Sun.
Security in the poffeffion of what we
call good, is the only means of perfect en-
joyment of it; but a certainty of every
change that can happen being yet far bet-
ter than the prefent, is an improvement
upon that fecurity: This can be only pof-
feffed by him who knows his Creator for C
his friend; who remembers, as the Pfalmift
gloriously expreffes it, that God is bis rock,
and the bigb God bis Redeemer.

A curious Account of the Herrings, their
Shoals, &c.

B

E

561

this expreffion may be allowed) I mean almost beyond the reach of figures. They come up, as we may lay, on the breadth of the ocean: And it is thought that the bulk of the fhoal may be more in extent than the island of Great Britain.

'Tis faid, that they are greatly ftraitned in their progrefs fouthward, by their being obliged to pafs between the fhores of Greenland and the North Cape; which (to them) may be a trait, tho' 200 leagues broad.

Advancing forward, and their amazing body meeting with an interruption, from the fituation of Great-Britain, it neceffarily divides them into two parts; whether equal, or unequal, cannot be known.

One part of them fteer weit or fouthweft; and, bearing the Orkneys and Shetland to the left, pafs on towards Ireland ; where meeting with a fecond interruption, they divide again, when part of them keeping to the coaft of Great Britain, pafs away fouth, down St. George's, or the Irifh channel; and thus advancing, between Great Britain and Ireland, they enter the Severn fea, where they meet with part of their former companions. The other part, edging off, for want of room, to the weft and fouth-weft, as be-1 fore,) rove along the Irish, or Western Ocean; and ftill keeping upon the coaft, proceed to the fouth fhore of Ireland; and then steering fouth-eaft, meet with their companions, who came down the Irish channel.

The other part of the first grand divifion made in the north, parting a little to the eaft and fouth-east, come down into the German ocean; they then país by Shet land, and make the point of Buchannels in Scotland, and the coast of Aberdeen, filling, in their progrefs, all the bays, firths, creeks, and rivers, with their incredible multitudes; as tho' purposely directed, by Heaven, to offer themselves for the relief and employment of the poor, Hence and the benefit of commerce. coming away fouth, they país by Dunbar ; and rounding the high fhores of Berwick, F are feen again off Scarborough, and not before: They are not discovered in bulk, till they come to Yarmouth roads, and thence to the mouth of the Thames ; from whence, proceeding along the Britifh channel, they are feen no more.

ry year, the Sherlanders difcover, by feveral figns in the air and on the fea, a vaft and incredibly amazing shoal of herrings, advancing from the north. The place were they breed, their numberless multitude, their manner of coming, and efpecially, their regular, annual progrefs, are quite wonderful. With regard to the place they come from, and in which they may be faid to inhabit, breed and increase; all we know is, that it is far north. That they are almost infinite in number, may be fappofed from what we fee of them; and yet thefe (it may be concluded,) are but as the fwarm to the hive; a certain number of fupernumeraries, detached from the ftill far greater multitude of inhabitants who remain behind, and fent abroad (as it were) every year, to feek their food in other places; as tho' there was not room for them, in the countries inhabited by their ancestors. These fish do not return, (fo far as we can perceive,) to their native place, there to breed a farther fupply for next feafon; but, on the contrary, come from home big with their prolifick spawn, when every fish produces many thousand G others. This fpawn they caft in those feas; the herrings coming full to us, and being shotten and empty long before they depart. Their number may be reckoned among the infinites of finite nature (if December, 175

The ingenious author of Spectacle de la Nature, expatiates thus, in his figurative tive manner, on the fubject in question: "Many kinds of fish come in fhoals to our coafts. Some are always with us, and others fyim yearly to us in vast myltitudes. The feafon of their paffage, as well as the track they take, are well known; and 4 B

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562

Curious OBSERVATIONS on BEES.

and the greatest advantages are reaped from
that knowledge. To inftance only in her-
rings. The capital of their nation feems
to be between the points of Scotland, Nor-
way and Denmark. From that fituation
the Danish colonies take their progress an-
nually; traverfing, at different times, the
channel; and paffing by Holland and A
Flanders. But these are not a troop of
banditti, who coaft about at random: Their
tour being preferibed, and their annual
march regulated, with the utmost exact-
nefs. The whole body begin their march
at the fame time; when none of them
straggle out of their proper track; none
defert to commit depredations; but they
continue their progrefs, from coast to coaft, B
till the appointed period.

Dec.

is formed in the bee, from the crude wax, or farina (fo far I agree with him): But by his obfervations, he fays, after digeftion it is difcharged upwards by the mouth; whereas, by my obfervations, it is the fæces, hufks, or fhells of the farina or crude wax, after digestion, difcharged by the anus.

As to the first, I have frequently followed a bee loading the farina, bee-bread, or crude wax, upon its legs, thro* a part of a great field in flower; and upon whatfoever flower I faw it firft alight and gather the farina, it continued gathering from that kind of flower; and has paffed over many other fpecies of flowers, tho' very numerous in the field, without alighting upon or loading from them; tho' the flower it chofe was much (carcer in the field than the others: So that if it began to load from a daily, it continued loading from them, neglecting clover, honeysuckles, violets, &c, and if it began with any of the others, it continued loading from the fame kind, paffing over the daily. So in a garden upon my wall-trees, I have feen it load from a peach, and pass over apricots, plums, cherries, &c. yet made no difinction betwixt a peach and an almond."

They are a numberless people; they perform a long voyage; and, when the body of the army is paffed by, they are all gone; and none of the fame fpecies make their appearence, till next year. Attempts have been made to discover, what it is that induces the herrings to undertake fuch C 'long voyages, and inspires them with the policy they obferve. The English, French and Dutch fishermen declare, that the channel teems, every year, with an incredible number of worms and little fish, on which the herrings feed. The coaft of our inland is very rich, the foil of it breeding a fullidge or furf that swims near it, and on which all floating fish, fuch as macka. rel, pilchards and herrings, feed. This food draws the fish to us, and keeps them about our inland and no other country. This fuftenance may be confidered as a kind of marni, which thefe fish come, at ftated periods, to gather up. And, after having cleared the feas, in the northern parts of Europe, during the fummer and autumn, E they proceed towards the fouth, whither they are invited by a new stock of provifi. ons: But, if thefe fail, they advance forward with greater fwiftnefs, in order to accommodate themselves elsewhere."

Concerning BRIS, and their Method of gathering WAX and HONEY. In a Letter from Arthur Dobbs, Efq; to Charles Stanhope, Efq; F. R. S. Extracted from the Philofophical Tranfactions, No 496, juft published.

TH

Now M. Reaumur, in his memoir upon the bees making honey, mentions Ariftotle's obfervation of bees loading or gathering from one fpecies of flower without changDing; nor quitting a violet to gather from a cowflip; which he fays is not juftly founded; for he has obferved frequently a bee on a large border gathering from flowers of different fpecies. If M. Reaumur only means, that, when the bee gathers honey, it takes it indifferently from any flower, I can fay nothing against it; but, if he intends it to mean the bee's loading the farina upon its legs, then my obfervation directly contradicts it.

F

HE only two things in which I differ from M. Reaumur, are, that I apprehend he tays, the bees range from flowers of one fpecies to thofe of another fpecies, whilft they are gathering one load;G fo that the farina, or crude wax, loaded upon their legs, is from different species of flowers; which is contrary to what I have obferved. The other thing that I differ with him in, is, that he fays the wax 3

What further confirms my obfervation, is this, that each load upon the legs of a bee is of one uniform colour throughout, as a light red, an orange, a yellow, a white, or a green, and is not upon different parts of the load of a different colour; fo that as the farina of each fpecies of flowers, when collected together, is of one uniform colour, the prefumption is, that it is gathered from one fpecies. For, if from different kinds, part of the load might be of oné colour, and part of another.

Another obfervation to confirm the fame fact is, that bees, in the height of the feafon, return to their hives with loads of very different magnitudes, fome having loads as great as fmall (hot, whilst others have very fmail loads; it cannot be conceived that this difference is from the inactivity or floth of the bee in collecting its

load,

1751.

Curious OBSERVATIONS on BEES.

load, but rather from the fcarcity of the flowers, upon which it first began to load,

Now, if the facts are fo, and my obfervations true, I think that Providence has appointed the bee to be very inftrumental in promoting the increase of vegetables; but otherwife, might be very detrimental to their propagation; and at the fame time they contribute to the health and life of their own fpecies.

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563

It seems therefore highly reasonable to believe, that different kinds of farina may have different phyfical qualities: So that, by making collections of the fame kind in each cell, they may have proper remedies for themselves against ailments we have no knowledge of, which otherwife they would Anor have, if they were filled at random from all kinds of flowers. Thefe further advantages, directed to them by Providence, feem to add weight to my obferva. tions, and are a prefumptive proof that they are true.

The only thing, befides the former, wherein my obfervations differ from M. Reaumur, is in the manner the wax is made and emitted by the bee. He, from his obfervations, forms his opinion, that after the bee has fed upon the farina, or bee-bread, and it has paffed thro' the firft fiomach, (which is the refervoir where the honey is lodged, from whence it is dif charged upwards by its mouth into the cells) it is conveyed into the fecond flomach; Cand yet, when there, great part of it continues in its spherical or oval form, ftiil undigested; and confequently muft he conveyed further, before it be thoroughly digefted, and the particies broke ; yet this he fuppofes is reconveyed upwards thro both the ftomachs, and is emitted by its mouth.

From the late improvements made by glaffes, and experiments made, in ob'er. ving the works of nature, it is almost demonftrable, that the farina upon the apices of flowers is the male feed; which entering the piftillum or matrix in the flower, B impregnates the ovum, and makes it proJifick. It is often neceffary to have wind and dry weather to waft this farina to the piftillum, and from flower to flower, to make the feed prolifick; And we find in wet feafons, that grain, nuts, and fruit, are lefs prolifick, by the farina's not being properly conveyed to the piftillum; and alfo in very hot dry weather, from clammy honey-dews, or, more properly, sweet exfudations from the plants themfeives, which clogs the farina, and causes blasts and mildews. Now, if the farina of specifically different flowers fhould take the place of its own proper farina in the piftillum, like an unnatural coition in the animal world, either no generation would happen, or a monstrous one, or an individual not capable of further generation.

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Now if the bee is appointed by Providence to go only, at each loading, to flowers of the fame fpecies, as the abundant farina often covers the whole bee, as well as what it loads upon its legs, it carries the farina from flower to flower, and by its walking upon the piftillum and agitation of E its wings, it contributes greatly to the farina's entering into the piftillum, and at the fame time prevents the heterogeneous mixture of the farina of different flowers with it; which, if it ftrayed from flower to flower at random, it would carry to flowers of a different fpecies.

F

Befides thefe vifible advantages, it may be of great benefit to their own species and fociety; for, as this farina is the natural and conftant food of the bees, during one "half of the year, and from this digefted, as it is accurately obferved by M. Reaumur, is the bouilée and jelly formed; which is lodged for the food of the young bees, until they become nymphæ It is alfo neceffary that ftores of it should be lodged in the G cells adjoining to the honey, for their winter provifion; without which, M. Reaumur obferves, they would be in danger of dying of a loofenefs, their most dangerous málady.

What makes me difagree with him, is from the remarks I have made, that the fæces of the bee discharged by the anus, after the farina is digefted, is the true wax. We may, with truth believe, that the farina, which is the male feed of all vegetables, confifts of a fpirit or moving principle, floating in a (weet oil, furrounded by an exterior coat or thell, in which is that monade that impregnates the grain or fruit, and makes it prolifick; that upon feparati on or digeftion, this fpirit and (weet oil becomes the nourishment of the bee; which fpirit is of the fame mature with the animalcules, in femine mafculino of animals, and becomes the animal fpirits in the bee and other animals; and perhaps the true honey is the sweet oil included in the fariAnd as all vegetables abound with thefe vivifying atoms, fo the true honey breaking thro' its hell by great heat, occafions thofe honey-dews rbferved in hot weather upon the leaves and flowers of moft vegetables; which is no more than an exfudation from the leaves and bloffoms of thefe veffels that break with the heat; befides thofe that appear on the apices of flowers, which afterwards impregnate the fruit.

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hands (hould be join'd; And 'tis Midsummer now, Phillis,

why fo

Linkind"

Why; why, Phillis, why fo unkind?

PHILLIS.

True, Damon, I promis'd, I own itwhat then?

My mind has fince alter'd-how faithlefs are men!

You'vow'd to be conftant, and yet t'other [day Who fwore, that young Lucy was sweet as the May?

Sweet, fweet, was fweet as the May,
DAMON.

When Phillis grew coy, when she left me forlorn, [thorn, And was finging to Colin, beneath the green Mad, jealous, and fretting, pray, who was to blame, [fame?

If with Lucy I Arove to make Phillis the Strove, firove, to make Phillis the fame.

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I lik'd the fweet lay, for I thought it fin

cere :

But why does Paftora fo oft drop a tear ? "Why, why fo oft drop a tear?

DAMON,

From my heart let me tell thee, I proudly effay'd”

To conquer each beautiful infolent maid The garlands they wreath'd, at thy feet were refign'd; [unkind. This, this was my pride, then is Phillia Then, then, then is Phillis unkind.

PHILLIS.

How frail the difguife a fond lover would try! [would belye! How weak the thin fnare, that the foul Hence, hence, with fufpicion; away from the grove, And prove at the church, that truth waits [upon love. Prove, prove, truth waits upon love.

Poetical ESSAYS in DECEMBER, 1751. 565

A COUNTRY DANCE.
NORLAND JOCKEY.

Firft couple fet, caft off and turn lead thro' the third couple, caft up and turn; elap partners, and back to back fet four, and right and left with the top couple . Poetical ESSAYS in DECEMBER, 1751.

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But then if I rob them, I fear,

She might fay 'twas a barbarous deed; For the faid he could never be true,

Who could rob a poor bird of its young;. And I lov'd her the more, when I knew,

Such tendernefs flow from her tongue.

3.

I lov'd her the more, when the told,
How that pity was due to a dove,
That it ever attended the bold,

And the call'd it the fifter of love.
For her voice fuch a pleature conveys,
So much I her accents adore,
Let her fpeak, and whatever the fays,
I am fure ftill to love her the more.
6.

And now I must hafte to the plain,
Come, thepherds, and talk of her
ways s

I could lay down my life for the swain,

That will speak in my Phyllida's praife. When he fings, may the maids of the

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