green colour. Others again are so very small that the female pierces even the eggs of moths and butterflies, and deposits her own in each; as the ichneumon ovulorum of Linnæus, one of the smallest of the whole tribe: it is of a black colour, with rufus legs, and long filiform antennæ.

Other Ichneumons are of a very considerable size, and the females of these select some larger caterpillar for their victim; as those of the larger sphinges, such as the S. Ligustri, convolvuli, &c. or one of the large and middle-sized moths, as the phalana vinula, quercus, &c. &c. These large ichneumons are generally bred in small numbers, and sometimes the female deposits but a single egg in the selected caterpillar. This may be instanced in the ichneumon ramidulus, the larve of which is thus bred in the caterpillar of the sphinx ligustri: it is a very large ichneumon, of a dull yellowish colour, with a cast of brown on the thorax, and with the antennæ and abdomen tipped with black: the abdomen is also of a falciform shape, curving downwards, and compressed on the sides. Ichneumon luteus is a large species, nearly allied to the former, and of similar manners.

The seeming severity of the process ordained by nature, for giving birth to the genus ichneumon, may be much diminished by supposing, (what all the ensuing phænomena seem to imply) that, after the first operation of piercing the skin, and depositing the eggs, is performed by the female ichneumon, the caterpillar feels no acute pain; the included enemies feeding only on its juices, and evidently sparing the more important organs; so that it loses its life by a very gradual decay.

[Swammerdam. Shaw. Roësel.

SECTION XIII.

Bee.

Apis mellifica,-LINN.

This is an insect, that from its curious instinctive faculties, exquisite mechanical art, and above all useful productive labour, is entitled to minute attention; and whose history affords an equal portion of amusement and instruction. Perhaps the two most

elaborate accounts that have reached us upon its economy, are Mr, John Hunter's, given in the Philosophical Transactions for 1792, and M. Huber's, contained in his Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles, addressed to M. Bonnet, the celebrated author of the Contemplations de la Nature." The description we are now about to offer shall be drawn up from both these.

"There are three periods, observes Hunter*, at which the history of the bee may commence: first in the spring, when the queen begins to lay her eggs; in the summer, at the commencement of a new colony; or in the autumn, when they are going into winter. quarters. I shall begin the particular history of the bee with the new colony, when nothing is formed; for it begins then every thing that can possibly happen afterwards.

"When a hive sends off a colony, it is commonly in the month of June, but that will vary according to the season; for in a mild spring bees sometimes swarm in the middle of May, and very often at the latter end of it. Before they come off, they commonly hang about the mouth of the hole, or door of the hive, for some days, as if they had not sufficient room within for such hot weather, which I believe is very much the case; for if cold or wet weather come on, they stow themselves very well, and wait for fine weather, But swarming appears to be rather an operation arising from necessity, for they would seem not naturally to swarm, because if they have an empty space to fill, they do not swarm; therefore by increasing the size of the hive, the swarming is prevented. This period is much longer in some than in others. For scme even. ings before they come off, is often heard a singular noise, a kind of ring, or sound of small trumpet; by comparing it with the notes of the piano-forte, it seems to be the same sound with the lower A of the treble.

"The swarm commonly consists of three classes; a female, or femalest; males, and those commonly called mules, which are supposed to be of no sex, and are the labourers; the whole about two quarts in bulk, making about six or seven thousand. It is a

We quote him with Dr. Shaw's occasional abridgements and variations.

EDITOR.

+"I have reason to believe that never more than one female comes off with a swarm."

question that cannot easily be determined, whether this old stock sends off entirely young of the same season, and whether the whole of their young ones, or only part. As the males are entirely bred in the same season, part go off; but part must stay, and most probably it is so with the others. They commonly come off in the heat of the day, often immediately after a shower; who takes the lead I do not know, but should suppose it was the queen. When one goes off, they all immediately follow, and fly about seemingly in great confusion, although there is one principle actuating the whole. They soon appear to be directed to some fixed place; such as the branch of a tree or bush, the cavities of old trees, holes of houses leading into some hollow places; and whenever the stand is made, they all immediately repair to it, till they are all collected. But it would seem, in some cases, that they had not fixed upon any resting place before they came off; or if they had, that they were either disturbed, if it was near, or that it was at a great distance; for, after hovering some time, as if undetermined, they fly away, mount up into the air, and go off with great velocity. When they have fixed upon their future habitation, they immedi. ately begin to make their combs, for they have the materials within themselves. I have reason to believe that they fill their crops with honey when they come away; probably from the stock in the hive. I killed several of these that came away, and found their crops full, while those that remained in the hive had their crops not near so full: some of them came away with farina on their legs, which I conceive to be rather accidental. I may just observe here, that a hive commonly sends off two, sometimes three swarms in a summer; but that the second is commonly less than the first, and the third less than the second; and this last has seldom time to provide for the winter: they shall often threaten to swarm, but do not; whether the threatening is owing to too many bees, and their not swarming is owing to there being no queen, I do not know. It sometimes happens that the swarm shall go back again; but in such instances I have reason to think that they have lost their queen, for the hives to which the swarm have come back do not swarm the next warm day, but shall hang out for a fortnight, or more, and then swarm; and when they do, the swarm is com. monly much larger than before, which makes me suspect that the waited for the queen that was to go off with the next swarm,

"So far we have set the colony in motion. The materials of their dwelling, or comb, which is the wax, is the next considera. tion, with the mode of forming, preparing, or disposing of it. In giving a totally new account of the wax, I shall first shew it can hardly be what it has been supposed to be. First, I shall observe that the materials, as they are found composing the comb, are not to be found in the same state (as a composition) in any vegetable, where they have been supposed to be got. The substance brought flowers of plants, is, in

in on their legs, which is the farina of the common, I believe, imagined to be the materials of which the wax is made, for it is called by most the wax: but it is the farina, for it is always of the same colour as the farina of the flower where they are gathering; and indeed we see them gathering it, and we also see them covered almost all over with it, like a dust; nevertheless, it has been supposed to be the wax, or that the wax was extracted from it. Reaumur is of this opinion. I made several experiments, to see if there was such a quantity of oil in it, as would account for the quantity of wax to be formed, and to learn if it was com posed of oil. I held it near the candle; it burnt, but did not smell like wax ; and had the same smell, when burning, as farina when it was burnt. I observed that this substance was of different colours on different bees, but always of the same colour on both legs of the same bee; whereas new made comb was all of one colour. I observed, that it was gathered with more avidity for old hives, where the comb is complete, than for those hives where it is only begun, which we could hardly conceive if it was the materials of wax: also we may observe, that at the very beginning of a hive, the bees seldom bring in any substance on their legs for two or three days, and after that the farina gatherers begin to increase; for now some cells are formed to hold it as a store, and some eggs are laid, which when hatched will require this substance as food, and which will be ready when the weather is wet. I have also ob served, that when the weather has either been so cold, or so wet, in June, as to hinder a young swarm from going abroad, they have yet in that time formed as much new comb, as they did in the same time when the weather was such as allowed them to go abroad. I have seen them bring it in about the latter end of March, and have observed, in glass hives, the bees with the farina on their legs, have seen them disposing of it, as will be described hereafter.

and