where I let them lie for fome hours, to try if they would rife; but here was the height of loyalty expreffed. The poor queen, as I told you above, had one of her wings clipt, and fo was not able to fly, and lead them off to fome place for their common prefervation, and these her loyal fubjects chofe rather to perish with her, than to leave her in her distress. Then I again took away their queen, and put her in a box as before, and my poor bees fell again to fpreading themfelves in fearch of her; fo when they were thus fpread abroad, I laid down their queen, near one fide of this fearching fquadron, when to my great fatisfaction, and wonder of fome friends, which I had fent for on purpose, they all immediately ceased their fpreading themselves, and fearching every way for their queen, they all marched directly towards her! Before they had quite covered her, to fave myfelf the trouble of fearching for her in the midst of the fwarm, I took her up and laid her down on the contrary fide, to where I took her up, when prefently you might fee them all turn their march to her again; fo I often took her up from one place and laid her down in another, and thefe poor loyal and loving creatures always marched and counter-marched every way as the queen was laid. When I had fhewed my friends all the diverfion that fo great a curiofity could afford them, I fuffered them again to encircle her, and immediately they clofed from the right and left, front and rear, into a thick round bunch, no broader than the crown of my hat, and fo lay very well contented together, the commons till expecting when they fhould fly with their queen as ufual; but he not being able to fly, could not lead them off, and not a Bee of them would offer to leave her, though by this time, no doubt but they began to want food; fo the evening drawing on, I again hived them, and brought them into my garden

to

to prevent their being chilled; and the next morning knocked them out upon the grafs, where to try farther experiments, I often took away their queen, and with her could march them any where, this way and that way, and then put her to them again; for I was refolved now to try whether or no thefe loyal creatures would go on thus to the end, and crownthefe their loyal principles with martyrdom. The Commons tafted no food, nor would they fly to get any, unless their queen had been in fafety. And indeed this their loyalty and affection was equalled, if not out-done by their queen; for when I had her away from them, I gave her honey several times, but fhe would not fo much as once taste of it without her fubjects. But to come to a conclufion of this curious though melancholy obfervation, they ftill kept their integrity, and famine itfelf could not leffen their loyal affection to their Prince; for after they had lived five days and five nights without the leaft food, they all died of famine, except the queen-bee, who lived fome few hours longer than her fubjects, and then died; difdaining a life, that was no life to her, without the company of those which fhe could not have, they ha ing all given up their lives for her fake."

There are in the Monarchy of Bees many other circumftances which fhew the order and admirable policy which reigns among them thefe are too nearly related. to the fubject of this chapter to be omitted. The queen has her guards who have the charge of her fafety; fome like body guards are ftationed in the antichamber of her apartment, and others ftand centinels at the gate of the palace. She never moves a ftep without being attended by her guards or being escorted by crowds of other Bees; if he goes out, the reft follow her; if the ftops, they ftand ftill; if fhe goes into the hive again, they all attend her.

As they depofit their whole ftore in a commen magazine, it is just that each Bee fhould contribute to the heap by its own labour. Accordingly they never fuffer an idle member whofe inaction would derange their economy, and who would wafte the provifion which it cofts them fo much labour to collect. By virtue of this fage law they expell the drones from their hive, which do nothing but confume the honey; they drive them away with rigour, and even in certain circumftances kill them.

When in Spring their magazines are exhaufted, and the flowers not yet in fufficient abundance to furnish them with food, they are obliged to live by pillage. The neceflity of their circumftances often occafions bloody wars in which great numbers always perish. They feldom attack the hives in their neighbourhood, but like Tartars they over run vaft fields and halt at places remote from their own dwellings. They do not attack indifferently every hive; fome are too ftrong, and would make them repent their temerity. But after mature examination of the ftrength and numbers of the whole, they fall on the weakeft, and gorge themfelves with plunder. If the fuccefs answers their expectation, they return next day with a reinforcement, and continue this predatory war, till they reach the inmoft treasures of the hive. The bees which are expofed to this pillage, do not fuffer it tamely. They endeavour to disappoint the affailants, with the most vigorous efforts. No fooner have thefe given the fignal by a humming more loud than ordinary, than they prepare their fting which ferves them as a fword ready for their defence: the guards are encreafed, and they march boldly to oppole the enemy; the action, as is mentioned above, is generally fierce and bloody, and great numbers on both fides are left dead on the field of battle. The queen being as it were the foul of the hive, it is eafy

to

to imagine that their greatest care will be to fecure her from the fury of the invaders. If fhe has the misfortune to fall in battle, the whole army is difpirited, and victory declares for the affailants.

If the bees in a hive are, hampered for room on account of their numbers, or if there happens to be more than one queen, they fend off colonies which go to fettle elsewhere. The queen of this detachment puts herself at the head of her fubjects, who follow her without knowing whither fhe is to lead them. When fhe has pitched on a favourable place fhe ftops, and lays the foundation of a new king

dom.

I must not omit to mention the refpect they fhew to their dead. It does not appear that they neglec the carcafes of thofe that have perifhed, but carefully convey them away. If one bee is not fufficient, two join to perform the task: the one takes the dead body by the head, the other feizes it by the tail, and thus they carry it thirty or forty paces from the hive with their legs only.

If we confider maturely the different inftances of fagacity which I have in this chapter related of infects, we cannot but be ftruck with wonder. There is fomething in them all which, if it does not furpafs the cunning and fubtilty of the mind of man, at least very nearly approaches them. It cannot be the effect of chance, for there is an evident difplay of design, and a conflant regularity, which demonstrates that an all powerful and all wife being directs them. Fix your attention for a moment on the different ways in which I have faid that infects conftruct their nefts. It requires a deal of time before a man who is endowed with intelligence, by which he is fo adventagiously diftinguished from these animals can acquire

a fufficient acquaintance with geometry to be able to take with certainty the juft dimenfions of any given body; and an architect muft ferve a long apprenticefhip before he is able to build a regular and convenient house; but thefe little creatures geometrically, and with the greatest accuracy, construct their houfes, in which they are to dwell for a time. With whom have they ferved an apprenticeship to fo difficult an art? What master has made them fo perfect in fo fhort a time? Who hath pointed out to them the materials moft proper for the conftruction of their abodes? Who hath taught them the proper time for commencing their operations? What ma thematician hath difcovered to bees the most convenient figure for the ftructure of their cells? How does each species know the kind of houfe which is beft adapted to it? How happens it that no one fpecies ever forfakes its own manner of building, for that of fome other species? Of whom has the fpider, an infect otherwife fo vile, learnt to fpin fo fine and delicate a thread? From whom has fhe received the art of fix. ing it to fomething firm when fhe is about to make a web? Who hath taught her to unite the whole in a common centre, and to connect them by a kind of fpiral line which forms circles at equal distances from one another? How has he been able to foresee that this web would be ferviceable in the catching of other infects which fhe could not have feized without this artifice? What compaffes has she made ufe of in order to find the centre of her work in which every thread terminates, and where the perceives the fmalleft motion, which is made in the whole extent of her web? How happens it that fhe never mistakes the road in her way towards the prifoner whofe exertions inform her of his captivity; Who hath informed fome of those infects to guard themfelves from heat and others to defend them. felves from wet and the wind? How do almost the

whole