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There are of the domestic bee, at certain seasons of the year, three kinds in every hive; the males, the females, and the bees without sex: the latter every person is acquainted with; their number is beyond comparison greater than that of the other two kinds; Nature seems to have destined them solely for the purpose of labour, and the whole drudgery of the hive lies upon them; hence they have been properly termed working bees, or labourers. It is only during one or two months of the summer, when the hive is most crowded, that males are found in it; and even then they do not amount to a tenth part of the whole; but they are of a superior size. During the whole course of the season, except a few days, there is only a single female to be discovered in the most numerous hive; her fecundity, however, is so prodigious, that she is soon capable of multiplying her family to such a degree, that the hive can no longer contain it. To her the whole swarm, from ten to twenty thousand, owe their birth. Her residence is generally in the interior apartments of the hive; and when she shows herself, she is readily known by her size, being longer than even the male bees, but inferior in thickness. From a number of well-attested experiments and observations, it appears that her life is more precious than any of the rest, for she is the soul of all their operations: if a hive is deprived of her, however numerous, its inmates will undertake no labour, and they will hardly give themselves the trouble of collecting their daily subsistence. A swarm that was busy from morning to night, constructing cells and collecting wax, immediately upon this accident seem to forget that the flowers contain their food; they scarcely stir from the hive, construct no new cells, nor even finish what were begun: but the moment she is restored, their wonted spirit and activity is resumed by the whole swarm.

This queen, without the cares of government, is indeed busily occupied, but in functions of a different kind; and these are, the production of a vast number of eggs, which she continues to drop, one after another, into the empty cells, during a considerable part of the summer. This animal, which is so amazingly productive, on being opered, has been found to contain upwards of five thousand eggs, ali of a size sufficient to be perceptible. If we make allowance for those that were already dropped, and many more not yet formed, so as to become perceptible, we shall no longer deem it incredible, that this animal should

in one season become the mother of so many thousands. In three weeks' time, the young bees are ready to make their appearance as winged animals, and their first employment in that state, is to gnaw off the wax with which the entrance of their cells had been secured.

When the bees begin to work in their hives, they divide themselves into four companies; one of which roves in the fields in search of materials; another employs itself in laying out the bottom and partitions of the cells; a third is employed in making the inside smooth, from the corners and angles; and the fourth company brings food for the rest, or relieves those who return with their respective burdens. Their diligence and labour are so great, that in a day's time, they are able to make cells which lie upon each other numerous enough to contain three thousand bees. When the bees at any time rest themselves, there is something very particular in their method of taking their repose: it is done by collecting themselves together in a heap, and hanging to each other by their feet, as seen in the engraving: they sometimes extend these heaps to a considerable length. It would seem probable to us, that the bees from which the others hang must have a considerable weight suspended to them. All that can be said is, that the bees must find this situation agreeable to themselves.

THE SILK-WORM.

THIS wonderful insect is found in a native state on mulberry-trees in China, and some other of the eastern countries, from whence it was originally introduced into Europe in the reign of the emperor Justinian; it has, however, at this time become, in a commercial view, one of the most valuable of all insects; affording those delicate and beautiful threads that are afterwards woven into silk, and used in almost all parts of the world.

These insects are, in the warmer climates of the east, left at liberty upon the trees, where they are hatched, and on which they form their coccoons; but in cooler countries, where these animals have been introduced, they

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are kept in a room with a south aspect, built for the pose, and fed every day with fresh leaves. Their eggs are of a straw colour, and about the size of a pin's head. At its birth, the worm is entirely black, and about as long as a small ant; and it retains this colour eight or nine days. These worms are put on wicker shelves, covered first with paper, and on this a bed of the most tender of the mulberry leaves. Several ranges are placed, one above another, in the same chamber, about a foot and a half apart. The scaffolding for these ranges should, however, be in the middle of the room, and the shelves not too deep. At about the expiration of thirty days, they begin to make their coccoons, after which they prepare for their final dissolution.

THE CATERPILLAR.

IN September these insects may be seen in great abundance. They keep together under the cover of a fine web, which they spin to defend themselves from the inclemency of the weather; and in the protection of this they pass the winter months. During this time they are so nearly reduced to a torpid state, as to require no food, nor do they venture out of their general covering till invited by the warmth of the spring. As they afterwards increase in size, they spread abroad in search of food; but their local attachment is very remarkable, for neither the caterpillar nor even the butterfly will stray far from the place where it was bred. Numbers of the latter may sometimes be observed on the wing, in a spot of swampy or marsh land, when not one of them is to be met with in any of the adjacent places. As they fly very low, and frequently settle, they are easily caught. The caterpillars are generally at their full growth about the last week in April; when this takes place they suspend themselves by the tail to change into chrysalis, in which state they remain fourteen days. Their mode of suspension is a singular instance of the extraordinary power of instinct:-They

first draw two or three blades of grass across towards their top, fasten them together by means of their silk, and then hang themselves beneath the centre of these, each having its own little canopy. By this means they are not only hidden from the sight of birds, but defended in a great measure from the damage they might otherwise sustain from windy and boisterous weather. They feed on the devil's-bit, scabious, and various kinds of marsh grasses; eating only the opening leaves as they come up, which renders them sometimes difficult to find. This they do only when the sun shines; for if, in the very act, the sun becomes hidden behind a cloud, they immediately cease; but, on the return of the sun-beams, they recommence their operations with great voracity.

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THE butterfly may be said to consist of three parts; the head, the corselet, and the body. The body is the hinder part, and is composed of rings, which are generally concealed under long hairs, with which that part of the insect is clothed: the corselet is more solid than the rest of the body, and in which the four wings, and the legs, are fixed: they have six legs, but make use of only four; the two fore feet are covered by the long hairs of the body, and are sometimes so much concealed, that it is difficult to discover them. The eyes of butterflies have not all the same form; in some they are the larger portion of a sphere; in others they are but a small part of it, and just appearing from the head; in some also they are small, and in others large; but in all of them, the outer coat has a lustre, in which may be discovered all the various colours in the rainbow. It has, likewise, the appearance of a

multiplying-glass, having a great number of sides, or facets, in the manner of a brilliant-cut diamond. In this particular, the eye of the butterfly and of most other insects correspond.

The wings of butterflies are very different to those of any other fly; they have four in number, and though two of them be cut off, the animal is still enabled to fly; they are, in their own substance, transparent, but owe their opacity to the beautiful dust with which they are covered.

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The painted-lady butterfly is a species not very comIn some seasons, these insects appear in considerable numbers, and then again are not seen for several years. In point of beauty, this has the highest claim of all; its wings are indented, orange above, variegated with black and white beneath; four eyes on the posterior pair. Its larva, or worm, feeds on nettles, thistles, docks, and other herbage, by the sides of ditches, and changes its state about the middle or latter end of July.

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THE larva of this scarce insect is green, with spiracles on every segment, surrounded by a purple ring, and the caudle spine is of the same colour. When full grown, they are thick-set in the middle; their horn or tongue is generally curled; and they have two feelers: their wings clouded, entire, and posterior margin dotted with white; their body has five pairs of white spots.

In America, we are informed, that they are distinguished by the name of tobacco-moths, on account of their feeding entirely on that plant.

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