meet in the Axis, and are anfwerable to the middle of the Cell; the other fix Sides of the fame Rhombs, befides the three obtufe Angles, form alfo three other Angles by a mutual Inclination, where they join together by the two fharp Angles.

These fame fix Sides of the three Rhombs are so many Bases, on which the Bees raise their Planes, which form the fix Sides of each Cell; each of these Sides is a Trapezium, which has a fharp Angle of feventy Degrees, another obtufe one of one hundred and ten Degrees, and the two Angles of the Trapeze, which are on the Side of the Opening or Entrance, are right Angles: We are to remark here, that the fharp Angle of the Trapeze is equal to the fharp Angle of the Bafis; and the obtufe Angle of the fame Rhomb, equal to the obtufe Angle of the Trapezium; the fix Trapezes which form the fix Sides of the Cell, touch one another two and two by the equal Sides, and are in fuch a manner joyn'd to the Rhombs, that the obtufe Angles of the Rhombs are contiguous to the obtufe Angles of the Trapezes, and the fharp Angles of the Trapezes to the like Angles of the Rhombs.

Now, in order to know the Connexion between them, and how the two oppofite Rows of Cells are form'd, you must fuppofe feveral other Bases like the foregoing, that is, that they have three Rhombs with the fame Angles, and that these Rhombs lean one towards another, as in the firft Bafis. You must then fuppofe, that these Bases are apply'd one to another in fuch a manner that the analogous Angles of the one are anfwerable to the An

Q3

gles

gles of the other. These Bafes perfectly joyn together, or three Rhombs of three different Bafes, by the Junction of two of these Bases with a third, form a Bafis of a new Cell like the former, with this difference, that the Concavity of the folid Angle is turn'd towards the other Face of the Honeycomb, where another Row of Cells is form'd oppofite to the former; and by the Junction of fix Bafes with a feventh, three new Bafes are form'd, which have the Concavity of a folid Angle, turn'd also contrary to that of the feven Bafes: In like manner, by the Application of twelve new Bafes to the other eight, other nine Bafes are form❜d, with the Concavity of the Angle turn'd oppofite to the twelve; it is by this admirable Contrivance that the two Rows of Cells are form'd in the two Faces of the Honeycomb.

There are by this Method of building three Rows of Rhombs in three different Planes, fo well purfued, that feveral Thousands of Rhombs of the fame Order are found to be all exact in the fame Plane: Thus indeed it is aftonishing, that feveral Thousands of Animals fhould, by Instinct of Nature only, concur to make fo difficult a Work with fo much Order and Regularity.

We are, in the next place, to confider the Confequence of fuch a Fabrick. It has been obferv'd already, that each Bafis has three Rhombs, and that there is a Plane on each Side of thefe three Rhombs, which ferves for a Side to an oppofite Cell: But, befides this Ufe of the three Planes, they also ferve for a Prop and Support to the Bafis of the oppofite Cell, and fupply what might be deficient

by

by reason of the great Delicacy of the Work. Secondly, The Concavity of the folid Angle, which is in the middle of the Bafis, ferves by an admirable Provifion of Nature, to keep clofe together the Particles of Honey in a fmall Space, which the Bees daily fupply the fmall Worm with for his Food, and with which he is daily encompaffed after he is depofited there, as we shall fhew in another Place; the Honey, which is liquid when it is gather'd, might, without fuch a Difpofition of the Bafis, run off, and fo abandoning the Embrio, deftroy it,

Befides thefe Advantages which arife from the Form of the Side of the Bafis, there are alfo others which depend upon the Number of the Angles of the Rhombs: It is upon their Bigness that that of the Angles of the Trapezes has its Dependence, which form the fix Sides of the Cell; but finding that the sharp Angles are feventy Degrees thirty two Minutes, and the obtufe ones one hundred and nine, and twenty eight Minutes; thofe of the Trapezes, which are contiguous to them, ought alfo to be of the fame Bignefs: Moreover, the folid Angle of the Bafis is by this Bignefs of the Angle of the Rhombs, equal to each of the three folid Angles form'd by the obtufe Angle of the Rhomb, with the two obtufe ones of the Trapezes; from this Bignefs of the Angles there refults not only a greater Facility and Simplicity in the Structure, but a more beautiful Symmetry from the Difpofition and Form of the Cell.

Finally, The Bees make their Cells of a rerular Hexagon, by a kind of Skill in GeomeQ4

try,

try, ás Pappus a famous Geometrician of the fecond Century has obferv'd: There is that Property in this Figure, that if you place feveral of them near one another, they fill up a Space round the fame Point, without leaving any Vacuity between one Figure and another. There are two other Figures that have the fame Advantage, and thofe are the Equilateral Triangle and the Square; however, they have not the fame Capacioufnefs as the Hexagon.

It is therefore with Wisdom, that the Bees, according to the Opinion of the faid Mathematician, prefer the Hexagon before other Figures, as it contains a greater Quantity of Honey in it than the Triangle or Square would do,

TH

Of the Generation of Bees.

HE Bee which they call the King or Queen, is the Parent of all the reft; fhe is fo fruitful, that as far as we are able to judge, fhe produces eight or ten thousand young ones in one Year, for fhe is ufually alone in the Hive one Part of the Year; and the Hive towards the end of the Summer is as full of Bees as in the beginning of the Spring: In the mean time one Swarm goes out every Year, and fometimes two or three, each of them confifting of ten or twelve thousand Bees.

The Queen, for the most part, remains concealed in the inner Part of the Hive, and is

pot

not to be seen but when the depofits her Young in the Comb, which are exposed to Sight.

It is upon these fingular Occafions, that we have been able to difcern her, tho' fhe is not always to be feen; for we find then a great Number of Bees faftned to one another, and form a kind of a Veil from the Top to the Bottom of the Hive; fo that they interrupt our Sight, and do not remove thence till the Queen has laid the Young.

When the appears in Publick, she is always attended with ten or a dozen Bees of a larger Size than ordinary, who are as it were her Retinue, and follow her wherever fhe goes, with a composed and very grave Gate. Before fhe lays her Young, fhe puts her Head for a Moment into the Cell, where the defigns to depofit them; if the Cell be found to be empty, and has in it neither Honey, Wax, nor any Embrio, the Bee immediately turns about, and thrufts the hinder Part of its Body fo far as to touch even the Bottom of the Cell: The Bees which attend her, at the fame time, ftand round about her, with their Heads turn'd towards her, carefs her with their Trumps and Legs, and make her a kind of a Feaft, which lafts but for a very little while; after which fhe comes out of the Cell; and we may then perceive a small white and very flender Egg, about the four and twentieth Part of an Inch, or a little more in Length, and four or five Times as long as it is thick, a little more sharppointed at one End than at the other, with the thickest End fet upon the Bafis in the folid Angle of the Cell. This Egg is form'd by a thin,