sting or piercer, which in some is innocent; but in others, it is calculated for the discharge of a highly acrimonious or poisonous juice, as in wasps and. bees. The genera are:-1. Vespa, wasp, hornet. 2. Apis, bee.-3. Formica, ant.-4. Termes, white ant.-5. Ichneumon, &c.

Many of the wasp kind, like the bees, live in society, make combs in which the females deposit their eggs, and feed their caterpillars with an inferior species of honey. Others of them construct a separate nest for each individual. There is a species of sphex called the'ichneumon wasp, whose manner of constructing its nest is extremely curious. This little creature generally begins its work in May, and continues its labours through the greater part of June. The object of her labour seems at first to be the digging of a hole a few inches deep in the ground, in the construction of which she forms however a hollow tube above ground, the base of which is the opening of the hole, and which it raises as high above ground as the hole is deep below; it is formed with great care, resembling a coarse kind of filagree work, consisting of the sand drawn from the hole. The sand out of which she excavates her cell is nearly as hard as a common stone. This it readily softens with a penetrating liquor, with which she is well provided; a drop or two of it is imbibed immediately by the sand on which it falls, which is instantly rendered so soft, that she can separate and knead it with her jaws and fore feet, forming it into a small ball, which she places on the edge of the hole as the foundation stone of the pillar she is about to erect; the whole of it is formed of such balls, ranged circularly, and then placed one above the other. She leaves her work at intervals, probably in order to renew her stock of that liquor which is so necessary for her operations: these intervals are of short duration; she soon returns to her work, and labours with so much activity and ardour, that in a few hours she

will dig a hole two or three inches deep, and raise a hollow pillar two inches high. After the column has been raised to a certain height perpendicularly from the hole, it begins to curve a little, which curvature increases till it is finished, though the cylindrical form is preserved. She constructs several of these holes, all of the same form and for the same purpose. It is evident the hole was dug in the ground to receive the egg, but the purpose of the tube of sand is not very apparent. By attending to the labours of the wasp, one end, however, may be discovered; it will be found to serve the purpose of a scaffold, and that the balls are as useful to the wasp as materials to the builder, and are therefore placed as much within her reach as possible. She uses it to stop and fill up the hole after she has deposited an egg in the cell, so that the pillar is then destroyed, and not the least remains left in the nest. The parent insect generally leaves ten or twelve worms as provisions for the young larva. In all these fabrications there is a degree of ingenuity in design, and exactness of execution, which, independently of the labour required in their construction, excites our admiration. The talent, if it may be so expressed, of the insect race, is more obviously displayed in the formation of the dwellings than in most other particulars of their history 1.

The bee is an insect too well known to require a particular description. The males have no sting; but the females, and the drones or neuters, have a very sharp pointed sting concealed in their abdomen. The female of the honey bee is much larger than the male, or the neuter; her feelers contain fifteen articulations; and her abdomen, composed of seven segments, is much longer than her wings.

'See a further account of wasps'-nests in Time's Telescope for 1815, p. 193; and some anacreontic lines to a wasp in T. T. for 1817, P. 245.

The feelers of the male contain only eleven articula tions. The neuters are much smaller than the males or females, and their feelers consist of fifteen articulations'.

Strength in her limbs, and on her wing dispatch,
The bee goes forth; from herb to herb she flies,,
From flow'r to flow'r, and loads her lab'ring thighs
With treasured sweets; robbing those flowers, which left
Find not themselves made poorer by the theft,
Their scents as lively, and their looks as fair,
As if the pillager had not been there.

Ne'er doth she flit on Pleasure's silken wing;
Ne'er doth she, loit'ring, let the bloom of Spring
Unrified pass, and on the downy breast
Of some fair flow'r indulge untimely rest.
Ne'er doth she, drinking deep of those rich dews
Which chymist Night prepared, that faith abuse
Due to the hive, and, selfish in her toils,
To her own private use convert the spoils.
Love of the stock first called her forth to roam,
And to the stock she brings her honey home.

CHURCHILL.

Sir Richard Blackmore, whose poem of the "Creation has been for many years most unjustly neglected, gives this fine description of the economy of the beet

What various wonders may observers see
In a small insect, the sagacibus bee!
Mark, how the little untaught builders square
Their rooms, and in the dark their lodgings-rear!
Nature's mechanics, they unwearied strive,
And fill with curious labyrinths the hive.
See, what bright strokes of architecture shine
Through the whole frame, what beauty, what design!
Each odoriferous cell, and waxen tower,

The yellow pillage of the rifled flower,

Has twice three sides, the only figure fit

To which the labourers may their stores commit;

For further particulars concerning this curious insect, as well as numerous poetical illustrations, we refer to Time's Telescope for 1814, pp. 72, 73, 271, 274; for 1815, pp. 112, 115; for 1816, pp 149-151, 152% for 1817, pp. 82-845 118, 149-151, 181, 216, 241, 303; for 1818, p. 72; for 1819, p. 84; and in the present volume, pp. 147, 1915

Without the loss of matter, or of room,
In all the wondrous structure of, the comb.
Next view, spectator, with admiring eyes,
In what just order all th' apartments rise!
So regular their equal sides cohere,
Th' adapted angles to each other bear,
That, by mechanic rules refined and bold,
They are at once upheld, at once uphold.
Does not this skill ev'n vie with reason's reach?
Can Euclid more, can more Palladio, teach?
Each verdant hill th' industrious chemists climb,
Extract the riches of the blooming thyme,
And, provident of winter long before,

They stock their caves, and hoard their flowery store;
In peace they rule their state with prudent care,
Wisely defend, or wage offensive war.

In the buildings of the termite ants, their stupendous dimensions, the order, regularity, and beauty of the architectural design, and inimitable convenience to the purposes for which it is intended, cannot fail to excite the astonishment of every observer. These diminutive insects, known more generally by the name of the white ants, though, technically speaking, they are entirely of a distinct genus, are natives of the East Indies, Africa, and the southern parts of America. They live in societies, each of which is composed of some thousand individuals, all of whom are accommodated in the same habitation. Their structures are of a pyramidal form, rising to the height of ten or twelve feet, and covering no inconsiderable extent of ground at the base. They usually build in the plains several contiguous to each other, and from their size and form may sometimes be mistaken at a distance for the huts of the natives. These nests are so common all over the island of Bananas, and the adjacent continent of Africa, that it is scarcely possible to stand on an open place where one of these buildings is not to be seen. The domes are so strong that they will easily bear the weight of three or four men standing on them at once, and shelter the interior from every attack of the weather.

The interior is divided with the utmost regularity into an immense number of apartments, arched chambers, magazines, and avenues leading to them; and the centre, on a level with the ground, contains the royal apartment, in which the queen resides, surrounded by the nursery, &c.

Of the manners and habits of ants in general many curious particulars will be found in our former volumes'. The following reflections on a mole-hill by an amiable writer are too appropriate and entertaining to be omitted. We will fancy, if you please,' (he observes) that yonder mole-hill is inhabited by reasonable creatures, and that every pismire (his shape and way of life only excepted) is endowed with human passions. How should we smile to hear one give us an account of the pedigrees, distinctions, and titles that reign among them? Observe how the whole swarm divide and make way for the pismire that passes through them! You must understand he is an emmet of quality, and has better blood in his veins than any pismire in the mole-hill. Do not you see how sensible is of it, how slowly he marches forward, how the whole rabble of ants keep their distance? Here you may observe one placed upon a little eminence, and looking down on a long row of labourers. He is the richest insect on this side the hillock; he has a walk of half a yard in length, and a quarter of an inch in breadth; he keeps a hundred menial servants, and has at least fifteen barley-corns in his granary. He is now chiding and bestaving the emmet that stands before him, and who, for all that we can discover, is as good an emmet as himself.

'But here comes an insect of figure! Do not you

1 For a partienlar account of ants, see Time's Telescope for 1814, pp. 185, 195; for 1816, pp. 205-211; and a poetical illustration in the present volna, pp. 131, 192.