the admission of the aire not emission and Bees and all other Insects lift themselves up with their wings and presently contract themselves when there is made a sound by the attrition of the aire taken in but not constant to himself hee saith in another place There is an innate implanted aire in the transverse inclosure which being lifted up and contracted causeth thereby a smiting on the little membrane and hence saith hee is their sound Scaliger saith It is from a membrane including the aire and the motion of the external members Magirus saith Their noise is not made by a return of the aire but by an agitation of an inward not outward aire Another supposeth sounds and therefore voyces may bee made without aire It is certain saith hee howsoever it cross the received opinion that sounds bee created without aire though aire bee the most favourable deferent of sounds Take a vessel of water and knap a pair of tongs some depth within the water and you shall hear the sound of the tongs well enough and not much diministâ—ed and yet there is no aire at all present What if I should say there is aire in the water because there is in it a sound made Hot creatures as Bees desire a greater refrigeration Bees like to those creatures that breathe do make a sound spiritu with the aire or spirit for when the native which is as before implanted in the transverse enclosure is lifted up and contracted then is caused an attrition of the membrane For they do not otherwise move this part then other Animals draw aire with their lungs from without and Fishes by the agitation of their Gills Scaliger is for transpiration and so Basil hee saith That Insects breathe not being without lungs buâ— were nourished by aire in the external parts and his reason is if they bee dipt or smeared with oyl they presently dye the passages or pores being stopt but yet saith hee If they bee presently washed with water others say Vinegar the passages being opened they will live and with him accord divers others To this I answer That it is granted that oyl kills Bees and almost all other Insects being naturally mortal to them and wash them after with what you will they will neither revive not recover but almost as suddenly dye though but a part of their body bee smeared with oyl as if they were cast on hot embers And that it is not because of the stopping of the passages of the aire appears thus Let Bees bee drowned in honey which is more viscous and clammy than oyl yet if they bee timely taken out they will dry themselves or bee suckt dry by their fellows and recover Now at last you cannot but take notice how various they are in their opinions that deny breathing to Bees â—r so to make a noise they cannot but acknowledge a necessity of refrigeration Aristotle sometimes by the admission not emission of aires sometimes by a native implanted aire Scaliger from a membrane including the aire and the motion of the external members Magirus by an agitation of an inward aire onely but whether native or adventitious hee expresseth not L. Verulam sometimes that a sound may bee made without aire sometimes by the motion of their wings Basil that they are cooled by transpiration and therefore by an aire so admitted must make their noise Thus wilfully deviating from and denying a truth they are quickly be-wildred in a thâ—cket of errors Now let us hear their arguments why they suppose them not to breath Aldrovandus saith Insects neither breathe nor need breathing because a breathing faculty is bestowed on creatures which have lungs but Insects being blood-less are cold and therefore want not refrigeration but are sufficiently cooled by a native aire or externally by transpiration I answer many of them if any are not blood-less for they have a heart which the Philosopher accounts the original of blood And if they have a heart Aldrovand acknowledgeth they have lungs also and stand in need of great refrigeration And that Bees are hot creatures Aristotle affirms Secondly If they breathed as they drew in breath they must also return it which could not bee done but by some inward instrument but all Insects are without bowels according to Aristotle but this is manifestly untrue dissect a large Grashopper the bowels are visible to him that hath but half an eye and so also in Humble-bees and in many other Insects In some that are very small they are not distinctly visible but it follows not therefore that they are without them no more than because they want the visible organs of hearing and smelling that therefore they neither hear nor smell both which senses almost all natures secretaries acknowledge to bee in them And yet who is able to point out the instruments Aldrovand hath some other reason but all built on the former foundation which miscarrying they must needs go to the ground Scaliger his main argument that they breathe not is because they need not a refrigeration of their heat having no heart but this being manifest to sense as learned Dr. Harvey avers the argument falls to the ground Others deny that Insects breathe and their reason is because there is no breathing knot or turning in the inward intrall that is to say a membrane like to the lungs whereby the aire is drawn in and therefore some hold that they live as plants but there is a great difference whether any thing breathes or lives Others convinced of the vanity of this conceit hold that they have something analogous namely by transpiration Aristotle saith Bees breathe not because they continue long in the water But not long under the water so long as by beating with their wings they keep their heads out they preserve themselves but their wings being once thorough wet they quickly drown And that they receive water into their bodies appears because when they dye suffocated in the water they are greater than when they are alive whereas if they dye otherwise they shrink up and are less Aristotle and also Scaliger adde another reason they will covered with ashes revive perhaps if they have not been long drowned with heat they will recover as they will if they bee chilled near twenty hours but ashes are so far from reviving of them that if they bee alive and lusty they would rather kill them for dust much more ashes will if they go a little upon it so fur their dew-clawed feet that it will indispose them to flye Breathing saith Scaliger is seen by motion or perceived by touch by the pulse or understood by the voyce and all there wayes more or less may it appear that Bees breathe But it may bee objected that they have no nostrils to receive breath by I answer They breathe by their mouth Aristotle saith the mouth iâ— for many uses for divers creatures do breathe with it For breathing
is not a proper work of the nostrils but creatures breathe partly by the nostrils partly by the mouth But it is further objected wee see no lungs I answer in fowls the lungs are small and but like a membrane surely then in such small flying creatures as Bees they are not visible But to conclude they have no lungs because wee see none were but a weak arguing In some creatures denied to breathe we see them and perhaps with a good multiplying glass might see in these by the same reason wee might deny they hear or smell because wee see no organs as before whereby they perform it and yet nothing is more certain That Bees breathe Mr. Butler affirms but it was a question hee disputed not but relating how after they have been dead a whole day being chilled wiâ—h cold although saith hee they be quite dead without sense motion and breath you may if you bee disposed revive them with the warmth of your hand but look to your selves for many when they begin to revive will ingratefully sting And this their reviving cannot but almost seem a miracle unto you for presently their spirits returning you shall see them begin to pant and breathe and anon they will flye away as lusty as the best But to come to arguments That Bees breathe is evident by their panting and palpitation I mean not when they are in the condition of prisoners and violently held or detained for with Scaliger I acknowledge that Bees or flyts captivated palpitation is not breathing but a striving to escape Bees when they return from their work are often so weary as men out of breath that they are necessitated to rest themselves near the Hive untill they have recollected their spirits and gotten by a little rest new strength at first panting more quick and short but by and by fetching as it were a longer breath untill at last they pant little if at all Secondly It appears by their swearing at the Hive-door a moist vapour is visible at the door of a good Hive in the morning sometimes in drops of water As Bears in Russia while they sleep in Winter yet are found by the Hunters by the dissolved snow turned into isycles on the boughs of the trees under which they lye caused by their continued breathing Thirdly because if a full Hive bee close shut up that no aire enters they will quickly bee suffocated and dye whereas indeed isâ— there be but few Bees they will continue the longer enclosed a circum-ambient aire in the mean time refrigerating and cooling them Fourthly if you stop their throats Aristotle acknowledgeth they will bee strangled Fifthly when they are chilled with cold lay them in the warm Sun or near a fire or if you dare venture hold them in your hand and you shall see them begin first a little to stir then to pant and the longer more strongly untill they remit it by degrees as they recover life But I trifle out the time to prove by arguments to the ear a thing to visible to the eye Hold your hand near to the mouth of a full Hive and that in the night when they are supposed to sleep and not to stir and you shall feel a cool aire come from them Nay hold a feather and you shall see it fly to and fro as if it would be blown away Some affirm that insects have no blood because they have to heart nor liver Pliny was of opinion that though they had no blood yeâ— somewhat analogous or equivalent for whatsoever is the vital humor is its blood Learned Doctor Harâ—y in his anatomical lectures openly affirmed that Bees have a heart I heard him which also hee hath since published although Dr. Primrose will scarce acknowledge it pretending his weak eye-sight but this being asserted and confirmed by such undeniable experience I readily subscribe they have a heart and therefore a liver and therefore blood for the heart is the fountain of blood and hath first blood and Creatures which have blood have a lâ—ver Aldrovandus citing Aristotle saith all creatures have both a heart and also a liver one for the Original of heat and the other for the concocting of their meat And again citing Aristotle de partibus animalium lib. 3. hee hath these words corde cavens nuâ—â—um animal unquam orâ—um est No Creature was ever produced without a heart and there is good reason for this assertion seeing the heart in Aristotles judgement is the Original of life heat blood sense and motion and nature doth suppeditate breathing or refrigeration for the benefit or cooling of the heat in the heart All Creatures which have blood have a heart and why not all Creatures which have a heart have blood but in little creatures the blood is so obscure that it cannot bee seen as in greater but onely in the heart not alwaies there because of the thinnesse of the blood and the veins are so little and small that they can scarce if at all bee perceived but the heart is the beginning of the veins and the Original and fountain of blood and as hee saith the beginning of sense for living creatures have the beginning of sense where they have the beginning of motion But yet notwithstanding all this the liver and the heart is so farre from being the author and fountain of blood which yet Aristitle and all Physitians affirm thâ—r the contrary plainly appears in the fabrick of the Chicken in the egg namely that the blood is the mother of the heart and the liver which Paystrians seem to confesse unawares when they determine the Parenchyma of the Liver to bee a certain flowing of blood as â—f nothing else were there but coagulated blood and that the heart saith hee is not the author of blood appears because his substance or parenchyma is produced sometimes after the blood and is super added to the beating vesicles Now seeing it is so apparent that Bees have a heart then it must follow necessarily that they must have lungs also which Aldrovandus grants that these receiving and returning aire may refrigerate the heart now the lungs receive the Original of their motion from the heart and with his fulnesse and emptiness as it is contracted and enlarged makes way for the egresse or ingresse of air when it is lifted up the air comes in and when it is contracted it goeth forth That some insects have lungs Aristotle doth implicitely grant for hee saith pulmones habent quae in lucem faeâ—um jam conceptum profeâ—unt such creatures have lungs which bring forth a living creature conceived in them Now that some insectâ— do so is undeniable Scaliger affirms it of a certain sort of flie of which wee spake before and it shall bee further confirmed by a discourse of the claw-tailed humble Bee when wee speak of Humble Bees CHAP. XVIII Of Bees temperature Sleep Age. ARistotle affirms most insects to
Slow-worm because they perhaps concluded that they hatched the young of analogical eggs within the dams belly I am sure they ought to have excepted this kinde of Humble Bee as also that Flye that wee spake of before out of Scaliger How they order their young after they bee excluded I cannot yet determine for I have not found any of their neasts since I observed this particular The Cells or Pipes wherein the young are bred are not flat at the top as the Bees and Waspes but oval and are all of one matter and colour whereas the covers of the Wasps and Hornets are though of the same substance yet whiter and fiuer CHAP. XXXI Of the Grashopper IN the production of no creatures is nature more serious or rather more wanton than in Grashoppers who is able to describe their various colours or the divers forms of their bodies or can exactly report their walking leaping flying With us some are green some tawney some russet in Ethiopia red and yellow in Africa white One hath written a Tractate of seven kinde of Locusts or Grashoppers according to the Scriptures and Rabbins and yet mentions not those four kindes enumerated among clean creatures and allowed the Iews for food namely Arbeth a most prolifical kinde of Grashopper which therefore had this name according to Kimchi and Broughton The second kinde is Solaam by the Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hieron calls it a Scarabee but not rightly for it is a swift creature going on the four fore-feet and leaping with the two hindmost which are longer than the others The third sort is Chargol which in our Bible is translated a Beetle but there is a great difference between Beetles and Grashoppers the Greeks translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it fights with a Serpent and strangles it as both Aristotle and Pliny record and Maiolus in his Colloquies tells us That his Gardener returning from work saw one of these Grashoppers conflicting with a Serpent which at last it killed And therefore Niphus was too bold to translate it a Scolopendra or Aspe when as the Philosopher calls it a Grashopper and the Seventy translate it a Locust The fourth kinde is called Chagol the Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a cruel devourer not onely consuming the fruits but stalks nay barks of trees In the Scripture wee finde five other kindes Gaza from shaving Ielâ—k from licking Chasil from destroying Thelaâ—sal from rust which it occasions to the fruits and Chenamal from staying because it never willingly forsakes its place Modius on Ioel and Levit reckons up various kindes of the first sort called Arâ—eth Moreover in the month of May out of a â—spittle that hangs upon herbs is produced a green winged creature in shape very like the little Grashopper it leaps and after flyes Wee use to call the frothy matter wherein they are bred Wood-seâ—r that is the corruption of the woods I know not the reason of the name others call it Cuckow-spittle In Norwâ—y it often rainâ—s a little four footed beast as great â—â— a Rat of various coloured hair which feeds of all green things like Grashoppers When their food fails they dye and the aire being corrupted with their stenth causeth to the inhabitants Megâ—â—ms and the Kings-evill They call it Lemmer this though not properly a Grashopper yet like them very destructive Of what form was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Suidas the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Câ—lius the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Niâ—ander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Hesâ—cbius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Aristophanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Eustaâ—bius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Phavorinus Ludâ—locâ—râ— of Fsidâ—râ— and many many others mentioned by authors differing one from another but yet not fully described much less their natures so that wee need an Oedipus to reveal and discover them A Grashopper hath two very moveable horns as long as the whole body on either side â—f the jawes two short ones It hath two broad lips shutting flat on the other and two lesser that shut side-wayes all which together close the mouth and the head with the lips closed somewhat resembles a horses head It hath two round prominent eyes Nigidius denied that they saw at all as Pliny records when as they have clear and glassie eyes yet covered with a horny tunicle the eyes are not moveable there is a visible Pupilla six feet the hindmost as great and as long again as the formost to leap withall and raise it self up with two joynts in every one near their setting on to the breast these two are very near one to the other They have also a joynt in the middle the upper part as the thigh greater at the top and smaller downwards and smoothe The lower parts which are their legges rough and scabrous and several pliable joynts in the feet and as it were visible toes which are rough and dew-clawed A long smooth taile more than half the length of the body sharp-pointed and two short little tants or pricks growing near the end of the tail pointing towards the extremity of it When you hold it by the wings though it neither stirs noâ— strives yet shall you both see and feel the whole body beat and pant â—s also when it creeps or stands still although not so much lest of all when it is in motion It hath four large wings but the under wings lye folded or doubled which deceived Willichius who unwarily beholding them took them to bee several and therefore published that they have six wings the under wings being open they are very fine and membranous near an inch broad spreading like a sail the upper wings are crusty or shelly It hath as it were a scaly Gorget from the head to the incision or back The back is more hard and shelly than the belly and hath several semicircular equidistant strakes down to the belly The belly is very soft and white on either side all along to the tail and green in the middle On the breast are sharp pricks six in number according to the legs against each leg one When the head is severed from the body the jawes the lips the horns all move but the head dyes sooner than the rest of the body The body will leap a great while after the head is off In the stomach is a thick juâ—cy moisture The breast being opened first appears the heart and then other large members one like the liver of a reddish colour another less and grayer which I suppose to bee the lungs In the belly I have not found fewer than eighty young ones in some one hundred They grow quickly as great as Ant-eggs and as long they are first yellow and soft full of a yellowish moisture then ruby then of a tawny colour when after a certain space this softer tunicle hardens into a shining black coat or shell long and
hee him stung that it the blood forth draws And his proud heart is filled with fretting ire In vain hee threats his teeth his tail his paws And from his bloody eyes doth sparkle fire That dead himself hee wisheth for despigâ—t So weakest may annoy the most of might CHAP. XXIX Of the Hornet A Hornet is a flying Insect more than twice as great as a common Wasp with four wings the inmost smaller and not so long as the utmost by a third part For shape shee is like a Wasp but differs in colour All the back wings and belly legs and horns are of a bright Chesnut colour and some part also below the division in the middle and then yellow scales and Chesnut-coloured openings or bars with spots on either side of every yellow scale on the upper-side but more Chesnut-coloured on the under-side Her fore-head is of an iron colour in the middle of her for-head is a yellow spot like a heart on either side whereof grows her moveable horns on the out-side are her eyes oblong and a little prominent her face is a yellow square like a plate her cheeks or jaws are yellow without and black in the mouth her jaws are a very bone indented like a saw more thick toothed and siner than a Grashoppers contrary to Aristotle and Pliny also who affirm of all Insects that they have no boniness in any part whereas a Hornets jaw and also a great Grashopperâ— are a sold bone without and within of an equal hardness Hornets have no fangs their tongue is divided into small fibers Their breathing is visible cut off one of their heads and you shall see a while on expulsion out of the neck of a whitish moisture and then drawn in again at first very strongly and then with more weakness and at last ceasing yet life continuing in either part of the divided body above an hour A Hornets intrals is contracted in the body but extended is as long as the body they have a very large cavitie in the end of the tail out of the middle of it the sting is extended and drawn in also as they please it is not hollow as some think that I could discern near to the tail I found in dissecting a Hornet and never but once a white egg as great as a lentill and just such a one as I have seen in the combs but never dissecting divers Bees and Wasps could I finde any nor yet in Hornets excepting one perhaps they are very small if at all and quickly grown and suddenly ejected Some suppose them to bee bred of a horse Cardan of dead Mules Virgil of Asses Plutarch of a rotten horse and so also some conceit Waspes are bred but with us they are bred for the most part by generation Of their copulation Aristotle was ignorant they breed most commonly in hollow trees in thatch or in houses in empty Bee-hives rarely but sometimes in the ground For the manner of their breeding see the tenth Chapter and the former Chapter of Waspes with whom for the making of their combs hatching and feeding their young they do altogether agree they are not so prolifical as the Wasps for their combs are never larger and the cells being much greater of necessity they must breed fewer Their stinging is very dangerous but otherwise they are not so mischievous as the Wasps for though they sometimes kill a Bee yet they rob not the Hives they feed on flesh and fruits and most of all of ashen trees feeding of the bark making the boughs whiter and in Autumn gather plentifully of the Ivy contrary to Aristotle and others who assert they gather of no flowers and herein to differ both from Bees and Waspes They sting dangerously some creatures deadly Dr. Penny reports that being at Peterborough in a publick street of the City hee saw a Hornet pursue a Sparrow whom at last shee struck with her sting and therewith presently killed her and filled her self with the dead Sparrows blood to the astonishment and wonder of many beholders It is reported by Aristotle as a strange and almost incredible thing of certain Mice in Persia which being dissected great with young those young not yet kindled have been gravid whereas in Hornets and Wasps there is a greater marvel for the breeders coupling in Autumn continue to bee prolifical in the Spring and the young bred of them not onely in the first but in the third and fourth generation have a procreative power from their great Grand-mothers copulation The water of distilled Hornets or Waspes or wherein they have been boyled if it do but touch the skin the place will swell so that there will bee the symptomes of a dropfie or poyson or some great distemper but Treacle drunk or annointed on the place is a cure without any pain with this Harlots and Beggars deceive the most circumspect and wary as if they were with childe One thing more which I had almost forgot If the hole in the tree wherein they breed bee large when they bee numerous they will work it up all but a small passage for entrance with the same matter whereof they make their combâ— CHAP. XXX Of the Humble-Bee THe Humble-Bee is of various magnitudes and colours some greater but shorter than a Hornet others as little but rounder and shorter than a Bee All of them are very hairy they have two horns very strong indented jawes wherewith they hold or bite very hard Some have their heads cole-black the upper part of the back yellow the lower part black they have four wings the belly all black In the nether part first a division or ringle of shining black without hair then a ringle of pale yellow hairy then a ringle of black and so black to the taile but thick and full of light gray hairs that it seemeth gray shee hath six legs with scabrous feet They carry their Bee-bread on their legs as the Hony-Bee but no wax as Scaliger Pliny and others whether they carry the matter of their combs on their thighs I am not certain but beleeve it for they gather onely on flowers but the Hornet and Waspe carry it in their mouth They breed saith Aristotle on the ground among stones and have two or three entrances to their neast but it is not so but they breed either upon the ground in the long grass most commonly in Meadows and spared layes or else in a hole in the ground much deeper than the Wasps all their neast is covered nay environed with moss Aristotle and Pliny are very brief in the history of them and therefore very obscure some imagine the reason hereof was because their nature was well known but I rather conclude because they knew little or nothing of them And it is very evident because they confound the Silk-worms and the Humble-Bees under the name Bombyx and Scaliger also as it appears knew little of them The nethermost ringles of the black Humble-Bee are as
black as jeat clear and shining nay more transparent for it will reflect an image but the many long hairs except it bee near at hand nay in your hand do somewhat obscure it It seems they are very rare and scarce known in Italy for Aldrovandus glories in a â—east of Humble-Bees that was found by his Apothecary gathering simples and brought to him as hee saith not onely to delight him with a novelty but to communicate as a secret of nature to posterity Hee supposeth them a kinde of wilde Bee and propounds it as a Qâ—ery whether Iohn Baptist in the wilderness lived not with their hony Aldrovand supposeth wax may bee had out of their combs but this hee borowed from Aristotle who saith they make wax but paler than Bees but melt the combs if you can Their combs are oblong cells as big as Acorns but not altogether so long clustering together one somewhat higher than another somewhat like a bunch of grapes inverted sixteen or eighteen joyning together and then another like comb lying close but not fastened to it and so another of a dark yellow which if after they have bred their young they fill with Bee-bread and some with hony their hony is of a bright yellow very sweet but not so pleasant as the Bees having a rank taste occasionally from the ground their combes are not wax as before though gathered of the flowers they are as tough brown paper but not of so dark a colour broken they shew like Iapan paper made of Cotton woolley They ingender with theiâ—â— ayls opposite one to another in the meane time resting on some plant or the stump of a tree they continue long in venery and while they copulate often clap their wings and make a shrill noyse their mates they chuse in the Nest and are carried away by them These as other Insects before described after they have done breeding of Females about the end of August breed Drones for the propagation of their kind It is remarkable that though the cels or pipes wherein they breed are of a like magnitude yet the Humble-Bees in the same Nest are of various magnitudes some more than twice as great as others herein differing from Bees and Waspes which continued in the same dimensions that they were first Metamorphosed into only when they are strong and lusty seeme somewhat fuller and plumper but when they grow old then they grow lank and wither whereas the Humble-bees many of them double their first magnitude They are very laborious and hardy Creatures working in such weather when the Bees dare not and continuing it many weeks after Hornets and Waspes are laid up or miscarried There is another kind of great Humble-Bee in the fore-part exactly agreeing with the former description but the neather part is altogether of a shining black and not so hairy as the former it is sharp pointed at the tayl and hath but one cavity out of the which cometh a sting which groweth out of the under part of the tayl and is forked like a Snakes tongue having two points forth-right not barbed like a Bees so that it stinges more than once there are two covers on either side of the sting to keep it close and safe and these are as long as the sting but bigger rougher and spreading on the top I conceive to hold the sting in in the act of generation there are six partitions or ringles on the neither part and on the outsides especially of the fourth and fifth golden coloured hairs The Humble-Bee first described astords some special rarities not observed by any and therefore I must return to her again In the tayl being opened is a double cavity or hole the one if I mistake not for generation and parturâ—tion and the other for the evacuation of excrements in the neather part dissecting it I found as in a Hive Bee a bladder to which adjoyns the entral not so white as in a honie-Bee then you shall have as I have often found their young but one visible at once which are not excluded torpid and liveless eggs but live and grow in the dammes belly I have found some as large as great Tares like the Worms in the combes so that all the parts of the Worme are very visible and these have lived after I have cut them out some houres and would continually contract and gather themselves into a â—ound and then again extend themselves but were not able to make any progressive motion being without feet In the breast I perceived a little thing to pant and beat a great while after I severed it from the lower part at the incision when I after opened the breast I found four several parts like several members but I was not able my sight being weak to distinguish one member from another but concluded there was a heart liver and lungs all were reddish but some parts were more red than others Under the horny tunicle of the eye is a white moysture and something white likewise like brains in the middle of the head her tongue is drawn so close partly under her neck and partly into her mouth that it is scarcely visible but when she works being dead I found it much longer than a Bees as long as a Barley corn she hath two fangs on either side one the tongue at the root is as great as a small pin underneath of a black colour to the middle where it is divided into three parts two shorter on either side and a longer in the middle so that it hath a triple tongue this sort that breed their young within them are without a sting on their bellies near the roots of their leggs are little round reddish creatures with very long horns with six leggs which run very quick and swift which I beleeve are a kinde of Lice proper to them their taile stretched out is very like their mouth being as it were a complement of clawes meeting in a round and this is proper to this kinde without a sting which I therefore call the Claw-tailed Humble-Bee Those which breed a living creature within them after a sort produce it egg-fashion for it is covered with a thin membrane like the shell of an egg but I discerned no such membrane encircling the worm in this Humble-Bee This grey Humble-Bee in the taile is somewhat broad and hath two circular horny claws or pincers not visible till they bee drawn out and within them two other shorter but not circular Some creatures saith Bodinus conceive eggs within them and there hatch and bring forth a living creature as the Viper and all kinde of Whales but neither hee noâ— any other mentions this Humble-Bee Whatsoever saith Aristotle bringeth forth a living creature and not first an egge hath breasts and all that have breasts have paps or nepples except the Dolphin which hath two pipes on either side one which the young ones suck The Philosopher and Scaliger his Commentator except not the Viper noâ— the
affections upon the things they fancie or as the Creeple layes his full weight upon his crutches and therefore when they are taken from them as Pharaohs chariot wheeles they are drawne upon all foure and stick in the mud yea they set on their affections as the Bee her sting with all their might and strength they convey into others their very bowels and hearts and therefore when they are gone they are heartlesse LVIII He that is pained with the Bees stinging must for cure speedily pluck out the sting and then apply juice of mallowes mixed with oyle or honey to the wound And the best remedy for a wounded conscience is first to pluck forth the sting of sin and then to wash in Christs blood and for the future keepe the heart above all keepings for as the eye is subject to infinite distempers so is the conscience LIX Bees solitary and alone especially in the night or winter season are quickly benummed with cold and die but many united together are agill and livel nay one chilled with cold put to the many recovers and hath a new returne of life So that I doe not improperly speake if I say they live as much by heate as by meate And therefore if there be many in a hive though there be but a tollerable supply of food they will doe well but if they have never so much meate and be not many and numerous they will miscarry and come to nothing The communion of Saints puts life into those that have it not and increaseth it in those in whom it is The health of the body doth not communicate it selfe to others it is otherwise in the life of the soule the life of it makes others to live more as iron sharpens iron so one holy man doth another when two lie together they keepe one another warme there is action and redaction this is a powerfull meanes to get and increase this life LX. Bees in the Spring when the weather is faire will worke chearefully but if the Sunne withdraw his beames the wind blow hollow the chilling showers descend then they are presently dull and livelesse scarce appeare if at all not farre from the hive it is an uncomfortable time the spirits of the Bees lower are heavy and sad we see it also in the body that the animall spirits in the braine which are the causes of motion and sense if they be obstructed there followes an Apoplexie and death So it is between Christ and the soule he is the Sunne of righteousnesse by whose beames we are all comforted and cheared but when they are withheld then our spirits decay and are discouraged Summer and Winter arise from the presence and absence of the Sunne the presence of the Sunne when it comes neare causeth the earth to be cloathed with a rich embroiderie of fruits and flowers And what makes the Summer and Winter in the soule but the absence or presence of Christ what makes some so vigorous beyond others but the presence of the Spirit As it is in nature so it is here the presence of Christ is the cause of all spirituall life and vigour but if he withdrawes his presence a little the soule failes LXI Bees when they assault a man strike fiercely at the face the beauty of man and principally in the face aime at the eye the beautie of the face Thus Satan though he be malicious against all mankind yet chiefly against those who by Christ are conquered out of his hand and having their garments washed in the blood of the Lambe are most beautifull For as the Panther rageing on the picture of a man bewrayes the hatred he beares unto him So the Devill to testifie how much he hates God himselfe spends the greatest of his fury on them that beare the image of God Thus doe Satans instruments incarnate Devils though they care not usually whom they wrong opprosse injure hate yet most of all the holy ones in earth are the object of their hatred they are the drunkards songs and a sport to the foolish What muttering what whispering what censuring what sinister construction is set upon every action of theirs what discovering what blazeing of infirmities what so high but they will reach it what so deepe but they will be sounding the bottome of it but a day will come when they will cry out with Cicero O me nunquam sapientem et aliquando id quod non eram falso existimatum Aye me that indeed was never wise but falsely thought to be what I was not And with those in the booke of Wisdome We fooles thought his life madnesse and his end without honour how is he accounted among the children of God and his portion among the Saints But the innocent heart shall then lift up a chearfull countenance as knowing that though here it were despised yet there it shall be justified and rewarded with a crowne of glorie LXII Waspes gather not as Bees yet some seeing them running on the tops of flowers and sucking in the cels are notably deluded supposing that they gather as well as the Bees Whereas they only suck to satisfie a wanton fancie but carry away nothing for a future supply of themselves or Common-wealth Hypocrites in many out-side duties may comply with beleevers and have their conversation in such actions that they are usually practicall in and so deceive many who are easily beguiled with similitudes All deceite is from similitude False wares having the same die that the true have deceive the buyers so falling starres are like other starres When we see men that professe religion false hearted many are apt to thinke that all are so wherefore the Apostle prayes that they might abound in all knowledge and judgement to discerne of things that differ this proximitie makes many deceived LXIII A lamp or candle by the brightnesse of it intiseth the Bee as many other flies to embrace it but by that meanes she is eyther drowned in the oyle or burned in the flame So the shewes of sinne and the pleasures of the world entice the mindes of men that their hearts are drowned in many feares and sorrowes and when they suppose that they have catcht all they themselves are caught Finally corruption and destruction the naturall ends of all things under heaven layeth hold upon them Qui lachrimarum causas tripudiantes peragunt et ridentes mortis negotium exequuntur Who goe dancing through the causes of their mourning and with laughter act the tragedie of their owne death LXIV The Titmouse is a great destroyer of Bees and more easily and certainly to obtaine his pray will in the winter watch at the doores of their hives their Castles of security and as soone as any come forth seizeth upon them and eateth them If none appeare he knocks with his bill and they feeling the motion come forth to know the cause and are presently devoured by him In the Spring time he resorts to the willow trees whither
delightfull gardens of the Scriptures that they may pleasingly instill and drop in the sweet honey of faith into the hearts of their hearers XXXIII Bees prepare their food in Summer they borrow not they beg not but exercising their naturall endowments are diligent in labour and that without force or compulsion and never give over while the weather and season serveth And although they be weake and small creatures yet with their nimble wings flie through the vallies and over the mountaines the woods and forrests though some miles remote and distant from their habitations gathering of every profitable tree and flower and not only the elder but the younger also And are images herein of and patternes to thristie housholders who diligently labour themselves and excite and encourage all theirs from their youth to provide for future secondly their great prudence appeares in understanding the seasons for their gathering providing in the Summer against winter for if weather would give leave they should in vaine seeke for honey in the winter thirdly so great is their sedulity and diligence that they are not altogether idle in the night but then trimme their hives by biting off the staring and offensive strawes eating downe their rotten combes where there be any pulling forth their dead spet which they carry forth in the day hatching their young and probably feeding of them fourthly their justice they rob not those that are laden but each gathers for her selfe and all the rest for they are politicall fifthly their astrologie in foreseeing change of weather when they will not venture farre from their hives sixthly this is also praise-worthy and imitable that they carry forth their deâ—d to buriall and not only the Pismire as Franzius â—â—firmes XXXIV Waspes are bold and sawcie whatsoever fruits flesh plummes sweet meates you have they will impudently intrude and if they â—e not prevented carry away a portion And such are troublesome and vaine thoughts crowding into our best and most religious services Abraham must drive away the birds from the sacrifices and we must continually watch against vaine and evill thoughts which will alwayes come before they be sent for but let them find entertainment accordingly XXXV If nature teâ—ch Bees not only to gather honey out of sweet flowers but out of supposed bitter shall not grace teach us to draw even out of the bitterest condition something to better our soules XXXVI Bees are affected with a deep degree of love to their Leader with whom having nothing they esteeme themselves happie but without her in the greatest plenty and fullnesse are full of perplexitie and trouble If she goeth forth of the â—ive they leaving house children goods follow after and stay where she abides If she being weary and faint fall by the way they will encompasse her stay with her and returning no more to their forsaken full-stored hives starve with her rather then leave and desert her This ardent love and affection planted in them by nature eates up and devoures all other desires and over-eager delights in any contentments as worthless and emptie So that the Sun-flower doth not more naturally turne towards the Sunne and the iron to the Load-stone and the Loadstone to the Pole starre then the domestick honey Bees embrace and affect the Queene Bee And a beleeving soule is as much nay more deeply and dearely enamoured of her beloved advancing Jesus Christ highest in his thoughts and prizing him farre above the pleasures and profits and glories of the whole world he so sets his eye and longing upon him as to hold himselfe for ever lost without his love and for the gaining of it if need were would he passe through a peece of hell Thus are the current of his best affections and all the powers of his humbled soule bent and directed towards him He vowes and gives up the flower and prime of all his abilities loves joyes endeavours performances in any kind to his highest Majestie He consecrates all the powers and possibilities of body and soule to doe him the best and utmost service he can any wayes devise and still grieves and walkes more humbly because he can doe no better service XXXVII Bees worke all in common feed in common breed up their young in common Each provides for his fellow as for her selfe every one is affected and sympathizeth in a common danger as if it were her owne alone In a word each doth fight with undanted resolution in the defence and preservation of her fellow as if it were her own particular injurie How many bastard-Christians are there that sympathize not with their brethren whose hearts are neither enlarged with lightsomnesse nor yet ecclipsed with griefe as they heare of the prosperitie or oppression of Gods people Pitilesse and hard-hearted Canniballs who all this while so many noble limmes of that blessed body of the reformed Churches have laine in teares and blood did never take to heart to any purpose or trouble themselves at all with their grievous troubles but have sottishly and securely laine at ease in Sion not helping the people of God so much as with a hearty fellow-feeling wrastling with God in prayer set dayes to seeke the returne of Gods face and favour men they are of the world which have their portion in this life who feele nothing but worldly losses know nothing but earthly sorrowes relish nothing but things of sense If they be stung with a deare yeare they howle and take on immoderatly but let Ioseph be afflicted Gods people in disgrace the daughter of Sion weep bitterly and have none to comfort her these mercilesse men are no whit moved they have not a teare a groane or sigh to spend in such a wofull case XXXVIII Waspes are very dangerous enemies to Bees being bold and strong they will first prey on dead Bees which they divide and carry by halves to their nests but they quickly proceed further and venture into the hives and rob the combes and will after come with such numbers that they will destroy the whole stock unlesse they be timely prevented which must be done not so much by observing and killing them neare their hives but finding out their nests and destroying them altogether For the subduing of our selves it is good to follow sin to the first hold and Castle which is corrupt nature the streames will lead us to the spring-head indeed the most apparant discovery of sin is in the outward carriage we shall see it in the fruit before in the roote as we see grace in the expression before in the affection but yet we shall never hate nor subdue sin throughly till we consider and fight against it in the poysoned root from whence it ariseth It is a good way upon any particular breach of our outward peace presently to have recourse to that which breeds and foments all our disquiet Lord what doe I complaine of this my unruly passion I carry a nature about me subject to breake out