A Thutrt tf ttliAcd Flying Infills '. t$£
tombs on their thighs, 1 am not certain, but beleevl it, (orthey gather onely on flower*, but the Hornet and Waspecarry ic in their mouth.
They breed faith Aristotle, ob the ground among stones, Arlst.de hifb.and have two or three entrances to their neast, but it is not AnimaMp.so; bat they breed cither upon the ground, in the long c -^ 7 *grist, most commonly in Meado w*,and spired layes, or elsein a hole in the ground, much deeper than the Wasps: alltheir neast is covered-nay environedwith moss.
ArJfttle and Pliny are very brief in the history of them,and therefore very obscure; lo me imagine the reason hersof was because their nature was well known, but I ratherconclude, because they knew little, or nothing of them. Sfciliger Cera-And it is very evident because they confound the Silk- menu in Anst,worms and the Humble-Bee* under the name Bombyx, ***$’*’*’and Scaliger also as it appears knew little of them. c *
The nethermost ringles of the black Humble* Bee, are asblack as fear, clear and Lining ; nay more transparent, forit will reflect an image, but the many long hairs, except itbee near at hand, nay in your hand, do somewhat ob-scure it*
It seems they are very tare,, and scarce known in Italy >for Ai&rtvmdm glories in a neast of Humble-Bees thatwas found by his Apothecary gathering simples, and A u fovan(Jj j*brought to him (as hee faith) not onely to delight him Insectud.r.with a novelty, but to communicate as a secret of nature c.^>to posterity.
Hee fupposerh them a kinde of wilde Bee, and pro-pounds it as a Qjery,whether John B*pti{J i trthe wildernesslived not with their hony >
Aldrtvand. supposetb wax may bee had oat of theircombs; but this hee borowed from Aristotle , who faith, Atiffcdc fiisitthey make wax,but pales than Bees. but melt the combs, ifyou can*. ***
'their combs are oblong cells as big as Acorns, butnot altogether so long, clustering together (one somewhathigher.than another, somewhat like a bunch of grapes in-verted, sixteen or eighteenjoyning together (and thenanotherlike comb lying close, but not fastened to ic, and
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