PLATE CXX.

race is the great end of their being, and the most astonishing effort oftheir ingenuity and care is employed to perfect this grand design. Wenot only find innumerable eggs, and larvae of Insect on all kinds ofplants; in all standing waters; and in animal matter, when putrid;but many which can only be hatched from the egg by the warmth ofliving animals ; thus the Tabanus pierces the thick hide of the Cow ,and plunges its eggs into the flesh ; the heat and moisture of whichnourishes both in the egg, and larva; the Hippobosca equina pro-trudes its eggs into the reftum of Horses ; and the Ichneumon intoliving Caterpillars: to those we could add many remarkable instancesof Insects , who have shewn a lower species of perception, by deposit-ing their eggs in places where the larvæ would find abundance ofproper food ; and with such ingenious contrivances for their safety in adefenceless state, as we could only expect from the sagacity of largeranimals; but it is only our intention to premise with those general re-marks, lest the subject we have chosen for our present Plate should beconsidered as a solitary example of such ingenuity, and care towardstheir future offspring.

The Natural History of the Common Bee has been both fully andably treated of, by Scbirach, Maraldi, Reaumur, Debraw, and otherauthors of respectability, and may be supposed to be pretty generallyknown by those conversant in rural affairs ; the manners, however, ofother species of the fame genus has neither been so fully explained,nqr examined ; they yet present a fund for the enquiries of the Na-turalist, equally worthy his attention; though less beneficial; as thehoney they make cannot be converted to our use.

Among the solitary Bees, some penetrate into the earth, scoop outhollow cavities; then polish the sides within, and deposit their eggs,with proper food for the larvæ, till it becomes a Pupa . Others formnests of loose sand, which they glue together with a strong cement;those nests are generally formed against walls that are exposed to thesouth; without, they are rude and irregular, but within are very neatlyfinished, and divided into several cells or apartments, in each of whichthe Parent Bee lodges an egg, Of our present, and a few «ther species,we may soy,