A theatre of politicall flying-insects. Wherein especially the nature, the worth, the work, the wonder, and the manner of right-ordering of the bee, is discovered and described / Together with discourses, historical, and observations physical concerning them. And in a second part are annexed meditations, and observations theological and moral, in three centuries upon that subject. By Samuel Purchase.

Samuel Purchas

Date:: 1657

Credit: A theatre of politicall flying-insects. Wherein especially the nature, the worth, the work, the wonder, and the manner of right-ordering of the bee, is discovered and described / Together with discourses, historical, and observations physical concerning them. And in a second part are annexed meditations, and observations theological and moral, in three centuries upon that subject. By Samuel Purchase. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$But when bright Sel hath banifb'd Winter ebafid Virg.Ge0r.L4i Vnder the Eaitb, and Summer light hath grat'd The ikie again, ever the fields and weeds i Tbe) wander {height, lightly the brink) cf 1 They fif and tafie the purple powers frem thence ] (What fweetnefs ere it tee that (Ur their (enfe) ■,$ I Care for their btosd, and progeny they ta!$, ... \ Thence work their wax, and bony cLmmy make: jg H , • ^ 1, .♦«<*■»> « „ „ ^ ^ y | Arifl.de Hift, Bees gather of all things which have flowers (as it were) (Da A:.inaai.l.$. hole or fockec, and cf all other things which are Tweet* CA9‘ but either affertion is too general, as wee will fliew when weei partictilarife what they gather of. Scaliger commenting upon him, goes further, and faith, They gather alfo of bitter, and fharpthings,as Raddtfhjand Muflard-feed, but hee miflook h.mfelf, for the flowers ( which they onely gather of) arc neither bitter nor {harp.: - The fabrick of their combes is an inimitable excellency ■ JEIi-'nl.j.Cfi. without all rules or compares do they make their hexan°Ie j cells. As icon as they are fwrmflied with a new houfe, they ' begin their work, ' They gather not, what foever feme groundlefly imaoine of the Arifl.de Sallow,-Elm, or other trees any gummy lubftance other than J Animal.I 9. wax. Indeed the Hornets, and Wafps fuck the fap that leaks c‘* * from fome Oaks , Elms, and other trees, w’herewith they tem¬ per the dry roffie drefs, that they gnaw off from old decayed ! polls and pales, of which mixed together- they frame their r con b?. - • - Much adoe the Arcicntsmake about the foundation of their work, which they conceit to bee framed of feme touch and Vlu* rinous matter other than wax , and they fancie a triple founda- tionjorthe combes, all cf fuch tough, but pliant, and limber fluff, differing fomewhat one from another, and all from mire waxe : The fitft foundationthey call Cnmmfii r A fecend, whch they over-lay the former with Pif,c„a. and ther eftird, ! Wherewith they cover the two former Prepo/U, - I But whatever they fancie, the foundation of the Combs is not any other thanordinary waxe Take an old Hive wherein fome remnants of the Combs have been left fliekino-to the 1. * * * 0 ' * Tides,$

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