Note c — BOOK VIII.

There are not many Kinds that thus provide their Food before-hand. The most remarkable, are the Ant and the Bee; concerning the first of which, Origen hath this Remark, viz. De solertiâ Formicarum, venturæ hyemi maturè prospiciontium, sibique invicem sub onere sessis succurrentium; quódque fruges arrosas condunt, ne rursus enascantur, sed per annum alimento sint, non ratiocinationem Formicarum in causâ debemus credere, sed almam matrem Naturam bruta quoque sic ornantem, ut etiam minimis addat sua quædam ingenia. Orig. cont. Cels. L. 4.

But as for Wasps, Hornets, Humble Bees, and other Wild-Bees, Vespæ Ichneumons, and divers others that carry in Materials for Nests and Food; this is only for the Service of their Generation, for hatching their Eggs, and nourishing their Young, not for Supplies in Winter; for they all forsake their Nests towards Winter, and retire to other Quarters, living (I conceive) without Food all that Time.