APIS. hives, admirably constructed for that purpose, Huber found that the greatest agitation and even irregularity prevailed, which increased the temperature of the hive to a degree which the bees could not bear, and perhaps this circumstance may be one inducement to them to leave the hive simultaneously. Some times, though rarely, a swarm conducted by the old queen increases so rapidly as to send forth a new colony in the space of three weeks.

The drones or male bees are only interesting from their being essential, by the impregnation of the queen, to the perpetuation of the species. In the hive they do nothing but eat the food provided by the industrious labourers; they are short lived, the eggs that produce them being laid in April and May, and their destruction taking place by the murderous weapons of the workers in July and August.

There are four different substances elaborated by the working bees; honey and wax from the nectar of flowers; bee-bread, the food of the larva as well as of the perfect insect, made from the pollen or farina of the anthers; and a resinous substance for finishing the combs, and in various ways giving security to their habitations.

In their excursions they fly in a direct line; and from the assurances of Butler and of Mr. Dobbs, it would appear that the observation of Aristotle is correct, that in each journey an individual confines his labours to one species of flower.

The honey, which is collected by the tubular tongue, is laid up in the first stomach, or honey bag. How wax is secreted is at present merely conjectural. It is however known to be formed from the honey, and to be taken, when required for use, from what are called wax pockets, on the four intermediate segments of the abdomen. The bee-bread is elaborated from the pollen, which is laid up in little pellets, in a sort of baskets formed by the hairs on the hind legs. When a bee returns laden to the hive, the honey is disgorged into the cells, one of which will contain the lading of several individuals. Of these some are employed for present use, others are sealed up for the supply of future want.

The bee-bread is used as circumstances require, and what remains from the immediate wants of the community is stored up in vacant cells.

The rapidity with which the combs are built in a new hive is astonishing. In twenty-four hours, according to Reaumur, a comb twenty inches long by seven or eight wide, will sometimes be constructed.

The ventilation of the hive is another most important and curious function which these little creatures

most assiduously perform by means of their wings and this is found to be as much used in winter as in

summer.

Amongst the many enemies to which bees are exposed, one of the most singular is the sphinx atropos, which has been repeatedly observed to attack hives in the evening, and in consequence of whose depredations considerable injury has sometimes been produced. It is wonderful to observe the means of defence to which these little industrious compatriots have recourse, against the attacks of so large an insect. Without any foreign aid, says Huber, they barricaded themselves by a thick wall of propolis and wax rising behind the entrance of the hive, and pe

netrated only by passages large enough for the work- APIS. ers. In some the more complicated works of human fortifications were equalled both in design, execution, and effect.

The comb is composed of a number of cells, most of them exactly hexagonal constructed with geometrical accuracy, and arranged in two layers placed end to end, the openings of the different layers being in opposite directions. The comb is placed vertically, the cells therefore are horizontal. The distance of the different cakes of comb from each other is sufficient for two bees to pass readily between them, and they are here and there pierced with passages affording a communication between all parts of the hive. The construction of the cells is such as to afford the greatest possible number in a given space, with the least expenditure of the material. The base of each cell is composed of three rhomboidal pieces placed so as to form a pyramidal concavity. Thus the base of a cell on one side of the comb, is composed of part of the bases of three on the other. The angles of the base are found by the most accurate geometrical calculations to be those by which the least possible expense of wax would be employed, consistently with a given quantum of space and strength.

The cells built for the larvæ of the drones are larger than those of the workers, and those for the reception of the royal larvæ are still more different. They are much larger than any of the others, of a pyriform shape, and placed in a vertical position, with the mouth downwards. The material of which they are composed is coarser than common wax, and one hundred times more of it is required to form one of them, than enters into the composition of a common cell. The cells for the reception of honey and pollen, and those which form the habitation of common larvæ, do not essentially differ.

The old opinion that wax is formed from the pollen of flowers was first doubted by Reaumur, though he appears not to have gone farther than to argue fron the dissimilarity of the two substances. But the exact truth appears to have been ascertained by Huber, Schirach, and John Hunter, about the same period By following up the detail of Huber's experiments it appears that the workers, and they only, have the property of producing wax from their food, as the nectar of flowers, sugar, honey, &c. so that in fact it is a secretion, not a mere modification of any substance. This secretion takes place under the scales of the abdomen, but the organs by which this is effected are not known.

The process of building the combs is a subject to which Huber has devoted a considerable portion of his attention; and the following abstract of his observations is principally extracted from the work already so often referred to, of Kirby and Spence.

There are two kinds of workers, which have different offices assigned to them in this process: the wax makers having taken a due proportion of honey or sugar, suspend themselves to each other; the claws of the fore legs of the lower being attached to the hind ones of the uppermost, and form themselves into a cluster consisting of a number of festoons crossing each other in various directions. They remain immoveable for twenty-four hours, during which time the secretion of wax is undoubtedly going on in a hidden

manner, and a thin lamina may now be found under the abdomen. One of the bees then detaches itself, makes its way to the top of the hive, turning itself round till it has cleared a void space of about an inch in diameter. It then seizes a layer of wax with its hinder leg, draws it from the scale under the abdomen, and carries it by one of the anterior feet to the mouth. It is here exposed to the action of the mandibles, gnawed in pieces, and carried into one side of the mouth, from which it issues in the form of a ribband. The tongue next impregnates it with a frothy liquid. This organ then returns it to the mandibles, where it is worked up anew. The bee then applies these prepared portions of wax to the surface on which the comb is to be commenced, and this manœuvre is continued till the whole of the laminæ are thus prepared and fixed; she then leaves her work. The others succeed in the same manner, and the result is the formation of a little uneven mass of wax, five or six lines long, two lines high, and half a line thick, descending perpendicularly into the hive. The remainder of the work is performed by the nurse bees. One of them places itself horizontally on the vault of the hive, its head placed on the centre of the little mass of wax, and with its mandibles, rapidly moving its head, it moulds in that side of the wall of wax a cavity which is to form the base of one of the cells. After a few minutes labour it departs and is succeeded by another. The cavity is gradually deepened, the sides raised, and an upright form given to it. When arrived at a certain point, others begin the same work on the other side of the mass, and whilst they are yet engaged in this labour, the wax makers return and add to the mass. After the bottoms of the cells of the first row are finished, others begin the outline of a second. The parietes of the cells are next formed by adding to the sides of the cavities which bave been hollowed out of the mass.. The first row of cells is pentagonal, the side next the hive being broader than the others, and thus affording a firmer attachment for the mass of comb.

They never begin two masses of comb at the same time, but as soon as some rows of cells are constructed in the first, two others, one on each side, parallel to it and equidistant from it, are commenced, and soon after two more exterior to these.

The male cells are generally in the middle of the combs or at their sides, never in the upper part. They are never insulated, but form a corresponding group on both sides of the comb. Their diameter is 3 lines, those of the workers only 21.

It appears that the particular species of cells that are to be constructed is determined by the laying of the queen. The bees never build those of males so long as she produces the eggs of workers. But as soon as she is ready to deposit the eggs of males, they are seen forming the cells irregularly, gradually giving them a greater diameter, and finally preparing those for the reception of the male race. The size of the cells is also increased where an unusually favourable opportunity occurs for the collection of honey.

For information on some other points of their history which belong rather to the general study of entomology, the reader is referred to the treatise on that subject.

This article cannot be better concluded than in the words of Kirby and Spence. "After all," say these excellent writers, "there are mysteries as to the primum mobile, amongst these social tribes, that with all our boasted reason we cannot fathom; nor develope satisfactorily the motives that urge them to fulfil in so remarkable, though diversified a way their different destinies. One thing is clear to demonstration, that by these creatures and their instincts, the power, wisdom, and 'goodness, of the GREAT FATHER of the universe are loudly proclaimed. The atheist and infidel confuted; the believer confirmed in his faith and trust in Providence, which he thus beholds watching, with incessant care, over the welfare of the meanest of his creatures; and from which he may conclude that He, the prince of the creation, will never be overlooked or forsaken; and from them what lessons may be learned of patriotism and selfdevotion to the public good; of loyalty, of prudence, temperance, diligence, and self denial.'

APIS, or MUSCA, a southern constellation, containing four stars.

APIS, a deity of the Egyptians, worshipped at Memphis, under the symbolical form of an ox, which the soul of Osiris was supposed to inhabit. The marks by which the sacred bull was distinguished, were his black colour, a square white mark upon his forehead, the figure of an eagle on his back, a lump under his tongue resembling a beetle, and a white spot, in the form of a crescent, on his right side. These marks no doubt were produced by the contrivance of those who were interested in the imposture. The vulgar, of course, were not allowed to suppose that the animal was produced by natural generation. At the end of 25 years he was drowned in the Nile, afterwards embalmed, and privately deposited in a subterranean cavern destined to that purpose; and which, from recent discoveries, there is every reason to believe, was in one of the pyramids; for which purpose, it has been supposed, that they were originally built. In Elian (de anim. lib. xi.) there is a full account of the circumstances attending the birth and education of the supposed god. As soon as a calf was produced with the appropriate marks, a temple was erected for its accommodation; and during four months it was fed only upon milk. At the end of this period, and at the time of the new moon, the priests repaired to his habitation, and saluted him with the sacred name of Apis. He was then placed in a vessel richly decorated, and conducted to Heliopolis, a city of the Nile, with hymns and processions, and perfumes. Here he was kept 40 days, and suffered to be seen only by women. After his inauguration, he was conveyed with similar pomp to Memphis, and was afterwards regarded with divine honours. His lodging was superb; and the edifice appropriated to him is described by Strabo, (lib. xvii.) as being so constructed, as to have allowed of his being seen through a window. He was supposed to predict events, and to deliver oracles by certain signs and motions. He had two "beds," we are told by Pliny (lib. viii.); and, according as he went into the one or the other of them, the omen was supposed to be favourable or unfavourable. He also gave answers by eating food out of the hand in this manner, if we may believe Ammianus, he foretold the death of Germanicus, by refusing the

APIS.

TIC.

food which that prince offered to him. In every part of Egypt feasts were instituted in honour of his birth, APLANA- called Theophania, which lasted for seven days; and ancient writers have left a lively account of the rejoicings which took place at that anniversary. At his death, the expression of the public grief was no less remarkable. "When Apis dies," says Lucian, "is there any one so enamoured of his long hair as not immediately to cut it off, or to display on his bald head the symptoms of his sorrow."

Jablonski, in his Pantheon Egyptiorum, fixes the first consecration of Apis at the year 1171 before Christ; and, according to the same writer, his worship ceased at Memphis, in the reign of Theodosius, about the year 380. It is commonly supposed that it was symbolical of the Nile; and Plutarch, in his treatise de Iside, affirms as much; but modern writers, as Jablonski and Huet, conceive that the worship of Apis was instituted to commemorate the patriarch Joseph; while Bryant supposes that it referred to Noah.

APITPAT, from pit, to sink; and pat, to strike. Applied to express the action of the heart in a moment of anxiety.

SIR J. WITT. O here a' comes. Ay, my Hector of Troy, welcome, my bully, my backe; egad my heart has gone apit-pat for thee. Congreve. Old Bachelor.

APIUM, in Botany, a genus of umbelliferous plants, class Pentandria, order Digynia. Generic character. Fruit ovate, striated; involucre of one leaf, petals equal.

The species of this genus are the following.

1. A. PETROSELINUM (common parsley), leaflets of the stem, linear, partial, involucres minute.

This well known plant so extensively used for culinary purposes is a native of Sardinia. There are three varieties cultivated, viz. the common parsley, the curled parsley, and the large-rooted or Hamburgh broad-leaved parsley.

2. A. GRAVEOLENS (smallage or celery), stem leaves cuneiform. This plant is a native of Britain, being not unfrequently met with in salt marshes, and in ditches near the sea. The sweet celery, Apium dulce, or Celeri Italorum, is a variety produced by cultivation. The plant when wild is very strong and nauseous, but by covering up the stalks, so as to prevent the access of light, it is at the same time deprived of colour, and, in a great degree, of its naturally unpleasant taste.

APIVORUS, in Ornithology, a species of the Falco, known as the honey buzzard, but seldom met with in England. Donov. Brit. Birds, t. 30. APLACE. In place.

For there is but o god of all,

Whiche is the lorde of heuen and helle.

But if it like you to telle,

Howe suche goddes come aplace,

Ye might mochell thanke purchace. Gower. Con. A. book v. APLANATIC, a term which was invented by Dr. Blair, of Edinburgh, to denote a particular kind of refraction discovered by himself, which entirely corrects the aberration of the rays of light, and the colour depending upon it; in contradistinction to the word achroamatic, which has been applied to that refraction in which there is only a partial correction of

colour. The word aplanatic is derived from a, privativa, APLANA λavaw, erro.

TIC.

APLEDORE, partly within the liberty of Romney APOCA Marsh, and partly in the hundred of Blackbourn, LYPSE Lathe of Scray, county of Kent; a vicarage, with the chapel of Ebony; valued in the King's books at £21.; patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury; church dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. The resident population of this parish in 1801 was 334. The money raised by the parish rates in 1803 was £335. 15s. 7d. It is 6 miles SE. by S. from Tenterden.

APLIDIUM, in Zoology, a genus of the class tunicata. Generic character. Animals having two apertures; aggregated, very small, united in one common substance, which is convex, fleshy, and fixed; mouth with six tentacula, anus not externally conspicuous.

There is but one species of this genus—the A. Sublobatum, which is Alcyonium Ficus of Linnæus and of Ellis.

APLIGHT, perhaps In plight. In good plight or condition; in readiness, already prepared; completely equipped.

Nou is Edward of Carnarvon
King of Engelond al aplight,
God lete him ner be worse man
Then his fader, ne lasse of myht.

Percy's Reliques, v. ii. APLUSTRA, a name sometimes applied to the rostrum, or beak of a ship in ancient naval architecture: it seems to have been an ornament in the shape of a shield, fixed to that part of the vessel: and to which a pennant was attached, and answering to the Greek aphlastum.

APO, one of the smaller Philippine islands between Mindoro and the Calamianes. Long. 123° 10′ E. Lat. 9° 23' N.

APO SHOALS, in the Indian sea. These lie between Mindoro and the Calamianes, extending about 28 miles in length from north to south, and 8 in breadth. Long. 120° 36′ E. Lat. 12° 27′ N.

APOBATANA, the metropolis of ancient Media, but more properly called Ecbatana. APO'CALYPSE, APO'CALYPTICAL, APOCALYPTICK, APOCALYPTICK, adj.

Αποκάλυψις from απο, from, and kaλvw to cover, to conceal.

Disclosure, or discovery

of things-before close, or covered, hidden, or concealed. Revelation, Manifestation.

God the fadir seynge the tribulaciouns whiche hooli chirche was to suffre that was foundid of the apostlis on crist the stoon, disposide with the sone and the hooli goost to schewe hem that më manheed, and crist to ioon bi an aungel, and ioon to hooli chirche, drede hem the lesse, and al the trynyte schewide it crist on his of which reuelacionn ioon made this book, wherfore this book is reid apocalips, that is to seie, reuelacioun.

Wiclif, Pref. to Apocalips, p. 143.

CAPSE.

That false traitouresse vntrewe

Was like that salowe horse of hewe
That in the apocalips is shewed
That signifieth to folke beshrewed
That been all full of trecherie
And pale, through hypocrisie
For on that horse no colour is
But onely dedde and pale yurs.

Chaucer. Rom. of Rose, fol. 150. c. 4.

O for that warning voice, which he, who saw
Th' Apocalypse, heard cry in heaven aloud,
Then when the Dragon, put to second rout,
Came furious down to be reveng'd on men,
Woe to the inhabitants on earth!

Milton's Par. Lost, book iv. Besides these properties, they [the Jews] are light and giddy headed, much symbolizing in spirit with our apocalyptical zealots, and fiery interpreters of Daniel and other prophets.

APOCALYPSE, (ȧжока\vπтw, I reveal,) signifies, in general, a revelation; but is particularly referred to the Revelation of St. John, the last canonical book of the New Testament.

The Apocalypse was written by the Apostle and Evangelist St. John, A. D. 96 or 97, probably in the isle of Patmos, whither he was banished by the Roman Emperor, Domitian. The authenticity of this book was very generally, if not universally, acknowledged during the first two centuries; but in the third century it began to be questioned, in consequence of some absurd notions concerning the millenium, which a few well-meaning but fanciful expositors grounded on this book: which notions their opponents injudiciously and presumptuously endeavoured to discredit, by denying the authority of the book itself. It was unquestionably cited by the apostolic fathers, Ignatius and Polycarp, (probably also by Hermas,) in the first century. In the second century it was cited or commented upon by Justin Martyr, Melito, bishop of Sardis; the epistle of the churches of Vienne and Lyons, concerning the sufferings of their martyrs; Irenæus, bishop of Lyons, who personally knew Polycarp; Athenagoras; Theophilus, bishop of Antioch; Apollonius; Clement of Alexandria; and Tertullian. In the third century it was also quoted, or commentaries were written upon it, by Hippolytus, Portuensis, and Origen, and numerous other Greek and Latin writers; and was recognised as canonical (with the exception of a few individuals) by the eastern and western churches: and all the fathers of the fourth, fifth, and following ages quote the Apocalypse, as a book in their time acknowledged to be canonical. The style and language also concur to prove this book to be the genuine production of St. John.

The Apocalypse contains 22 chapters, which may

VOL. XVII,

APOCRY

PHA.

be divided into two principal parts. The first, after APOCAthe title of the book, (ch. i. 1-3.) comprises the LYPSE. things which are:" that is, the then present state of the Christian Church, including the epistolary instructions and admonitions to the angels or bishops of the seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea, situated in Asia Minor. (ch. ii. 9.-iii.) The second part comprehends a prediction of " the things which shall be hereafter," or the future state of the church through succeeding ages, from the time when the apostle beheld the apocalyptic visions to the grand consummation of all things. (ch. iv.-xxii.) The best helps to the correct understanding of this prophetic book will be found in Bishop Hurd's Sermons on Prophecy, Bishop Newton's Dissertations, (vol. ii.); Lownan, on the Revelation; and, above all, Dean Woodhouse's Translation of the Apocalypse, with notes, critical and explanatory; London, 1806, royal Svo.

Various apocryphal revelations are mentioned by ecclesiastical writers of the second and two following centuries, as the Apocalypses of Paul-of Peter-of Cerinthus-of St. Thomas-of St. John, (different from the genuine book,)—of Elias-of Moses-of Abraham -and even of Adam! But these spurious writings have long since perished, and were deservedly rejected by the Christian Church, on account of the idle legends which they appear to have contained.

APOCENOSIS, from ano from, and Kevow, to evacuate, in Medicine. The name of an order, in the class Locales of Cullen's Nosology. Unusual flow of blood, or other fluids; without pyrexia or increased impetus of the fluids.

APOCOPE, from arro, and коTтw, I cut. A figure in grammar, by which part of the end of a word is cut off; as dic. for dice; fac. for face. A similar retrenchment at the beginning of a word is called apheresis.

APOCRISIARIUS, from ажокpiois, an answer; an officer appointed to carry or deliver the messages or answers of the prince or emperor, under the lower empire. The chancellor of the empire was afterwards known by this name, whose office seems to be the origin of that of nuncio, at the court of Rome.

APO'CRYPHA, ATоxρνpη, from año, from, and APO'CRYPHAL, круπтw, to hide. Any thing hidden from; secreted.

APOCRYPHICAL.

The other [bookes] folowynge, which are called apocripha (because they were wot to be reade, not openly and in commen, but as it were in secrete and aparte) are neyther founde in the Hebrue nor in the Chalde.

Bible, 1539. Pref. to Apochripha.

My private judgment I should be loth to oppose against the force of their reverend authority, who rather considering the divine excellency of some things in certain of those apocrypha which we publickly read, have thought it better to let them stand as a divine, yet as human compositions, to grant at the least unto cerlist or marginal border unto the Old Testament, and tho' with tain of them publick audience in the house of God.