Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-01-31
From Il London pcper.

FROM u LofHIOH pCIeT.
A sit gular and extraordinary L'scc,.
nv in u.tu'a history was made IA a..
town about fort. ight ago. A. ore r.
tae stonema uiis. VINO is IN the emplo, a.
Ire Dock Trustees, vas dressing og,..
sea.-wal of the Regent Deck, Inc.
stone. brought from the Weston P.i,,
quarry. and after he had broken a con-,
derable thickness from It's outside, h..
discovered in 3 hole OF small! diamp,s,
which was PARTIALLY filed with CLAW, and
albany sand, three bees in as tate fp.n..
n,a.ion. 10 the mex pressible astori,bmer,
of himself and his fellow workmtn, nan
Of whom were witnesses IT tbs .trso,,
phenomenon. The foreman OF tie wprL,
put chem into his handkerchief aIcrersv
remained for several hours aIterwa&.:-
but while exhibiting bis nswly Ie,u..;
tated Strangers. two OF them flew avay.
anil he voluntarily gave the third it, il.
terry. Tre.e bees are described ton,
as having been OF the drone SPECIE
We have Questioned the person as 10 IL.
truth Of So singular settlement. aEd he
atiirms that they we're found in 4 e int.
rior Of tie solid stone, as we hare dc,rr..
bed above, without any petcep,LIe CON.
munication without. Toads, and other
similar ANIMALS have been found IN l:y.
Ing state, in situations equally ex,raordi.
nary but we never hea d before of aEv
OF the winged tribe being iacascd in,
heart of solid stone. The discoveries
singular. and will furnish matter &C cgi.
Gus speculation to the natu al.sts aid The
philosopher.
ADDITIOsAL.
The following statement will probably
elucidate tbs strange phenomencn.'-
As soon as we heard of the above cir.
cumstancr, with occurred N SATURDAY,,
the lst INST. We went on the Tuesday
mocnirg following to inspect the store
in which the bers. as they are called,
had been lodged, bat it had about an
hour before been put into barge for the
purpose Of being taken to another put
ct the dock. la cur enquiries Of Mr..
Do"c1i the master mason. the person who
had the bees in lis possession, whether
a;y Crcvice had been observed on The
outside OF the stone, by which they could
have gained access tn the abode in which
thew we're found, he could give Us no
very certain Information on this point.
neither negatively or aGirma'i, CIV
Bot he Showed Us stone Vi the exact
description OF the Gre in question, in
which there was what they called
sand hole" filled with l0cmy sard,
which extended from the surface to the
depth Of ten riches into tie stone: this
Ioomy sand it is corjsctured, would after
bein. exposed TO the air, become suHi,..
emily dry TO be capable of removing t.,
self Oh the least change Of situation in
the stone, and thereby excavating n hole
such as had been found in the store
where the bees were discovered. As
5000 q, We had ascertained hi. fac',
our wonder in the preceding statement
ceased, as He think that OF our readers
will also after they have read tins article
this will also account fer our not ha-
wing before noticed the circumstances
The stone from which the bees were
taken, had, we understand been for some
weeks laying at the quarry for transmits
sion to this place in the early part of
September we had some sharp frost. ard
it is not improbable that the bees had
sheltered themselves in the cavern in
which the masous found then. from tie
irclemency Of the weather at that time.
When they were first discovered. we en-
derstand they were in state of torpor,
but the warmth Of Mr.. DOwell's pocket.
in which they had been placed complete
~ terminated them.
~, =. III, "a. IA