318 
LEE. 
‘ the comb: in each box was shut up a handful 
‘ of working bees. Knowing that when bees are 
‘ forming a queen, they should be confined*, the 
‘ boxes were kept shut for two days. When ex- 
‘ amined at tlie end of that period (six boxes only 
‘ were opened), in all of them royal cells were 
^ begun, one, two, or three, in each; all of these 
‘ containing a maggot four days old. In four 
‘ days, the other six boxes were opened, and 
‘ royal cells found in each, containing maggots 
‘ five days old, surrounded by a large provision 
‘ of jelly; and one of these maggots, examined in 
‘ the microscope, in every respect resembled a 
^ Avorking bee. * 
“ ‘ This experiment was repeated, and the mag- 
‘ gots selected to be made queens Avere three 
‘ days old ; and in sCA^enteen days there were 
* found in the tAvelve boxes fifteen lively, hand- 
‘ some queens f. These experiments were made 
‘ in May, and the bees Avere alloAved to work 
^ great part of the summer: the bees Avere ex- 
‘ amined one by one, but no drone could be dis- 
* How he came to know tliis, I cannot conceive, for no- 
thing a priori could give such information.” 
f " Now tills account is not only improbable, but it does not 
tally with itself. First, it is not probable that a handful of bees 
should, or would, set about making two, three, or four queens', 
when we do not find that number in a large hive: and secondly, 
it seems inconsistent that only fifteen should be formed out of 
twelve parcels, when some of the former parcels had four young 
queens.” 
