vrvii to generate a Queen. 609 



sidered as a necessary adjunct : for, in the words of tfeabbte 

 theorists, whoever wishes to establish a hive, let him trouble 

 his head about the working bees and a queen, but he need 

 iiot pay any attention to the drones. Experience also colli 

 firms that working bees, in the sphere of reproduction, breed 

 drones ; and that the said sphere, and the process of pro- 

 creation, are performed by them, although under the influence 

 of an absolute nature. The first, however, does not take 

 place when, in the absence of a mother, the sphere of pro- 

 duction is stopped, and the relative nature of their sphere of 

 reproduction, which must then abate in its power, becomes 

 isolated. _ ^ '-^i i? u^ksh^ ■.:...: a- - o'-^' 



This system/^fadwevefrj^dltf^rfet^^^dtg^ hold its grdiifld ; 

 although it is curious ta observe how gradually the ligh'l 

 which is now diffused over the natural history of the be€^ 

 peeps through these various systems, in which truth and erro^ 

 are so confounded, that it is a task of no small difficulty tB 

 separate them, or to arrive at any positive decision as to the 

 adoption or rejection of their leading principles. The ob- 

 scurities which distinguish the foregoing system induced' 

 Heumann, in his Physikalisch-OeJconomische Einleitimg zueiner 

 richtigen Ketintniss der Bieneii [^Phij si co- Economical Introduce 

 tion to a correct Knoidedge of Bees}, to suppose that he could^ 

 remove those obscurities ; and, according to his system, the 

 queen is the only actual mother of her like: she is also the 

 mother of the bees and the drones ; laying, in the course of 

 the year, many thousand eggs. The bees are the nurses, who 

 are to cooperate in the breeding ; and without their assist- 

 ance the eggs prove abortive. They have it, however, in 

 their power to effect the developement of the female egg in 

 the following manner : — In the small cells, the sexual pro- 

 perty is lost, and it becomes a common bee ; in the royal cell, 

 it becomes a queen, or a most fruitful mother ; and, in the 

 drone cell, a spurious mother drone. The male egg in thd 

 cell of the common bee becomes a bee <3evoid of sex ; and, 

 in the drone cell, a drone, as the sole father of the whole 

 family. ^ 7^ 



This system will, therefore, stand as follows : — 



Dronles. Queen, or mother bee. 



i— , .-^ 



Working Bees. « „':;i^ ;■ v. -/..vi .ok J 



v?»rt^^^ "llale. . .^^.-^.^.--.-^ Female. 



Imperfect, Perfect. Imperfect false Perfect queen, 



destitute of sex. j drone mother. 



Drones. Ofinio'5 



Vol. v.— No. 29. rr 



