288 The Life ofid Writi7igs of' Francis Huher. 



sure, the eggs of working bees into queens, by appropriate food ; 

 or, to speak more precisely, neuters into females. He shewed also 

 how certain working bees are able to lay fertile eggs. He described 

 with much care the combats of queens with each other, the mas- 

 sacre of drones, and all the singular occurrences which take place 

 in a hive, when a strange queen is introduced as a substitute for 

 the natural queen. He shewed the influence which the dimensions 

 of the cells exert upon the shape of the insects which proceed 

 from them; he related the manner by which the larvae spin 

 the silk of their coccoons ; he proved demonstratively that the 

 queen is oviparous ; he studied the origin of swarms, and was 

 the first who gave a natural and accurate history of those flying 

 colonies. He proved that the use of the antennae is to allow the 

 bees to distinguish each other ; and, from the intimate know- 

 ledge he had acquired of their policy, he prescribed excellent 

 rules for their economical administration. The greater number 

 of these delicate observations, and which had escaped his pre- 

 decessors, were due to his invention of various forms of glass 

 hives. One of these, which he called the book or leaf hive, and 

 another which he denominated the flat hive, permitted him to 

 observe the labours of the community in their details, and fol- 

 low each bee in its operations. They were greatly facilitated 

 by the skill of Burnens, and, by his zeal in the search of truth, 

 he braved, without hesitation, the anger of a whole hive, in or- 

 der to discover the least fact ; and he would seize an enormous 

 wasp's nest, in spite of the painful attacks of the whole horde 

 which defended it. We may judge from this of the enthusiasm 

 with which his master (and I here employ the term in the sense, 

 not in the relation of a master to a servant, but that of an in- 

 structor to his pupil), we may judge, I say, of the enthusiasm 

 in favour of truth or fact with which Huber was able to inspire 

 his agents. 



The publication of these works took place in 1792, in the 

 form of letters to Ch. Bonnet, and under the title of " Nouvelles 

 Observations sur les Abeilles *.'"' This work made a strong im- 

 pression upon many naturalists, not only from the novelty of 



• One vol. 8vo, Geneva. Another edition was printed in Paris in 1796, in 

 one volume 12mo ; in which a short practical treatise on the management of 

 bees was anonymously subjoined to the works of Huber. 



