526 NOISES OF INSECTS. 



throne is then with earnest entreaties, lamentations, and groans, supplica- 

 ting the queen-mother of the hive to grant her permission to lead the 

 intended colony ; — that this is continued, before she can obtain her con- 

 sent, for two days : when the old queen relenting gives her fiat in a fuller 

 and stronger tone. That should the former presume to imitate the tones 

 of the sovereign, this being the signal of revolt, she would be executed 

 on the spot, with all whom she had seduced from their loyalty.' — But it 

 is time to leave fables : I shall, therefore, next relate to you what really 

 takes place. You have heard how the bees detain their young queens till 

 they are fit to lead a swarm. — I then mentioned the attitude and sound 

 that strike the former motionless. When she emits this authoritative sound, 

 reclining her thorax against a comb, the queen stands with her wings 

 crossed upon her back, which, without being uncrossed or further expanded, 

 are kept in constant vibration. The tone thus produced is a very distinct 

 kind of clicking, composed of many notes in the same key, which follow 

 each other rapidly. This sound the queens emit before they are permitted 

 to leave their cells ; but it does not then seem to affect the bees. But 

 when once they are liberated from confinement and assume the above atti- 

 tude, its effects upon them are very remarkable. As soon as the sound 

 was heard, Huber tells us, bees that had been employed in plucking, 

 biting, and chasing the queen about, hung down their heads and remained 

 altogether motionless ; and whenever she had recourse to this attitude and 

 sound, they operated upon them in the same manner. The writer just 

 mentioned observed differences both with regard to the succession and 

 intensity of the notes and tones of this royal song ; and, as he justly 

 remarks, there may be still finer shades which, escaping our organs, may 

 be distinctly perceived by the bees.^ He seems, however, to doubt by 

 what means this sound is produced. Reasoning analogically, the motion 

 of the wings should occasion it. We have seen that they are in constant 

 motion when it is uttered. Probably the intensity of the tones and their 

 succession are regulated by the intensity of the vibrations of the wings. 

 Reaumur remarks, that the different tones of the bees, whether more or 

 less grave or acute, are produced by the strokes, more or less rapid, of 

 their wings against the air; and that, perhaps, their different angles of 

 inclination may vary the sound. The friction of their bases likewise 

 against the sides of the cavity in which they are inserted, as in the case 

 of the fly lately mentioned, or against the base-covers (tegulce), may pro- 

 duce or modulate their sounds, a bee whose wings are eradicated being 

 perfectly mute.^ This last assertion, however, is contradicted by John 

 Hunter, who affirms that bees produce a noise independent of their wings, 

 emitting a shrill and peevish sound though they are cut off, and the legs held 

 fast.^ Yet it does not appear from his experiment that the wings were 

 eradicated. And if they were only cut off, the friction of their base 

 might cause the sound. 1 have before noticed the remarkable fact, that 

 the queens educated according to M. Schirach's method are absolutely 

 mute ; on which account the bees keep no guard around their cells, nor 

 retain them an instant in them after their transformation.^ 



' Reaum. v. 615. Butler's Female Monarchy^ c. v. ^ 4. 



« Huber, i. 260. ii. 292. 



3 Reaum. v. 617. ■» Fhilos. Trans. 1792. ^ Huber, i. 292. 



