PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 373 



eighth clay of her whole existence, lays only male eggs, ■which are of no 

 use whatever to the community, unless they are at the same time provided 

 with a sufficient supply of workers. Yet even a queen of this description, 

 and sometimes one that is entirely sterile, is treated by them with the same 

 respect and homage as a fertile one. This seems to evince an amiable 

 feeling in these creatures, attachment to the person as well as to the func- 

 tions of the sovereign ; which is i'urther manifested by their unwillingness 

 at first to receive a new sovereign upoi? the loss or death of their old one. 

 Nay, this respect is sometimes shown to the carcass of a defunct queen, 

 which Huber assures us he has seen bees treat with the same attention 

 that they had shown her when alive, for a long time preferring her inani- 

 mate corpse to the fertile queens that he offered to them.^ He attributes 

 this to some agreeable sensation which they experience from their queens, 

 independent of their fecundity. But since virgin queens, as we have seen, 

 do not excite it, more probably it is a remnant of their former attachment, 

 first excited by her fecundity, and afterwards strengthened and continued 

 by habit. 



1 may here introduce an interesting anecdote related by Reaumur, which 

 strongly marks the attachment of bees to their queen when apparently 

 lifeless. He took one out of the water quite motionless, and seemingly 

 dead, which had lost part of one of its legs. Bringing it home, he placed 

 it amongst some workers, that he had found in the same situation, most of 

 which he had revived by means of warmth ; some, however, still being in 

 as bad a state as the poor queen. No sooner did these revived workers 

 perceive the latter in this wretched condition, than they appeared to com- 

 passionate her case, and did not cease to lick her with their tongues till 

 she showed signs of returning animation : which the bees no sooner per- 

 ceived, than they set up a general hum, as if ibr joy at the happy event. 

 All this time they paid no attention to the workers, who were in the same 

 miserable state.^ 



On a former occasion I have mentioned the laying of the eggs by the 

 queen ; but as I did not then at all enlarge upon it, I shall now explain 

 the process more in detail. In a subsequent letter I shall notice what has 

 puzzled learned apiarists — her fecundation; which is now ascertained 

 beyond contradiction, from the observations of M. Huber, to take place in 

 the open air, and to be followed iiy the death of the unfortunate male.^ 

 It is to be recollected that, from September to April, generally speaking, 

 there are no males in the hives ; yet during this period the queen often 

 oviposits : a former fecundation, therefore, must fertilisp all the eggs laid in 

 this interval. The impregnation, in order to ensure complete fertility, 

 nmst not be too long retarded: for, as 1 before observed, if this be delayed 

 beyond the twenty-eighth day of her existence, her ovaries become so viti- 

 ated that she can no longer lay eggs that will produce workers, l)ut can 

 only furnish the hive with a male population ; which, however high a pri- 

 vilege it may be accounted amongst men, is the reverse of it amongst the 

 bees. When this is the case, the abdomen of the queen becomes so en- 

 larged that she is no longer able to fly *; and what is remarkable, she loses 

 that instinctive animosity which stimulates the fertile ones to attack their 

 rivals.'' Thus she seems to own that she is not equal to the duties of her 



1 Huber, i. 322. » Reaum. v. 265. ' Huber, i. 63 — 



4 Schu-ach, 257. s Huber, i. 319 — . 



B B 3 



