122 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



rity of a certain father Tanoya, that in every hive there 

 are three sorts of bees independent of each other; viz. 

 male and female drones — male and female, I must not 

 say queens — call them what you will : and male and fe- 

 male workers ; and that each construct their own cells ! ! ! 

 Enough, however, upon this subject. I shall now en- 

 deavour to lay before you the best authenticated facts 

 in the history of these animals ; but you must not expect 

 an account of them complete in all its parts ; for, much 

 as we know, Bonnet's observation will still hold good : 

 " The more I am engaged in making fresh observations 

 upon bees, the more steadfast is my conviction, that the 

 time is not yet arrived in which we can draw satisfactory 

 conclusions with respect to their policy. It is only by 

 varying and combining experiments in a thousand ways, 

 and by placing these industrious flies in circumstances 

 more or less removed from their ordinary state, that we 

 can hope to ascertain the right direction of their instinct, 

 and the true princi})les of their government *. 



What I have further to say concerning these admi- 

 rable creatures, will be principally taken from the two 

 authors who have given the clearest and most satisfac- 

 tory account of them, Reaumur and the elder Huber ; 

 though I shall add from other sources such additional 

 observations as may serve better to elucidate their hi- 

 story. 



The society of a hive of bees, besides the young brood, 

 consists of one female or queen ; several hundreds of 

 males or drones ; and many thousand workers. 



The female, or queen, first demands our attention. 

 Two sorts of females have been observed amongst the 

 ' CEuvr. X. 194—. 



