PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 135 



j)aid particular attention to their proceedings) relates 

 that he well remembers that the bees of one of his 

 hives, which he discovered had lost their queen, were 

 engaged in erecting some royal cells upon the ruins of 

 some of the common ones. He also informs me that 

 he has found Huber's statements, as far as he has had 

 an opportunity of verifying them, perfectly accurate. 



As I think you will allow that the evidence just detail- 

 ed to you is abundantly sufficient to establish the fact 

 in question, we will now see whether any satisfactory 

 account can be given for such changes being produced 

 by such causes. " It does not appear to me improba- 

 ble," says Bonnet, " that a certain kind of nutriment, 

 and in more than usual abundance, may cause a de- 

 velopment in the grubs of bees, of organs which would 

 never be developed without it. I can readily conceive 

 also, that a habitation considerably more spacious, and 

 differently placed, is absolutely necessary to the com- 

 plete development of organs which the new nutri- 

 ment may cause to grow in all directions^." And 

 again, with respect to the wings of the queen bee, 

 which do not exceed those of the workers in length, 

 he thinks that this may arise from their being of a sub- 

 stance too stiff to admit of their extension. Those 

 parts and points that were in a state to yield most easily 

 to the action which this kind of nutriment produced, 

 would be most prominent ; and the vertical position 

 of the grub and pupa, since nature does nothing in 

 vain, may probably assist this action, and render the 

 parts of the animal more capable of such extension 

 than if it continued in a horizontal position. 



We know, with respect to the human species and 



^ lluber, ii. 445. 



