PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 15f 



royal cells in a hive as soon as the workers had co- 

 vered them in, and he found that they were all libe- 

 rated according to seniority. Those first covered first 

 emit the sound, and so on successively ; whence he con- 

 jectures that this is the sign by which the workers dis- 

 cover their age. As their captivity, however, is some- 

 times prolonged to eight or ten days, this circumstance 

 in that time may be forgotten. In this case he supposes 

 that their tones grow stronger as they grow older, 

 by which the workers may be enabled to distinguish 

 them. It is remarkable that no guard is placed round 

 the mute queens bred according to the Lusatian me- 

 thod, which, when the time for their appearance is 

 come, are not detained in captivity a single moment ; 

 but, as you have heard, are left to fight, conquer, or 

 die^. 



You must not think, however, from what I have been 

 saying, that the old queen never destroys the young- 

 ones previously to her leading forth the earliest swarm. 

 She is allowed the most uncontrolled liberty of action ; 

 and if she chooses to approach and destroy the royal 

 cells, her subjects do not oppose her. It sometimes 

 happens, when unfavourable weather retards the first 

 swarm, that all the royal progeny perishes by the sting 

 of their mother, and then no swarm takes place. It is 

 to be observed that she never attacks a royal cell till its 

 inhabitant is ready to assume the pupa, therefore much 

 will depend upon their age. When they arrive at this 

 state, her horror of these cells, and aversion to them, 

 are extreme : she attacks, perhaps, and destroys seve- 

 ral; but finding it too laborious, for they are often nu- 

 »Hubcr, i. 286. n 



