1/2 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



revelation, even in those things tliat fall under our daily 

 observation, mysteries to exercise our lUitli and hu- 

 mility ; so that we may always reply to the caviller, — 

 *' Thine own things and tJiose that are grown up with 

 thee hast thou not knov»n : how then shall thy vessel 

 comprehend the way of the Highest ? " 



Various have been the conjectures of naturalists, 

 even in very recent times, w ith respect to the fertiliza- 

 tion of the eggs of the bee. Some have supposed, — and 

 the number of males seemed to countenance the sup- 

 position, — that this was ejected after they were depo- 

 sited in the cells. Of this opinion INIaraldi seems to 

 have been the author, and it was adopted by Mr. De- 

 braw of Cambridge, who asserts that he has seen tlie 

 smaller males (those that are occasionally produced in 

 cells usually appropriated to workers) introduce their 

 abdomen into cells containing eggs, and fertilize them ; 

 and that the eggs so treated proved fertile, while others 

 that were not remained sterile. The coniaion or large 

 drones, which form the bulk of the male population 

 of the hive, could not be generally destined to this of- 

 fice, since their abdomen, on account of its size, could 

 only be introduced into male and royal cells. Bonnet, 

 iiovt'ever, saw some motions of one of these drones, 

 Avhich, Avhile it passed by those that \a ere empty, ap- 

 peared to strike with its abdomen the mouth of the cells 

 containing eggs''. Swammerdam thought that the fe- 

 male was impregnated by effluvia which issued from 

 the male''. Reaumur, from some proceedings that he 

 witnessed, was convinced that impregnation took place 

 according to the usual law of nature, and, as he sup- 

 ^ Bonnet, x. 259. " BlM.Nat. i. 221. b. ed. Hill. 



