366 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



discover where she was confined, in a short time 

 they began to construct royal cells, after which 

 they grew more calm. Mr. Huber next separated 

 them by a partition through which they could 

 pass their antennas, but not their heads. In this 

 case, the bees all remained tranquil, neither inter- 

 mitting the care of the brood, nor abandoning 

 their other employments ; nor did they begin any 

 royal cell. The means they adopted to assure 

 themselves that their queen was safe, and to com- 

 municate with her, was to pass their antennas 

 through the openings of the grate, A most 

 curious spectacle thus presented itself; an infinite 

 number of those organs might be seen at once, as it 

 were inquiring in all directions; and the queen was 

 observed answering these anxious inquiries of her 

 dutiful subjects in the most marked manner ; for 

 she was always fastened by her feet to the grate, 

 crossing her antenna with those of the inquirers. 



While we have been anxious to show that the 

 function of feeling is not the important and 

 principal office of these singular organs, it would 

 be far from correct to state that the antennas are 

 not occasionally employed, to use the popular term, 

 as " feelers." All who have paid any attention 



