116 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



queens produce only male eggs, which come out in time 

 to fertilize the young females that found the vernal colo- 

 nies. M. P. Huber suspects that, as in the case of the 

 female bee, it is a different kind of food that develops 

 their ovaries, and so distinguishes them from the workers. 

 They are generally attended by a small number of males, 

 who form their court. 



M. Huber, watching at midnight the proceedings of 

 a nest which he kept under a glass, observed the inhabit- 

 ants to be in a state of great agitation : many of these 

 bees were engaged in making a cell; the queen-mother 

 of the colony, as she may be called, who is always ex- 

 tremely jealous of her pygmy rivals, came and drove 

 them away from the cell ; she in her turn was driven 

 away by the others, which pursued her, beating their 

 wings with the utmost fury, to the bottom of the nest. 

 The cell was then constructed, and two of them at the 

 same time oviposited in it. The queen returned to the 

 charge, exhibiting similar signs of anger ; and, chasing 

 them away again, put her head into the cell, when 

 seizing the eggs that had been laid, she was observed to 

 eat them with great avidity. The same scene was again 

 renewed, with the same issue. After this, one of the 

 small females returned and covered the empty cells with 

 wax. When the mother-queen was removed, several 

 of the small females contended for the cell with inde- 

 scribable rage, all endeavouring to lay their eggs in 

 it at the same time. These small females perish in the 

 autumn. 



The males are usually smaller than the large females, 

 and larger than the small ones and workers. They may 

 be known by their longer, more filiform, and slenderer 



