146 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



in the other cells ; a proceeding which they permit, as I 

 have before stated, when they only want, a successor to 

 a defunct or a lost sovereign. As soon therefore as the 

 workers perceive which the transparency of the cell 

 permits them to do that the young queen has cut cir- 

 cularly through her cocoon, they immediately solder the 

 cleft up with some particles of wax, and so keep her a 

 prisoner against her will. Upon this, as if to complain 

 of such treatment, she emits a distinct sound, which ex- 

 cites no pity in the breasts of her subjects, who detain 

 her a prisoner two days longer than nature has assigned 

 for her confinement. In the interim, she sometimes 

 thrusts her tongue through the cleft she has made, draw- 

 ing it in and out till she is noticed by the workers, to 

 make them understand that she is in want of food. Upon 

 perceiving this they give her honey, till her hunger be- 

 ing satisfied she draws her tongue back upon which 

 they stop the orifice with wax a . 



You may think it perhaps extraordinary that the 

 workers should thus endeavour to retard the appearance 

 of their young females beyond its natural limit; but when 

 I explain to you the reason for this seeming incongrui- 

 ty of instinct, you will adore the wisdom that implanted 

 it. Were a queen permitted to leave her cell as soon as 

 the natural term for it arrived, it would require some 

 time to fit her for flight, and to lead forth a swarm ; du- 

 ring which interval a troublesome task would be imposed 

 upon the workers, who must constantly detain her a pri- 

 soner to prevent her from destroying her rivals, which 

 would require the labours and attention of a much larger 

 number than are necessary to keep her confined to her 

 * Huber, i. 256. 



