PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 167 



though fertile, they seize her, keep her in confinement, 

 and treat her very unhandsomely. One may conjecture 

 from this circumstance, that it is by those wonderful or- 

 gans, the antennae, that the bees know their own queen. 

 If two mutilated queens meet, they show not the slight- 

 est symptom of resentment. While one of these con- 

 tinues in the hive, the workers never think of choosing 

 another ; but if she leaves it, they do not accompany her, 

 probably because the heat is not increased by her put- 

 ting them into the preparatory agitation a . 



I am, &c. 

 a Huber, i. 316. 



