198 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



they have received from external objects. But the lan- 

 guage of bees is more extensive ; if not a language of 

 ideas, it is something very similar 3 ." You have seen 

 above that the organ of the language of ants is their an- 

 tennae. Huber has proved satisfactorily, that these parts 

 have the same use with the bees. He wished to ascertain 

 whether, when they had lost a queen (intelligence which 

 traverses a whole hive in about an hour) they discovered 

 the sad event by their smell, their touch, or any unknown 

 cause. He first divided a hive by a grate, which kept 

 the two portions about three or four lines apart; so that 

 they could not come at each other, though scent would 

 pass. In that part in which there was no queen, the 

 bees were soon in great agitation ; and as they did not 

 discover her where she was confined, in a short time 

 they began to construct royal cells, which quieted them. 

 He next separated them by a partition through which 

 they could pass their antennae, 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 used to assure themselves that their 

 queen was in their vicinity and to communicate with her, 

 was to pass their antennae through the openings of the 

 grate. An infinite number of these organs might be 

 seen at once, as it were, inquiring in all directions ; and 

 the queen was observed answering these anxious inqui- 

 ries of her subjects in the most marked manner ; for she 

 was always fastened by her feet to the grate, crossing 

 her antennae with those of the inquirers. Various other 



1 In Phihs, Trans. 1807, 239, 



