BUTLER 89 



nearly two hundred years had still to run before the 

 mating of the queen with the drone became a demon- 

 strated fact. Butler admits (p. 55) that the drones 

 had not been seen to engender with the workers.^ 



The queen, he says, is " perhaps of no kindred with 

 the drones or workers." He seems to have imagined 

 that the offspring of the queen are all queens,^ but 

 here he leaves much unexplained. Having remarked 

 that the cells are of different sizes, and that they are 

 completed before any eggs are laid in them, he infers 

 that the prolific female (not the queen, but the worker, 

 according to his view) enjoys a peculiar gift ; she knows 

 whether she is about to lay male or female eggs, and 

 chooses the cells accordingly. 



Butler thinks that the queen is assisted by " subor- 

 dinate governors and leaders," which are distinguished 

 by a crest, tuft, tassel, or plume, of yellow or murrey 

 colour, turned up in some, down in others. Pollen- 

 grains, clinging in strings to the heads of bees, as they 

 often do, no doubt gave rise to this fancy. There is a 

 hint of some belief of the same sort in Aristotle. 



A tolerable account of the structure of the hive-bee is 

 given. The compound eyes are recognised as organs 

 of sight, and the "fangs" (mandibles) and *' tongue" 

 (proboscis) are briefly described. The "horns" (antennae) 

 are said to be used for feeling. We are told that no 

 brain is to be found in the head ! The sight of bees, he 

 thinks, is poor, their sense of smell excellent ; hearing, 

 feeling and taste they no doubt enjoy. Stinging, he 

 says, is present death to the bee which inflicts the 

 wound — rather too strong a statement of the case. 



1 For Milton's theory of the bee-oommunity, which may have been founded 

 on Butler, see infra, p. 18C. 



"^ Yet he aaya : — " if the old queen bring forth many princes (as she may have 

 six or seven, yea sometimes half a score or more, &o.)." P. 4. 



