BEE. 435 



of Huber, it seems now to be clearly ascertained that the workers 

 are really of the female sex; but that the organs of generation are 

 small and imperfect, being capable, however, of development, 

 if the larvas be fed with royal jelly. 



M. Huber confirms the curious discovery of M. Schirach that 

 when bees are by any accident deprived of their queen, they have 

 the power of selecting one or two grubs of workers, and of con- 

 verting them into queens ; and that they accomplish this by greatly 

 enlarging the cells of those selected larvas, by supplying them more 

 copiously with food, and with food of a more pungent sort than 

 is given to the common larvas. " All my researches," says M. 

 Huber, " establish the reality of the discovery. During ten years 

 that 1 have studied bees, I have repeated M. Schirach's experi- 

 ment so often, and with such uniform success, that I can no longer 

 have the least doubt on the subject." The same testimony is given 

 by Mr. Bonner, who declares, that c< having repeated the experi- 

 ment again and again, he can affirm it with the utmost confidence 

 and certainty." M. Schirach's discovery may now therefore be 

 considered as established beyond controversy; and Mr. Key's 

 doubts, and the late Mr. John Hunter's strictures, in the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions for 1792, must consequently fall to the 

 ground. 



M. Huber gives the following curious account of the manner in 

 which bees proceed in forming capacious cells for the workers' 

 grubs destined to royalty. ic Bees soon become sensible of having 

 lost their queen, and in a few hours commence the labour neces- 

 sary to repair their loss. First, they select the young common 

 worms, which the requisite treatment is to convert into queens, 

 and immediately begin with enlarging the cells where they are 

 deposited. Their mode of proceeding is curious ; and the better 

 to illustrate it, I shall describe the labour bestowed on a single 

 cell, which will apply to all the rest containing worms destined 

 for queens. Having chosen a worm, they sacrifice three of the 

 contiguous cells ; next they supply it with food, and raise a cylin- 

 drical enclosure around, by which the cell becomes a perfect tube, 

 with a rhomboidal bottom ; for the parts forming the bottom are 

 left untouched. If the bees damaged it, they would lay open 

 three corresponding cells on the opposite surface of the comb, and 



2f2 



