bee. 443 



rated in the hive ; but we now see the true reason to be, that their 

 aid is needed to impregnate a new qneen. The drones are also 

 suffered to exist in hives that possess fertile workers, but no proper 

 queen ; and, what is remarkable, they are likewise spared in hives 

 governed by a queen whose impregnation has been retarded. Here, 

 then, we perceive a counter instinct opposed to that which would 

 have impelled them to the usuaj massacre. 



M. Huber next investigates whether the queen be really ovipa- 

 rous ; and this point he clearly ascertains in the affirmative. 



He then states the different periods at which the transformations 

 occur, in the case of the different orders of queen, worker, and 

 drone; and his information being minute, and no doubt correctly 

 accurate, we shall extract it. 



" The worm of work* rs passes three days in the egg, five in the 

 vermicular state, and then the bees close up its cell with a wax 

 covering. The worm now begins spinning its coccoon, in which 

 operation thirty-six hours are consumed. In three days it changes 

 to a nymph, and it passes six days in this form. It is only on the 

 twentieth of its existence, counting from the moment the egg is 

 laid, that it attains the fly state. The royal worm also passes three 

 days in the egg, and is live a worm ; the bees then close its cell, 

 and it immediately begins spinning the coccoon, which occupies 

 twenty-four hours. The tenth and eleventh day it remains in com* 

 plete repose, and even sixteen hours of the twelfth. Then the 

 transformation to a nymph takes place, in which state four and 

 one-third days are passed. Thus, it is not before the sixteenth 

 day that the perfect state of queen is attained. The male worm 

 passes three days in the egg, six and a half as a worm, and meta- 

 morphoses into a fly on the twenty-fourth day after the egg is laid.'* 



The author then examines the effects of position on the growth of 

 the larves. The bodies of the larves, in the cells of workers 

 and drones, are placed perpendicularly to the horizon ; those in 

 royal cells lie horizontally. It was suspected that the horizontal 

 posture somehow promoted the increment of the royal grub ; but 

 M. Huber found, that a complete reversal of the position was fol- 

 lowed by no perceptible consequence to the larves. 



Workers and drones both spin complete coccoons, or enclose 

 them on every side. Royal larves, however, construct only im- 

 perfect coccoons, open behind, and enveloping only the head, 



