S5S THE PHILOSOPHY 



^ put under It, the impregnation of the eggs by the drones 



* in every cell containing eggs ; the bees did not leave their 



< hive on receiving their liberty j and, in the courfe of twen- 



< ty days, every egg underwent all the above mentioned ne- 



* ceflary changes, and formed a pretty numerous young col- 



* ony, in v^^hich I was not a little ftartled to find /w(? queens.' 



The appearance of a new queen in a hivcj where there was 

 no large or royal cell, made Mr. Debraw conjeflure that the 

 bees are capable, by fome particular means, of transforming 

 a common fubjedl: into a queen. To afcertain the truth of 

 this conjedlure, he provided himfelf with four glafs-hives, 

 into each of which he put a piece of brood-comb taken from 

 an old hive. Thefe pieces of brood-comb contained eggf, 

 worms, and nymphs. In each hive he confined a fufficient 

 number of common bees, and fome drones or males, but 

 took care that there fhould be no queen. 



« The bees,' Mr. Debraw remarks, < finding themfelves 

 f without a queen, made a ftrange buzzing noife, which laft- 

 ? ed near two days, at the end of which they fettled, and be- 

 « took themfelves to work. On the fourth day, 1 perceived 

 f in each hive the beginning of a royal cell, a certain ifulica- 



* tion that one of the inclojed luorms ivould foon he converted into a 



* queen. The conftru^lion of the royal cell being nearly ac- 



* compliflied, I ventured to leave an opening for the bees 



< to get out, and found that they returned as regularly as 



< they do in common hives, and (hewed no inclination to 



< leave their habitation. But, to be brief, at the end of twen- 



< ty days, I obferved four young queens among the new pro- 

 « geny.' 



To thefe experiments of Mr. Debraw, It was objected, that 

 the queen-bee, befide the eggs which fhe depoflts in the 

 royal cells, might likewife have laid royal or female eggs in 

 the common cells ; and that the pieces of brood-comb, fo 

 fuccefsfully employed in his experiments for the production 



