122 THE APIARY. 



a true and perfect image of the manifest facts. ' I am 

 much more certain,' said he, smiling-, to a scientific 

 friend, ' of what I state than you are, for you publish 

 what your ov\ti «yes only have seen, while I take the 

 mean among many witnesses.' This is, doubtless, very 

 plausible reasoning, but very few persons will by it be 

 rendered distrustful of their own eyesight." 



The results of Ruber's observations were published 

 in 1 792, in the form of letters to Ch. Bonnet, under the 

 title of " Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles." This 

 work made a strong impression upon many naturalists, 

 not only because of the novelty of the facts stated and 

 the excellent inductive reasoning employed, but also on 

 account of the rigorous accuracy of the observations 

 recorded, when it was considered with what an extra- 

 ordinary difficulty the author had to struggle. 



Huber retained the clear faculties of his observant 

 mind until his death, which took place on the 22nd of 

 December, 183 1. Most of the facts relating to the 

 impregnation of the queen, the formation of cells, and 

 the whole economy of the bee-community, as discovered 

 and described by Huber, have received full confirmation 

 from the investigations of succeeding naturalists. 



