134 MODERN BEEHIVES. [Ch. in. 



you publish what your own eyes 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 1792, in the form of letters to Bonnet, under the title 

 of " Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles." This 

 work made a strong impression upon many naturaHsts, 

 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 .22 nd of 

 December, 1831. 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. 



§ IX. THE WOODBURY FRAME HIVE. 

 I. AVooD. — The late Mr. Woodbury's " Bar-and- 

 Frame Hive," as originally made, consists of a wooden 

 box, fourteen inches and a half square inside, and nine 

 inches deep. The actual habitable space inside is 

 lessened by the room occupied by the frames, of which 

 there are ten ; these rest on a rabbet a litde below the 



