8 PHYSIOLOGY or THE HONEY-BEE. 



"These hairs, standing above the general surface, constitute 

 the antennae marvelous touch organs; and as they are distrib- 

 uted all round each joint, the worker-bee in a blossom cup, or 

 ■with its head thrust into a cell in the darkness of the hive, is, 

 by their means, as able accurately to determine as though she 

 saw; while the queen, whose antenna is made after the same 

 model, can perfectly distinguish the condition of every part of 

 the cell into which her head may be thrust. The last joint, 

 which is flattened on one side, near the end, is more thickly 

 studded, and here the hairs are uniformly bent towards the axis 

 of the whole organ. No one could have watched bees without 

 discovering that, by the antennee, intercommunication is ac- 

 complished; but for this purpose front and side hairs alone are 

 required; and the drone, unlike the queen and worker, very 

 suggestively, has no others, since the condition of the cells is no 

 part of his care, if only the larder be well furnished." 

 (Cheshire.) 



20. The celebrated Francois Huber, of Geneva, made a 

 number of experiments on the antennae, and ascertained that 

 they are organs of smell and feeling. 



Before citing his discoveries, we must pay our tribute of 

 admiration to this wonderful man. (Plate 6.) 



Huber, in early manhood, lost the use of his eyes. His 

 opponents imagined that to state this fact would materially 

 discredit his observations. And to make their case still 

 stronger, they asserted that his servant, Francis Burnens, by 

 whose aid he conducted his experiments, was only an ignorant 

 peasant. Now this so-called "ignorant peasant" was a man of 

 strong native intellect, possessing the indefatigable energy and 

 enthusiasm indispensable to a good observer. He was a noble 

 specimen of a self-made man, and rose to be the chief magis- 

 trate in the village where he resided. Huber has paid a 

 worthy tribute to his intelligence, fidelity, patience, energy and 

 skill. A single fact will show the character of the man. It 

 became necessary, in a eertam experiment, to examine sepa- 

 rately all the bees in two hives. "Burnens spent eleven days 

 in performing this work, and during the whole time he scarcely 



