THE QUEEN. 39 
who are too wise to avail themselves of the knowledge of 
others: 
“This treatise on Bees proved so fatiguing a performance, that 
Swammerdam never afterwards recovered even the appearance 
of his former health and vigor. He was most continually en- 
gaged by day in making observations, and as constantly by night 
in recording them by drawings and suitable explanations. 
“His daily labor began at six in the morning, when the sun 
afforded him light enough to survey such minute objects; and 
from that hour till twelve, he continued without interruption, all 
the while exposed in the open air to the scorching heat of the 
sun, bareheaded, for fear of intercepting his sight, and his head 
in a manner dissolving into sweat under the irresistible ardors of 
that powerful luminary. And if he desisted at noon, it was only 
because the strength of his eyes was too much weakened by the 
extraordinary afflux of light, and the use of microscopes, to con- 
tinue any longer upon such small objects. 
“He often wished, the better to accomplish his vast, unlimited 
views, for a year of perpetual heat and light to perfect his inqui- 
ries; with a polar night, to reap all the advantages of them by 
proper drawings and descriptions.” 
96. The name of queen was then given to the mother 
bee, although she in no way governs, but seems to reign 
like a beloved mother in her family. 
97. She is the only perfect female in the hive, the laying 
of eggs being her sole function ; and so well does she accom- 
plish this duty, that it is not uncommon to find queens, 
who lay more than 3,500 eggs per day, for several weeks in 
succession during the height of the breeding season. In 
our observing hives we have seen them lay at the rate of six 
eggs in a minute. The fecundity of the female of the white 
ant is, however, much greater than this, being at the rate of 
sixty eggs a minute; but her eggs are simply extruded from 
her body, and carried by the workers into suitable nurser- 
ies, while the queen-bee herself deposits her eggs in their 
appropriate cells. 
98. This number of 3,500, that a good queen can lay 
