THE BEE. 115 



let US direct your attention to a few of those features 

 in the natural history of the insect, that, notwith- 

 standing all that has been written on the subject, are 

 still deserving of further investigation. Pirst in re- 

 gard to the Bee's anatomy. Although it is conjec- 

 tured that the compound eyes serve to convey to the 

 brain images of near, and the simple ones, of distant 

 objects, yet this is by no means certaia ; and any bee- 

 keeper contributiag such data as would enable na- 

 turalists to decide the question would render a great 

 service to science, inasmuch as that which relates to 

 the Bee in this respect refers also to the other in- 

 sect races. The same remark applies also to the 

 organs upon the antennse and wings, as to whether 

 they are organs of hearing or of smeU ; but this is a 

 more difficult problem, and can be solved only by 

 those who are thoroughly conversant with compara- 

 tive anatomy, as well as with the habits of the insect. 



A very interesting field of inquiry is open in con- 

 nexion with the reproductive organs of the Worker 

 Bee ; namely, as to whether the faculty of depositing 

 drone-eggs, occasionally possessed by them, is the 

 result of their receiving the royal food after the pre- 

 scribed period, as stated by some authors, or whether, 

 as others affirm, it is a wise provision of Nature to 

 facilitate the peopling of a hive that has been de- 

 prived of its queen*. 



With respect to the formation of the cells and the 



* A friend of Dr. Hicks has a Mve tliat remained many 

 weeks without a queen, and yet the work progressed as usual. 



