BEE-KEEPER S MANUAL. 15 



cles described in her flight, the more easily to follow 

 her, and witness all her motions. But she did not re- 

 main long in a situation favorable for our observations, 

 and rapidly rose out of sight. We resumed our place 

 before the hive ; and in seven minutes the young queen 

 returned to the entrance of a habitation which she had 

 left for the first time. Having found no external evi- 

 dence of fecundation, we allowed her to enter. In a 

 quarter of an hour she reappeared, and after brushing 

 herself as before, took flight, then returning to examine 

 the hive, she rose so high that we soon lost sight of her. 

 This second absence was much longer than the first, it 

 occupied twenty-seven minutes. We now found her in 

 a state very different from that in which she was after 

 the former excursion ; the organs distended by a sub- 

 stance, thick and hard, very much resembling the mat- 

 ter in the vessels of males, completely similar to it in 

 color and consistence.'' 



Huber afterwards says, that from subsequent discove- 

 ries, he found that what he took for the generative mat- 

 ter, was the male organs left in the body of the female. 



aUEEw's PLIGHT TO MEET THE MALES. 



That queens do thus sally forth on the second or third 

 day after entering a new habitation with a swarm, is a 

 fact that h'as come under the observation of many apia- 

 rians, yet it is doubtful whether the change in the ap- 

 pearance of them on their return, as spoken of by Ru- 

 ber is generally, if ever visible. If the young queens 

 are to be seen at all, it is at this period, and it is not 



