QUE 



It has been generally fiippofed, that the queen-bee is the 

 only fomale contained in the hive ; that the drones are the 

 males by which (he is fecundated ; and that the working- 

 bees are neutral, or of neither fex. But M. Schiracli has 

 lately eftablifhed a different doftrine, which has been alfo 

 confirmed by the later obfervations of Mr. Debraw. Ac- 

 cording to this writer, all the working or common bees arc 

 females in difguife ; and the queen-bee lays only two kinds 

 of eggs, -viz. thofe which are to produce the drones, and 

 thofe from which the working-bees are to proceed ; and 

 from any one or more of thefe, one or more queens may be 

 produced ; fo that every worm of the latter or common 

 kind, which has been hatched about three days, is capable, 

 under certain circumflances, of becoming the queen, or mother 

 of a hive. In proof of this dodtrine, new and fingular as 

 it may feem, he alleges a number of fatisfaftory and decifive 

 experiments, which have been fince verified by thofe of Mr. 

 Debraw. For the proof of this doftrine by Schirach and 

 Debraw, and the objeftions of Mr. Hunter, we refer to the 

 article Generat'wtt of Bees. 



From this dottrine we may juftly infer, that the kingdom 

 of the bees is not, if the expreffion may be ufed, a jure 

 divino, or hereditary monarchy, but an eleftive kingdom ; 

 in which the choice of their future ruler is made by the 

 body of the people, while fhe is yet in the cradle, or in 

 embryo ; and who are determined by motives of preference 

 which will perhaps for ever elude the penetration of the 

 moft fagacious naturalilfs. 



The conclufions drawn by M. Schirach, from experi- 

 ments of the preceding kind, very often repeated by him- 

 felf and others with the fame fuccefs, are, that all the 

 common or working bees were originally of the female fex ; 

 but that when they have undergone their lalt metamorphofis, 

 they are condemned to a flate of perpetual virginity, and the 

 organsof generation are obhtcrated ; merely becaufe they have 

 not been lodged, fed, and brought up in a particular manner, 

 while they were in the worm ftate. He fuppofes, that the 

 worm defigned by the community to be a queen, or mother, 

 owes its metamorphofis into a queen, partly to the extra- 

 ordinary fize of its cell, and its pecuhar pofition in it ; but 

 principally to a certain appropriate nourifhment found there 

 and carefully adminiftered to it by the working bees, while 

 it was in the worm ftate ; by which, and poffibly other means 

 unknown, the devoloperaent andextenfion of the germ of the 

 female organs, previoufiy exifting in the embryo, is effedled ; 

 and thofe differences in its form and fize are produced, 

 which afterwards fo remarkably diftinguifh it from the com- 

 mon working bees. Schirach's Hiftoire Nat. de la Reine 

 des Abeilles, &c. 8vo. 1772. Or, for an abftraft. Monthly 

 Review, vol. xlviii. p. 564, &c. Phil. Tranf. vol. Ixvii. 

 part i. p. 29, &c. See Generation and Sex of Bees. 



This difcovery is capable of being applied towards form- 

 ing artificial fvvarms, or new colonies of bees, by which 

 means the number of thefe ufeful infefts might be increafed, 

 and their produce in honey and wax proportionably aug- 

 mented. M. Schirach, as well as M. Haftorff, feem, how- 

 ever, to have been miftaken, when they atfert, that the 

 artificial queens, formed and reared in a community confifl- 

 ing only of working bees, proceed almoft immediately to 

 lay eggs, and to people the hive, without having had any 

 communications with tlie drones, and at a time when, us 

 they fuppofe, there were no drones in being. It is not 

 neceffary to admit the idea of tlie prolific quality of a 

 virgin queen-bee ; as nature has provided drones of different 

 iizes, for the purpofe of impregnating the eggs laid by the 

 fomale, and continuing the fpccies, adapted to different 

 occafio.is aixl circmnllances. Sec Droxe. 



QUE 



Quhhn'^ Bench. See KlN'oV Bench, &c. 



Queen'/ Gilli/loiver, or l^'wlet, in Botany. See He«- 



PEHI.S. 



Queen Gold, aurum rcginn, an ancient royal revenue, be- 

 longing to the queen of England, during her marriage to 

 the king; and payable by divers pcrfons (upon feveral 

 grants of the king 1 by way of oblation out of fines, amount- 

 uig to ten marks, or upwards ; w'z. one full tenth part 

 above the entire fine, or ten po\inds for every hundred 

 pounds fine, on pardons and contrafts or agreements. 



This becomes a real debt to the queen, by the name of 

 aurum regint, upon the party's bare agreement with the 

 king for a fine, and recording it without any farther pco- 

 mife, or contract, for this tenth part extraordinary. 

 Queen nf the Meadows, in Botany. See SpiRJEA. 

 Queen'j IVare. Sec Pottery. 



Queen'j Theatre in the Haymarket, now the Opera- 

 houfe, was built in queen Anne's time by fir John Van- 

 burgh, and not finifhed till the fummer of 1705, at which 

 time there were only two theatres open ; Drury Lane, and 

 Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Betterton, who was at the head of 

 the I^incoln's-lnn-Fields company, removed to the new 

 theatre in the Haymarket, April 9th, 1 705 ; when it 

 was opened with a new prologue, written by fir Samuel 

 Garth, and fpoken by Mrs. Bracegirdle. The play 

 was Dryden's " Tndian Emperor," with finging by the 

 Italian boy. April 23d, " The Merry Wives of Wind- 

 for," Falltaff by Betterton, with dancing by Mad. de 

 la Val. And on the 24th, a new farce called " The 

 Confultation ;" after which was performed an Indian 

 pafloral, called the " Loves of Ergafto," fet to mufic by 

 Giacomo Greber, the German mufician, \\ho had brought 

 over from Italy Margarita dc I'Epine; the part of Licoris 

 by the Italian boy. And this was the iiril attempt at 

 dramatic mufic in the Opera-houfe. The company con- 

 tinued ailing plays here till the end of June, when there 

 were three reprefentations of " Love for Love," a£led all 

 by women. July 20th, according to the Daily Courant, 

 Betterton and his company returned to the theatre in Lin- 

 coln's-Inn-Fields, where they continued to aft till the 

 Queen's theatre was entirely finifhed. We are the more 

 minute about the perfoi-mances in this theatre, as Gibber's 

 account, which has been generally followed by others, is 

 very inaccurate. Oftober 3Cth, Betterton and his com- 

 pany quilted Lincoln's-Inn-Fields a fecond time, and re- 

 turning to the Haymarket, opened that theatre, not with 

 an opera, but with fir John Vanburgh's comedy of the 

 " Confederacy," which was now afted for the firft time. 

 This excellent comedy, though the parts were very Itrongly 

 caft (Leigh, Dogget, and Booth, being among the men, 

 and Mrs. Barry, Mrs. Porter, and Mrs. Bracegirdle, among 

 the women,) ran but fix nights fucceffively, though the 

 performance of M. des Barques, a dancer jutt arrived from 

 France, was added to the entertainment. It was, indeed, 

 repeated once in November, and twice in December, this 

 year ; but it was generally found neceffary, even in a new 

 theatre, and with fo ftrong a compan)', to fortify the beft 

 plays with dances or mufic, and often with both. Some- 

 tim.s there was finging in Italian and Enghfh, by fignora 

 Maria, as lately taught by fignor N. Haym : and iome- 

 times mufic compofed by fignor Bononcini, and fongs by 

 fignora Lovicini, &c. Daily Courant. 



QUEENBO ROUGH, in Geography, a borough and 

 market-town in the liberty oftheifle of Shepey, lathe of Scray, 

 and county of Kent, England, is fituated about three miles 

 fouth from Sheernefs, and forty-five eafl by fouth from 

 London. It was anciently called Cyningburgh, from be- 

 longing 



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