xiv CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



his own observations — His physical infirmity — Francois 

 Beurnens, the domestic of Huber— His character— Pre- 

 judices and superstition— Mr. Rennie and Mr. Hunter- 

 Errors of Mr. Hunter— The bees, according to Hunter, 

 deposit their excrement in the cells — Refutation of that 

 statement — The retention of the faeces injurious to the 

 bees— Huber's hypothesis on the sting of the bee — Dr. 

 Howison's opinion of the method of killing the drones — 

 Not mentioned by any native or foreign apiarians — Quota- 

 tion from Levett (note) — Experiment tried in the presence 

 of Bonner and other naturalists — Statement of Mr. Pud- 

 decombe (note) — Final examination of the subject 95 



CHAPTER V*. 



ON THE PRESUMED POWER OF THE COMMON BEE 

 TO GENERATE A QUEEN. 



The queen bee lays every egg in the hive — Every hive con- 

 tains three kinds of eggs — Question discussed as to the 

 knowledge of the queen bee respecting the nature of the 

 egg which she is about to lay — Admission of Huber that 

 the queen lays three kinds of eggs — The common bees 

 endowed with the power of altering the nature of the eggs 

 — The queen lays only two kinds of eggs according to 

 Dunbar — Characteristic shape of the different eggs — Posi- 

 tion of the eggs in the ovarium of the queen — The queen 

 lays the eggs consecutively in the drone and common cells 

 — Opinion of Reaumur — Quotation from Duchet relative 

 to the queen laying her eggs — The queen not mistaken in 

 the nature of the egg she is about to lay admitted by 

 Huber — Difference of opinion of Schirach and Huber — 

 The power of the common bee to generate a queen dis- 

 proved by Bonner — A queen bee, according to Huber, 

 cannot be made without royal jelly — Queen eggs not laid 

 in royal cells — The royal cells made by the bees after the 

 royal egg is laid — Erroneous statement of Huber relative 

 to the construction of the royal cells — Extraordinary act 

 of the bees as related by Huber — Construction of a glass 

 queen cell by Huber — The queen cells, according to Schi- 

 rach, enjoy a higher temperature than those of the com- 

 mon bees — Particular methods of generating a queen 

 according to some apiarians — System of Wildman — Ques- 

 tion relative to the construction of the royal cells — Ex- 

 periment to determine the existence of a royal cell — The 

 power of the common bee to generate a queen denied by 

 L'Abbe della Rocca — His system relative to the forma- 



* Tliis should properly have been called Chapter IV., but by some oversight 

 in the figuring of the Chapters, all after Chapter III. have been erroneously 



numbered 



