THE SENSES OF THE BEE. 37 



He even favours us with a drawing of the ovary of the com- 

 mon bee, which is, in reality, nothing more than two small 

 ducts, through which the excremental matter passes, and 

 which possesses not the slightest affinity with the ovarium of 

 the queen. If, however, the principle of the organic struc- 

 ture of the two kinds of bees be not inherent in the egg, 

 Huber must have recourse to another still more untenable 

 theory, namely, that the common bees, amongst other 

 miraculous powers, with which he has invested them, possess 

 also the astonishing faculty of altering their nature by their 

 own individual powers, and contrary to that which they 

 actually received in their embryo state in the egg. 



In regard to the senses of the bees, endless has been the 

 controversy respecting them, and whilst almost every 

 naturalist has seen himself obliged to admit the extreme 

 acuteness of the majority of them, yet the actual locality of 

 their organs is a problem that still remains to be solved. 

 Thus the locality of the organ of hearing has never been 

 ascertained, from which Huber and his adherents have 

 considered themselves authorized to deny to the bees 

 altogether the possession of that particular sense ; whereas 

 a very limited experience with their natural habits must 

 have confirmed its existence in the most unquestionable 

 manner. In no part, however, of the history of the bee, has 

 Huber fallen into greater inconsistency, than when treating 

 of the existence of the senses, and the locality of their 

 organs. In regard to the non-existence of the sense of 

 hearing, we confess that he has many respectable authorities 

 to support him in his opinion ; and although amongst those 

 authorities may be classed the scientific names of Aristotle, 

 Linnaeus, Bonner, and others of equal celebrity ; yet, on the 

 other hand, Huber ought to have been able from his own 

 experience to have decided the question, affirmatively or 

 negatively, without being obliged to have recourse to the 

 opinion or experience of others. He does, indeed, in a 

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