66 SINGULAR DISCOVERY OF HUBER. 



treat hereafter) and they, being manufactured according to 

 his wishes, he set them at liberty, in order that they might 

 take an excursion into the woods, and, peradventure meet 

 with a favorite drone. It is, en passant, by no means un- 

 worthy of remark, that the queens of Huber are the most 

 pliant, docile, and accommodating of all creatures; they 

 appear on every occasion to anticipate all his wishes, for 

 upon whatever errand he despatches them, or whatever 

 information he wishes to obtain from them, they never 

 thwart nor disappoint him. The desired information, ex- 

 travagant as it may turn out, is always immediately supplied 

 — and it is found precisely to harmonize with his own 

 preconceived opinion. In the present instance, the amours 

 of the young queens were consummated in the upper regions 

 of the air, and not as usual in the woods ; although by what 

 means Mr. Huber arrived at the knowledge of that fact, 

 must now for ever remain a secret. 



It was with the greatest anxiety that Mr. Huber awaited 

 the return of the queens, and the first who arrived was 

 immediately seized, and without having recourse to dissec- 

 tion spontaneously exhibited, what he was so very solicitous 

 to behold. The substance, which presented itself to his 

 delighted vision, was very thick and hard, very much 

 resembling the matter in the vessels of the male, and very 

 similar to it in colour and consistency. The belly of the 

 queen was in constant motion, by alternate extension and 

 contraction, and the cause of this phenomenon was of too 

 great importance not to demand an immediate investigation 

 — the queen was therefore doomed to undergo the operation 

 of dissection. Happily, however, for her majesty, she 

 rendered it unnecessary to have recourse to so desperate 

 a measure, for she began to curve and twist her body in 

 a most extraordinary manner, such as Mr. Huber affirms 

 he never witnessed before in his life. The queen now 



