OPINIONS OF M. FORLANI. 71 



we have a queen bee remaining in a hive five days in an un- 

 fecundated state, and therefore a certain time must elapse, from 

 her fecundation to the deposition of the eggs in the cell. 

 Now, the statement of Humel shows that it could not have 

 been the old queen, who departed with the swarm, for were 

 such the case, there would have been no occasion for her to 

 leave the hive for the purpose of being fecundated, but she 

 would have proceeded immediately to lay her eggs, having 

 been fecundated previously to leaving the parent hive. If 

 Mr. Humel had, however, examined his hive during the 

 three first days in which the queen remained in it, he would 

 have found both combs and eggs in a fecundated state, and 

 yet according to his own showing, the queen was not 

 fecundated until five days afterwards. 



In a very scarce tract, written by Mons. Forlani, pastor 

 of the Chapter of the Noble Sisters of Vinckendorf, he 

 affirms that he has witnessed the same circumstances more 

 than forty times in twenty-two years. He has remarked 

 that the late swarms never entered the hive unless the queen 

 was fecundated. He has frequently seen clusters of drones 

 which fecundated the queen, fall to the ground, one of which 

 was attached to her, as in the case of butterflies in 

 general. 



M. Forlani asserts that all his countrymen, whom he 

 consulted on the subject, assured him that the same cir- 

 cumstances had often come under their notice, and that 

 they consider it a good sign, when the queen leaves the hive 

 at an early period for the purpose of being fecundated, which 

 having taken place, she never leaves the hive again, whereas, 

 before she was fecundated, she left the hive three times. 



We shall make but a few remarks on these statements 

 of Forlani, for in one particular, he has exceeded Huber, as 

 he declares himself to have been an eye-witness of the 

 copulation of the drone and the queen. But when and where 

 did that act take place ? The words of Forlani are " Souvent 



