124 DISCOVERY OF DUNBAR. 



the other hand, should the hive not be in want of a queen, 

 they then destroy all the royal eggs. 



There is something extremely plausible and probable in 

 this hypothesis, for it not unfrequently happens that the 

 queen, from the extreme rapidity of her ovipositing, lays two 

 and even three eggs in the same cell, and that the bees then 

 remove the superfluous eggs, and deposit them in the first 

 cell that they find vacant ; it may, therefore, be analogically 

 presumed, that if the queen laid a royal egg in a common 

 cell, and the bees were conscious of the existence of such an 

 egg, they would not on the loss of their queen delay for a 

 moment to remove the royal egg, and place it in such a 

 position, that a proper cell might be constructed for the due 

 expansion of the queen's body. This hypothesis is by far 

 more rational than that of generating a queen from a com- 

 mon egg, the sexual character of which is wholly different 

 from that which is to be produced. 



We will, however, examine in what manner the advocates 

 for this alleged power of the common bee to generate a 

 queen, attempt to emancipate themselves from the difficulty 

 into which 'their exuberant fancy has led them. We have 

 already taken notice of the notable discovery of Huber, that 

 the common egg cannot be metamorphosed into a royal one, 

 without a seasonable and abundant supply of royal jelly; 

 and Mr. Dunbar is so fortunate as to have made another 

 discovery, which, in point of truth and merit, deserves the 

 same consideration as the royal jelly. The worthy minister 

 saw himself completely bewildered in his attempt to invest 

 the common bee with any procreating power in regard to 

 the metamorphosis of a common egg into a royal one, and 

 therefore he hit upon the expedient that the simple elonga- 

 tion and expansion of the common cell from the hexagonal 

 shape to the cylindrical one in which the queens are always 

 bred, may very possibly possess the property of imparting a 

 different character to the embryo, than if it had remained 



