SYSTEMS OF THE PROPAGATION OF THE BEE. 131 



the main purport of which is to establish and confirm the 

 long-contested point of the fructification of the queen bee. 

 The first of these systems is, that the egg is fructified in the 

 cell by the drone after its deposition by the queen. The 

 second is, that the egg is fructified by the drone in the 

 ovarium of the queen, previously to its deposition. The third 

 is, that it is not necessary for every egg to be individually 

 fructified by the drone. The fourth is, and which may be 

 considered as the system of Huber, that it is merely requi- 

 site for the ovarium of the queen to be fructified by one 

 single act of coition with the drone to endow it with fertility 

 during the remainder of her life. The fifth is, that the queen 

 is male and female, mother and virgin at the same time, or 

 in other words, that she is self-fecundated ; and this truly 

 erroneous system gave rise to the ruinous practice of killing 

 the drones immediately on their appearance, considering 

 them as a kind of abortion in the hive, and divested of all 

 positive utility. 



In all these systems it is acknowledged that the queen 

 lays three kinds of eggs ; but the system of Mr. Dunbar 

 differs from them, inasmuch as he protests that the queen 

 lays only two kinds of eggs ; and considering the experience 

 which the worthy minister must have had in the manage- 

 ment and internal economy of a hive, our surprise must be 

 naturally great to find him promulgating a doctrine which is 

 decidedly at variance with the most indisputable authorities. 

 Mr. Dunbar, however, evidently perceived that if he per- 

 mitted the queen bee to lay three kinds of eggs, his whole 

 system would not have one single point oVappui ; and, con- 

 sequently, he rather inverts the order of nature, and bewilders 

 himself in the mazes of doubt and contradiction, than, by 

 rigidly persevering on the road of experience, arrive at last at 

 the goal of truth. 



Consistently with the hypothesis of Mr. Dunbar, the 

 creation of a queen depends entirely on the will and conceit 

 g 2 



