142 CONTRADICTIONS OF HUNTER AND KIRBY. 



It is left to the ingenuity of Mr. Kirby to discover the 

 analogy existing between a cow bearing twins and the trans- 

 formation of a sterile bee into a fertile one, by means of the 

 administration of the royal jelly. The two cases are in some 

 respects directly in the opposite extreme. The sterility of 

 one of the calves is occasioned by the contraction of the 

 space in which it has to move ; whereas the sterile bee is 

 converted into a fertile one by the enlargement of the space 

 in which it is bred. The ovary of the calf is effected also by 

 the contraction of the space, and the smaller share of nutri- 

 ment which it receives ; on the other hand, the ovary of the 

 bee is effected by the enlargement of the space, and its fertility 

 is occasioned not by any lack of nutriment, but by the ad- 

 ministration of some prolific fluid imparted to it by some 

 barren fellows of its own species *. According, however, to 

 the analogical reasoning of Mr. Kirby, we are led to under- 

 stand, that if the eggs of a bee be bred in a confined space, 

 and the prolific jelly be administered to it in a small propor- 

 tion, its ovary cannot be developed, and it becomes sterile. 

 This hypothesis, however, is in direct opposition to that of 

 Huber, who says, that if the jelly be administered in a small 

 proportion, the ovary becomes expanded; but if administered 

 in profusion, then an actual metamorphosis takes place, and 

 the larva of the common bee becomes a royal one. Kirby 



* A French anonymous writer has improved upon the system of Huber in 

 regard to the administration of the royal jelly, and he says, "the quantity of 

 the nutriment is proportioned to the age of the worm. When it is young, the 

 jelly is whitish, and as insipid as paste; at a more advanced age, the jelly is 

 either yellowish or greenish, having the taste of sugar and honey ; the worm 

 having finally attained its full growth, the jelly has the taste of sugar mixed 

 with acid. It is supposed that this jelly is comprised of honey and wax, which 

 have undergone a greater or less degree of digestion in the stomach of the 

 bees." A supposition which, on account of its gross deviation from truth, ought 

 to be inserted in the next edition of the " Insect Architecture," published 

 under the auspices of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 

 In order to invalidate the above statement, it will be merely necessary to 

 observe, that wax never undergoes digestion in the stomach of the bee nor 

 does it form any part of its nutriment. 



