ABSURDITIES OF HUBER. 183 



queen ; she might be standing on her head, or on her tail, 

 or squatting like an American squaw on her haunches; but 

 whatever the attitude might have been, the bees were deeply 

 and sensibly affected by it. Their rage appeared in an instant 

 to be appeased, and, to the inflated fancy of Mr. Huber, they 

 looked like a crowd of mourners at a funeral, or a posse of 

 schoolboys entrapped in an act of mischief; for so overcome 

 were they with shame, that they hung down their heads ! ! 

 and were stricken motionless ! ! ! 



And can all this be read without the smile of derision and 

 contempt for the individual, who could promulgate such 

 barefaced absurdities, such wild and evident impossibilities 

 as the result of positively ocular observation ? We fearlessly 

 submit it to the decision of all impartial judges, whether it 

 be not actually deplorable, that men like Kirby and Rennie, 

 who publicly profess to be endowed with scientific know- 

 ledge, but who, as far as the Natural History of the Bee 

 extends, appear to be actually destitute of the commonest 

 power of discriminating between that which is false and 

 that which is true— between that which is barely probable, 

 and that which is directly impossible, should espouse a 

 system so fraught with fallacy and fiction. We regard it 

 as a direct insult to the human understanding, to suppose 

 for a moment that the credulity of any person can be so 

 great, or their judgment so hoodwinked, as to attach the 

 slightest credence to such a fanfaronade, as that the queen 

 bee is innately possessed of the power of emitting a parti- 

 cular sound, and of placing herself at will in such an atti- 

 tude, as to make all the bees hang their heads, and to be 

 rendered utterly motionless ! ! ! 



According to Huber, however, the foregoing scenes formed 

 only the first act of the farce, for, on the subsequent day, 

 the same rebellious spirit was visible throughout the hive ; 

 the murderous disposition of the young queen broke out 

 again afresh, and consequently all the detachments of the 

 i 4 



