188 ARTICULATING FACULTY OF THE YOUNG QUEEN. 



must exist between the piping of a young queen and that 

 of an old one ; and this sapient conjecture becomes afterwards 

 actually verified by his own experience : for he finds the older 

 the queen, the deeper and hoarser is her voice. At two or 

 three days old, it is a high treble ; at five or six it is a 

 soprano ; at eight or nine it is a tenor ; at ten or twelve it 

 is a counter tenor ; at fourteen or sixteen it is a barytone, 

 and when arrived at full maturity, it is a full deep bass : but 

 let it not be considered that this is mere conjecture on the 

 part of Huber ; for he unequivocally states that he has him- 

 self been able to distinguish a difference in the sounds, not 

 only in relation to the quick succession of the notes, but 

 also to their acuteness and intensity; and he very signifi- 

 cantly argues, that as the difference in the sound is percepti- 

 ble to himself, why may it not be so in a greater degree to 

 the bees ? We certainly see no reason to the contrary, for 

 if they understand the old queen when she speaks the 

 French language, they certainly ought to understand her 

 better when she speaks in her native tongue, and to distin- 

 guish to a nicety whether her notes be uttered in a soprano 

 or a barytone. In regard, however, to this articulating fa- 

 culty of the young queen, one of the most surprising cir- 

 cumstances attending it is, that it is only in a state of 

 captivity that the exercise of it is permitted ; but when once 

 set at liberty, most wonderful to tell, the organ of sound 

 is by some means destroyed, and the piping is heard no 

 more. We have read of a certain Martinus Flaccus, who 

 had a sloebush growing out of his breast, and as long as the 

 sloebush flourished, Flaccus could speak the Dutch lan- 

 guage ; the sloebush died, and Flaccus could speak the 

 Dutch language no more. This miracle is, however, not 

 more astounding, than that the queen bee should be able to 

 pipe if cooped up in a cell, but that when set at liberty, she 

 cannot pipe at all. 



We have had frequent opportunities of eulogising Mr. 



