206 IMPERFECT COCOONS OF THE QUEEN. 



difference, however, that she is always bred in a vertical 

 position, but the head is universally directed towards the 

 orifice. 



The killing of the young queens, by the first virago who 

 emerges from her cell, is one of the favourite crotchets of 

 Huber, and, therefore, it is very proper that he should 

 account for the manner in which the work of murder is 

 perpetrated, although the dimensions of the cell in which 

 the queen is bred render the act, as described by Huber, an 

 actual impossibility. In order to confirm the truth of our 

 remark, it is simply necessary to establish the dimensions 

 of the queen's cell, and it will be found on an average to be 

 three quarters of an inch long, and this admeasurement 

 must be kept strictly in mind in the investigation of the 

 following facts, as decided by Huber to display themselves 

 in the massacre of the young queens. 



Huber discovers in the first place, that the working bees 

 and drones fabricate complete cocoons, which are close at 

 both ends, and surround the whole body of the insect. This 

 is, however, a discovery which was made long before the 

 time of Huber, and is accepted as true in the natural history 

 of the bee. His discovery, however, respecting the cocoon 

 of the queen bee is decidedly original, and in perfect keeping 

 with his habitual acuteness and accuracy. It happens, how- 

 ever, to be as erroneous, as it is original, which can be proved 

 at any time by the inspection of a royal larva. Huber says 

 the royal larvae do not spin perfect cocoons, they being open 

 at the abdominal extremity, enveloping only the head, 

 thorax, and first ring of the abdomen; and the cause of this 

 opening or imperfect cocoon is as follows, the discovery 

 of which gave infinite delight to Mr. Huber, as it furnished 

 him with another opportunity of imposing on the credulity 

 of his readers. 



According to Huber, it is the first queen, who emerges 

 from the cells, that stings the nymphs of the young queens 



