PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 157 
and did not cease to lick her with their tongues till she 
showed signs of returning animation; which the bees no 
sooner perceived, than they set up a general hun, as if 
for joy at the happy event. All this time they paid no 
attention to the workers who were in the same misera- 
ble state?. 
On a former occasion I have mentioned the laying of 
the eggs by the queen”; but as I did not then at all en- 
large upon it, I shall now explain the process more in 
detail. In a subsequent letter I shall notice, what has 
so much puzzled learned apiarists—her fecundation : 
which is now ascertained beyond contradiction, from the 
observations of M. Huber, to take place in the open airs 
and to be followed by the death of the unfortunate male¢. 
It is to be recollected that, from September to April, ge- 
nerally speaking, there are no males in the hives; yet 
during this period the queen often oviposits: a former 
fecundation, therefore, must fertilize all the eggs laid in 
this interval. The impregnation, in order to ensure com- 
plete fertility, must not be too long retarded: for, as I 
before observed, if this be delayed beyond the twenty- 
eighth day of her existence, her ovaries become so vi- 
tiated, that she can no longer lay eggs that will produce 
workers, but can only furnish the hive with a male po- 
pulation ; which, however high a privilege it may be ac- 
counted amongst men, is the reverse of it amongst 
the bees. When this is the case, the abdomen of the 
queen becomes so enlarged that she is no longer able 
to fly’; and, what is remarkable, she loses that instinc- 
a4 Reaum. v. 265, b Vor. I. 4th Ed. 375, 376. 
© Huber, 1, 63—- 4 Schirach, 257. 
