PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 169 
conduct, and give it that direction which is most benefi- 
cial to the community ? 
Yet, with respect to the treatment of queens, instinct 
does ‘not invariably direct the bees to this end.- There 
are certain exceptions, produced perhaps by artifici — al 
casual occurrences, in which it seems to deviate, yet as 
we should call it amiably, from the rule of the public 
advantage. Retarded queens, which, as I have observ- 
ed, lay male eggs only, deposit them in all cells indiffer- 
ently, even in royal ones. These last are treated by the 
workers as if they were actually to become queens. Here 
their instinct seems defective :—it appears unaccountable 
that they should know these eggs, as they do, when de- 
posited in workers cells, and give them a convex cover- 
ing when about to assume the pupa; unless, perhaps, 
the size of the larva directs them in this case. 
The amputation of one of the antennze of a queen bee 
appears not to affect her perceptibly; but cutting off 
both these important organs produces a very striking 
derangement of all her proceedings—She seems in a 
species of delirium, and deprived of all her instincts ; 
every thing is done at random; yet the respect and ho- 
mage of the workers towards her, though they are re- 
ceived by her with indifference, continue undiminished. 
If another in the same condition be put in the hive, the 
bees do not appear to discover the difference, and treat 
them both alike: but ifa perfect one be introduced, even 
though fertile, they seize her, keep her in confinement, 
and treat her very unhandsomely. One may conjecture 
from this circumstance, that it is by those wonderful or- 
gans, the antennee, that the bees know their own queen. 
