STATES OK INSECTS. 347 



females of most insects that live in society, several months 

 are required to mature the last eggs that are in the 

 ovary. There is one tribe of insects, however, the fe- 

 males of which are affirmed to survive this operation : 

 I mean Dorthesia Bosc ; after which they even moult, 

 thouovh not so often as before a . 



I formerly related to you the singular fact, that the 

 drones in a beehive at a certain period are without mercy 

 slaughtered by the workers b . A fact the reverse of this 

 is recorded by Morier with respect to the locusts : he 

 affirms that the female, when she has done laying her 

 eggs, is surrounded and killed by the males. He saj^s 

 that he never himself witnessed this extraordinary cir- 

 cumstance ; but that he heard it from such authority that 

 he gave full credit to it c . It is a fact, however, that 

 seems to require further evidence to entitle it to such cre- 

 dit. These are instances in which, by a law of nature, 

 the life of these insects is shortened by violence. It does 

 not appear to have been ascertained how long those 

 drones live that, under particular circumstances, as stated 

 in a former letter d , are exempted from the usual slaugh- 

 ter. 



I am, &c. 



a N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. ix. 553. " Vol. II. 173—. 



c Morier's Second Journey through Persia, 1 00. 

 d Vol. II. 175. 



