and at the same time, as the drones are; for bees will suf- 
fer only one chief to govern them. © * Ge 
When the swarming time is over, as there must be only — 
one queen in each hive, the family will choose one of the 
young queens to succeed the old, if the latter has ceased _ 
to be capable to continue the population. Then the family — 
itself, at the same time that it massacres the drones, de- _ 
stroys all the surplus queens, to save the expense of sup- — 
porting them in their hive, during the following autumn and 
winter. ; 2 : 
We need not be afraid that the queen elect will perish — 
in the interval between autumn and spring; but if that 
event should happen, the family would still subsist, be- — 
cause the cells destined for the queens contain fecund 
eges, which will hatch in spring, and that alone is sufficient 
to maintain harmony and order in the colony. . 
When the queen intends to lay, she chooses a cell suited 
to the egg which she has to deposite, and never makes a 
mistake. She creeps backward into the cell, where she de- 
posites her egg at the very bottom, and immediately retires, 
and thus in succession as long as she can find empty cells, 
and has eges to lay. The manner of the queen, creeping 
‘backwards into the cells to lay her eggs, is remarkable. So 
also is that of the drones, for the emission of the seminal 
fluid to fecundate the eggs. The drones are too large to in 
troduce their whole body into the cell, but the facultative 
organ projects to the bottom and touches the egg. — ‘a 
During autumn and winter the queen subsists on honey; _ 
but this honey remains in her first stomach only till part of — 
it is absorbed for her nourishment, and then passes into her — 
. second stomach, where it changes into wax, which, as soon 
as the change is complete, she disgorges by the mouth like 
other bees. Ay 
Bees are very much attached to the queen, and have a ~ 
_ particular regard for her welfare, because the prosperity of a 
the colony principally depends upon her fecundity. The — 
more eggs she lays, the more numerous will be the neuters, _ 
or labourers, and the better will their works advance, — 
which are carried on with admirable unity and harmony, — 
by the pure instinct of the multitude, without the least — 
solicitude on the part of the queen, except to supply the — 
ceils with eggs, as they are prepared to receive them. a 
The arbitrary will, the general and despotic command, _ 
over every thing which concerns the order, movements, 
