43 
debted to the whims and sports of accident, than to the 
meditations of the naturalist who is engaged in the search. 
It has heretofore been a general custom, when bees are 
found dead in spring, whether from want of subsistence, 
the intemperature of the season, or from the pillage of — 
foreign-bees, to remove the box and melt down the combs 
for the sake of the wax. But it is now ascertained, thata 
greater advantage may be derived from these hives, the 
knowledge of which has hitherto escaped those who are the 
best informed and celebrated in the culture of these in- 
sects. 
Couvain* exists in the cells of the waxen combs, thus, 
melted down; and this couvain exists in the state of eggs, 
which have not perished with the bees. These eggs are 
almost imperceptible, glued to the bottom of the cells, just - 
as the queen placed them. These eggs cannot hatch till the 
return of warm weather, and then they must necessarily 
hatch, if the combs which contain them be preserved, be- 
cause it is the pledge and order of nature. 
It is the couvain remaining in the state of eggs, fecun- 
dated, before the destruction of the drones the preceding 
year, which is to produce the first swarms in spring, if the 
family has not perished. It is also the couvain of the cur- 
rent year, which the queen has deposited in the cells, after 
_ the destruction of the drones, during the autumn, the last 
months of winter, and the first of spring, which can only 
be fecundated by the drones of the first swarm, when they 
shall be hatched and in activity. : 
In the month of June, 1812, I placed in the open air, 
and to a southern exposure, some hives, the families of 
which, being swarms of the year 1811, had perished; some 
for want of subsistence, or from the pillage of foreign bees; 
others from the intemperature of the spring, which did net 
permit the bees to collect sufficient for their daily provi- 
sions. ‘The bees had all died before the month of May, 
and the boxes had been removed from the stalls. 
_ Early in July, the couvain was in great part hatched, 
and promised good hives. 
-. When I observed the couvain of these dead colonies to 
hatch, naturally, and in great quantity, at the return of 
warm weather, I thought it would be necessary to provide 
* Couvain, in its most comprehensive sense, means the embryo, im 
every state, of eggs, worms, chrysalids, or nymphs. 
