99 
here is no danger, as some suppose, that a great num- 
t of bees, in the same establishment, would suffer for the — 
vant of subsistence. M. De Guérapin, proprietor in the 
partment of Aisne, has an apiary of from seven to eight 
dred hives, and if there were double the number, the 
ees would not fail to find their necessary subsistence. 
t is still less to be feared, that by following my plan to 
ve bees, they would increase to such numbers as to 
mmode society. This fear is ill-founded. Would to 
aven the reproduction of these insects was as abundant 
the resources for their subsistence! and commerce would _ 
ot be taxed every year with an advance of more than — 
lirty millions (francs,) to procure in foreign countries the — 
upply of wax, which religion and luxury consume annually 
the empire. - 
he twenty-seventh chapter contains what M. Ducouedic 
alls his polemic dispute with MM. Lombard and Bosc, 
of no interest to the American reader.—Zvranslator. 
POSTSCRIPT. 
ECAPITULATION OF THE PROCESS AND RESULTS OF MY EX- 
' PERIMENTS ON THE COUVAIN. 
ve ay ees Bee 
To understand what the couvain is, from which nature 
forms the bee, we must consider it at fiye different epochs. 
_ First. When the couvain is only an egg laid by the — 
en, and not fecundated by the drones. | ac 
econd. When the egg has been Secundated by the drones. 
Third. When the germ, contained in the fecundated ego, | 
passes from nothing into life, and from which a worm is 
hatched. pa 
_ Fourth. When the insect ceases to be a worm, and is me- 
lamorphosed into a nymph. yee 
_ Fifth. When finally, this nymph undergoes a second me- 
tamorphosis, and becomes a Jee. 
° 
These preliminaries concerning the cradle of the bee, 
