AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 373 



have inclosed them in the state oijpupa. A previous la- 

 bour however must not be omitted. The workers adopt 

 similar measures with the hive-bee for maintaining the 

 young pupae concealed in these cocoons in a genial tem- 

 perature. In cold weather and at night they get upon 

 them and impart the necessary warmth by brooding over 

 them in clusters. Connected with this part of their 

 domestic economy, M. P. Huber, a worthy scion of a 

 celebrated stock, and an inheritor of the science and me- 

 rits of the great Huber as well as of his name, in his ex- 

 cellent paper on these insects in the sixth volume of the 

 Linnean Transactions, from which most of these facts are 

 drawn, relates a singularly curious anecdote. 



In the course of his ingenious and numerous experi- 

 ments, M. Huber put under a bell-glass about a dozen 

 humble-bees without any store of wax, along with a comb 

 of about ten silken cocoons so unequal in height that it 

 was impossible the mass should stand firmly. Its un- 

 steadiness disquieted the humble-bees extremely. Their 

 affection for their young led them to mount upon the co- 

 coons for the sake of imparting warmth to the inclosed 

 little ones, but in attempting this the comb tottered so 

 violently that the scheme was almost impracticable. To 

 remedy this inconvenience, and to make the comb steady, 

 they had recourse to a most ingenious expedient. Two 

 or three bees got upon the comb, stretched themselves 

 over its edge, and with their heads downwards fixed 

 their fore feet on the table upon which it stood, whilst 

 with their hind feet they kept it from falling. In this 

 constrained and painful posture, fresh bees relieving their 

 comrades when weary, did these affectionate little insects 



