104 



PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



and leaders from the brain, and the vulgar herd from the flesh ; 

 — a fable, derived probably from swarms of bees having been 

 observed, as in the case of Samson \ to take possession of the 

 dried carcasses of these animals, or, perhaps, from the myriads 

 of flies (for the vulgar do not readily distinguish flies from 

 bees) often generated in their putrescent flesh. They adopted 

 another notion equally absurd, — that these insects collect their 

 young progeny from the blossoms and foliage of certain plants. 

 Amongst others, the Cerinthus, the reed, and the olive-tree 

 had this virtue of generating infant bees attributed to them. 2 

 These specimens of ancient credulity will suffice. 



But do not think that all the ancients imbibed such mon- 

 strous opinions. Aristotle's sentiments seem to have been 

 much more correct, and not very wide of what some of our 

 best modern apiarists have advanced. According to him, 

 the kings (so he denominates the queen-bee) generate both 

 kings and workers; and the latter the drones. This he 

 seems to have learned from keepers of bees. The kings, 

 says he, in another place, are the parents of the bees, and 

 the drones their children. It is right, he observes again, 

 that the kings (which by some were called mothers) should 

 remain within the hive unfettered by any employment, because 

 they are made for the multiplication of the species. 3 To 

 the same purpose Biem of Lauten of the Palatinate Apiarian 

 Society, and Wilhelmi of the Lusatian, affirm that the queen 

 lays the eggs which produce the queens and workers; and 

 the workers those that produce the drones or males. 4 Aristotle 

 also tells us that some in his time affirmed that the bees (the 

 workers) were the females, and the drones the males: an 

 opinion which he combats from an analogy pushed rather too 

 far, that nature would never give offensive armour to females. 5 

 In another place he appears to think that the workers are 

 hermaphrodites : — his words are remarkable, and seem to 

 indicate that he was aware of the sexes of plants ; " having 



1 Judges, xiv. 8, 9. 



2 See Aristot. Hist Animal 1. v. c. 22. ; Virgil, Gcorgic. \. iv. ; and Mouffet, 

 12. 



3 Aristot. ubi snpr. c. 21. He General. Animal. I. iii. c. 10., where there is 

 some curious reasoning upon this subject. 



4 Bonnet, x. 1 99. 236. 5 Hist. Animal. L v. c. 22. 



