118 



PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



the cover or lid with which the workers had shut it up ; though 

 sometimes, but not often, a female will break through the side 

 of her prison. 



Having thus shown you our little chemists in their pre- 

 paratory states, and carried you from the egg to the cocoon, 

 both of which may be deemed a kind of cradle, in which 

 they are nursed to fit them for two very different conditions 

 of existence, I must now introduce you to a scene more in- 

 teresting and diversified, in which all their wonderful in- 

 stincts are displayed in full action, and we see them exceed 

 some of the most vaunted products of human wisdom, art, and 

 skill. 



The queen-mother here demands our first attention, as the 

 personage upon whom, when established in her regal dignity, 

 the welfare and happiness of the apiarian community alto- 

 gether depend. I shall begin my history with the events 

 that befall her on her quitting the royal cradle, and appearing 

 in the perfect state. And here you will find that the first 

 moments of her life, prior to her election to lead a swarm or 

 fill a vacant throne, are moments of the greatest uneasiness 

 and vexation, if not of extreme peril and vindictive and mortal 

 warfare. The Homeric maxim, that "the government of 

 many is not good ] ," is fully adopted and rigorously adhered 

 to in these societies. The jealous Semiramis of the hive will 

 bear no rival near her throne. There are usually not less 

 than sixteen, and sometimes not less than twenty, royal cells 

 in the same nest; you may therefore conceive what a sa- 

 crifice is made when one only is suffered to live and to reign. 

 But here a distinction obtains which should not be over- 

 looked: in some instances a single queen only is wanted to 

 govern her native hive; in others several are necessary to 

 lead the swarms. In the first case, inevitable death is the lot 

 of all but one ; in the other, as many as are wanted are pre- 

 served from destruction by the precautions taken on that 

 occasion, under the direction of an all-wise Providence, by 

 the workers. I shall enlarge a little on each of these cases. 



1 Ovk ayaOrj rj iroXuKoipavn), ds noipavos €<tt&>. 



