312 



NOISES OF INSECTS. 



stronger tone. That should the former presume to imitate 

 the tones of the sovereign, this being the signal of revolt, she 

 would be executed on the spot, with all whom she had seduced 

 from their loyalty. 1 — But it is time to leave fables: I shall, 

 therefore, next relate to you what really takes place. You 

 have heard how the bees detain their young queens till they 

 are fit to lead a swarm. — I then mentioned the attitude and 

 sound that strike the former motionless. When she emits 

 this authoritative sound, reclining her thorax against a comb, 

 the queen stands with her wings crossed upon her back, which, 

 without being uncrossed or further expanded, are kept in 

 constant vibration. The tone thus produced is a very distinct 

 kind of clicking, composed of many notes in the same key, 

 which follow each other rapidly. This sound the queens 

 emit before they are permitted to leave their cells; but it 

 does not then seem to affect the bees. But when once they 

 are liberated from confinement and assume the above attitude, 

 its effects upon them are very remarkable. As soon as the 

 sound was heard, Huber tells us, bees that had been employed 

 in plucking, biting, and chasing the queen about, hung down 

 their heads and remained altogether motionless; and when- 

 ever she had recourse to this attitude and sound, they operated 

 upon them in the same manner. The writer just mentioned 

 observed differences both with regard to the succession and 

 intensity of the notes and tones of this royal song; and, as 

 he justly remarks, there may be still finer shades which, 

 escaping our organs, may be distinctly perceived by the bees. 2 

 He seems, however, to doubt by what means this sound is 

 produced. Reasoning analogically, the motion of the wings 

 should occasion it. We have seen that they are in constant 

 motion when it is uttered. Probably the intensity of the 

 tones and their succession are regulated by the intensity of 

 the vibrations of the wings. Reaumur remarks, that the 

 different tones of the bees, whether more or less grave or 

 acute, are produced by the strokes, more or less rapid, of 

 their wings against the air ; and that, perhaps, their different 

 angles of inclination may vary the sound. The friction of 



i Reaura, v. 615. Butler's Female Monarchy, c. v. § 4. 

 * Huber, i. 260. ii. 292. 



