24 
ELEMENTS OE ENTOMOLOGY. 
procal aversion; in traversing the hive they meet without showing the 
smallest indications of resentment. If a perfect stranger queen is 
introduced, either when one already exists in a hive or within a 
few hours alter she is lost, that stranger is immediately surrounded, 
and so closely hemmed in by the hoes that she sometimes dies. But 
here the. mutilated stranger was quite well received; her arrival cre- 
ated no discontents in the hive, and the workers paid the same ho- 
mage to her as to their own. “ Was it," asks M. Huber, “ because 
after losing the antenna’ these queens no longer retained any cha- 
racteristic which distinguished the one from the other? 1 am the more 
inclined to adopt this conjecture, from die bad reception experienced 
by a third perfect queen introduced into the same hive: it is probably 
because they observe the same sensations from those two females, and 
want die means of distinguishing them from each oilier." Bees ne- 
ver abandon their queen; her presence scents almost indispensable to 
their existence; and, as before observed, the queen never forsakes her 
hive. If she does so to found a new colony, the bees accompany her in 
lier flight. Here, as both the mutilated queens constantly endeavoured 
to escape, the first and third were removed, and the entrance of the hive 
enlarged; the fertile mutilated one therefore left it, but none of the 
workers followed her; she was allowed to depart alone. The wise pro- 
visions of nature arc amply illustrated by these facts. It is fortunate 
that a queen deprived of the antenna; is thus impelled to leave the 
hive : while she remains, the bees incessantly attend her, and never 
think of procuring another. The secret which the workers possess, 
of converting a common worm into otic, which will become a queen, 
must be exercised within the lirst three days of its existence; therefore 
if the queen remained, this limited term would elapse. Neither can 
her presence contribute to preserve the hive; for mutilation of the an- 
tenna; deprives her of the power of discriminating the different kind of 
cells adapted to receive the various species of eggs which she lays. 
M. Huber considers the antennas as the organs of touch or smell, 
though lie declines affirming which of these senses resides hi them; 
and thinks it possible that they may he so organized as to fulfil both 
functions at once. 
Mr. Kirby, in speaking of the Eucera (or long-horned bee), says: 
“ A singular circumstance distinguishes their antennae, which, to 
the best oi my knowledge, has never before been noticed, and which 
may possibly lead to the discovery of the use of these organs. Placed 
under a powerful magnifier, the last ten joints appear to be composed 
of innumerable hexagons, similar to those of which the eyes of these 
insects consist. It we reason from analogy, this remarkable cir- 
cumstance will lead us to conjecture, that the sense of which this 
part so essential to insects is the organ, inay bear some relation to that 
conveyed by the eyes. As they are furnished with no instrument for. 
