24. Mr. d eb raw’s Bi/cover ies 
To evince the reality of this obfervation, anti to prove 
that the eggs are fecundated by the males, and that their 
prefence is neceflary at the time of breeding, I proceeded 
to the next experiments. They confifted in leaving in a 
hive the queen with only the common bees, without any 
drones, to fee whether the eggs fhe laid would be pro- 
lific. I accordingly took a fwarm, iliook all the bees 
into a tub of water, and left them in it till they were 
quite fenfelefs, which gave me an opportunity to dif- 
tinguifh the drones without any danger of being ftung. 
After I had recovered the working-bees and their queen 
from the ftate they were in, by fpreading them on 
brown paper in the fun, I replaced them in a glafs-hive, 
where they foon began to work as ufual: the queen 
laid eggs, which I little fufpected to be impregnated, 
as I thought I had feparated all the drones or males, and 
therefore omitted watching the bees ; but at the end of 
twenty days (the ufual time of their hatching) I found 
to my furprize feme of the eggs hatched into bees, others 
withered away, and feveralof them covered with honey. 
I immediately inferred that feme of the males, having 
efcaped my notice, had impregnated only part of the 
eg gs ; but, in order to convince myfelf of the truth of 
my fuppofition, I thought it necedary to take away all 
the brood-comb that was in the hive, in order to oblige 
the 
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