1 8 Mr. deb raw’s Difcoveries 
t{ each egg is fur rounded at the bottom of the cell a 
“ little while after its being laid, feemingly eftablilhing 
u this laft opinion, as well as the frequent remarks made 
“ of a great number of eggs remaining barren in the cell, 
M round which we could not fee the above-mentioned 
whitifh fubftance.” 
This ingenious naturalift, by a nice examination of 
the ftruCture of the drones, had, as well as Swammer- 
dam, difcovered fome refemblances to the male organs 
of generation; and from thence conjectured, they were 
the males of the bee-infeCt ; but he owns, with the reft, 
that he never could difcover them in the aCt of copu- 
lation. 
i , . . , i 
Having flood the trials of fo many prying eyes in 
every age, the bees, as has been obferved by an ingenious 
author, had gained the character of an inviolable chaftity, 
till reaumur blafted their reputation. He makes the 
queen no better than a messalina though he could 
fee no more than what would raife a mere jealoufy or 
generate fufpicions. 
In order to be the better underftood in the relation of 
my own experiments on the fecundation of bees, I here 
premife the outlines of the opinions adopted by the above- 
mentioned naturalifts on that head. They aflert that the 
[a] Vid. juvenal. Sat. vi. ver. 
•queen 
