i(?4i Mr. Hunter's Observations on Bees . 
soon as flowers begin to blow, the bees gather the fresh, al- 
though they have farina in store, giving the fresh the pre- 
ference. 
Of the Queen. 
The queen bee, as she is termed, has excited more curiosity 
than all the others, although much more belongs to the la- 
bourers. From the number of these, and from their exposing 
themselves, they have their history much better made out : 
but as there is only one queen, and she scarcely ever seen, it 
being only the effects of her labour we can come at, an oppor- 
tunity has been given to the ingenuity of conjecture, and more 
has been said than can well be proved. She is allowed to be 
bred in the common way, only that there is a peculiar cell for 
her in her first stage ; and Reaumur says, “ her food is dif- 
“ ferent when in the maggot state but as there is probably 
but one queen, that the whole might not depend on one life, 
it is asserted that the labourers have a power of forming a com- 
mon maggot into a queen. If authors had given us this as an 
opinion only, we might have passed it over as improbable, but 
they have endeavoured to prove it by experiments, which re- 
quire to be examined : and for that purpose, I shall give what 
they say on that head, with my remarks upon it. 
Abstracts from Mr. Schirach. 
The following experiments were made to ascertain the origin 
of the queen bee : — “ In twelve wooden boxes were placed 
“ twelve pieces of comb, four inches square, each containing 
