THE HONEY-BEE. 
80 
she was their Queen. “ What was my astonishment,” 
he proceeds, “ when, wishing to introduce her among 
the combs, I saw that the hees remaining had already 
planned and almost finished three royal cells ! Struck 
with the activity and sagacity of these creatures, to 
save themselves from impending distraction, I was 
filled with admiration, and adored the infinite goodness 
of God in the care taken to perpetuate his works. 
Having carried away two of the cells to ascertain 
whether the bees would continue their operations, 
I beheld, next morning, with the utmost surprise, 
that they had removed all the food from around the 
third worm left behind, on purpose to prevent its 
conversion to a Queen.” The fact of this power 
possessed by the bees is so extraordinary, that its 
reality was at first called in question by several emi- 
nent naturalists, nmong others, by the justly cele- 
brated Bonnet. This naturalist was at last, however, 
convinced of its reality by experiments instituted by 
himself, and, satisfied that all the working-bees are 
females of imperfect organisation, expressed his opi- 
nion that the evolution of the germ is effected by 
the action of the prolific matter as a stimulant, as 
a substantial nutriment suitable for that purpose ; and 
he supposes that a certain quality of food, administered 
more copiously than in ordinary cases, may unfold 
those organs in the larvae of bees that never would 
have appeared without it. He conceived, also, that 
a habitation, like a Queen-cell, considerably more 
spacious, and differently placed, is absolutely neces- 
sary to the complete developement, of organs, which 
