Rev. Mr Dunbar on the Instinct and Operations of Bees. 145 
2. When the queen is about to iay an egg, she puts her head 
into a cell, and remains in that position a second or two, to as^ 
certain whether it be fit to receive the deposit. She then with- 
draws her head, curves her body downwards, inserts her tail in^ 
to the cell, and having kept this position for a few seconds, 
turns half round on herself, and, after laying the egg, withdraws 
her body. 
3. When the queen lays a cluster of eggs, to the number of 
thirty or forty, more or less, on one side of the comb, instead of 
laying in all the empty cells in the same quarter, she leaves it 
and goes to the other side, and lays in the cells which are directs 
ly opposite to those she has just supplied with eggs, and in none 
else. In this order she seems to be scrupulously exact, and pro-*, 
bably it is to ascertain whether there be an egg in the opposite cell 
that she keeps her head inserted, previous to laying, longer than 
would be necessary merely to find .whether the one she is in- 
specting be empty. This mode of proceeding is of a piece 
with that wise arrangement which runs through all the opera- 
tions of the bees, and is another effect of that remarkable instinct 
by which they are guided. For as they cluster closely in those 
parts of the comb which are filled with brood, in order to hatch 
them, the heat will penetrate to the other side, and some part 
of it would be wasted, if the cells on that side were altogether 
empty, or filled with honey. But when both sides are filled 
with brood, and covered with live bees, the heat is confined to 
the spot where it is necessary, and is turned to full account in 
hatching the young, see Fig. 7. ABC represents that part of 
the comb which was filled with brood, the rest of the square be- 
ing all sealed honey. On the opposite side, the brood-comb 
was exactly of the same shape ; insomuch, that on the narrow- 
est inspection, I could not discern one cell where there was brood 
in the one, and honey in the opposite. 
4. The shade round the brood-comb ABC in Fig. 7. is de- 
signed to represent cells filled with a mixture of farina and honey 
for nourishing the youngs and which I often saw carried to them 
by the older bees. Where the brood cells covered a conside- 
rable surface, these store-cells were in three rows, as represented 
in the figure ; where they were of less extent, there were two 
rows ; and, at the neck of the figure, only one, — thus preserr. 
VOL. iir. NO. 5. JULY 1820. 
K 
