Mr Dunbar on the Conversion of the Larvae 
and disappointment at being baffled by the watchful guardians 
of the unhatched queen, from whom the hoarse sound comes. 
In the afternoon of the same day the last mentioned female left 
her cell. I saw her come forth in majesty^ finely and delicately 
formed, but smaller than the other. She immediately retired 
within a cluster of bees, and I lost sight of her. Next mornings 
on opening the shutter of the hive, I perceived the youngest 
queen rushing apparently in great terror over the face of the 
comb, and turning round the edge of it to the other side ; and in 
the next moment the other queen was seen pursuing with equal 
rapidity. I now fully expected to witness Huber’s combat of 
queens, and was about to wheel round the hive on its pivot, to 
inspect their proceedings on the other side, when business called 
me off. I returned in half an hour, thinking I might yet be in 
at the death, but found all was over ! The young queen was 
lying on the alighting-board on her back, in the pangs of death, 
newly brought out by the bees, and doubtless the victim of the 
elder queen. 
I observe two circumstances respecting this last queen, one of 
which agrees perfectly with the experience of Huber, while the 
other is at variance with it. While the young queen remained 
a virgin, not the slightest respect was paid her by the bees ; not 
one gave her food, she was obliged to help herself, and in cros- 
sing towards the honey-cells, she had to scramble over the crowd, 
not an individual of which would get out of her way, or seemed 
to care whether she fed or starved. But no sooner did she be- 
gin laying than the scene was changed, and complaisance, re- 
spect and attention, became the order of the day ; One after 
another extended the proboscis with food, and at every step of 
her progress a circle was formed round her by her admiring 
people. The other circumstance, and which varies from the 
experience of Huber, respects the sound emitted by the queens. 
He says that the workers form no guard around the cells of 
artificial queens, — that these are perfectly mute, and he makes 
several remarks by way of accounting for it. The above ex- 
periment completely contradicts this. The cell of the young 
queen was guarded most vigilantly, and both emitted the sounds 
alluded to, perhaps once every minute, for several hours to- 
gether. 
