16 
IMPREGNATION OF 
r • - - - -- _ . . ' 
-‘ m , ,. .. . . . , . r m- .. 
la repeating the Experiment of the 
English naturalist*', he deprived a 
hive of all the males, and having con¬ 
fined the workers four days in the 
closest manner, he then found forty 
larvae Which experiment proved that 
the queens eggs are not externally fe¬ 
cundated by the drones. 
Embarrased by so many difficulties^ 
(he tells us,) he was on the point of 
abandoning the subject of his re¬ 
searches.—It remained, however, for 
the Swiss apiarian to unveil the 
mystery. 
On attentive reflection, he thought 
that these contradictions might arise 
from experiments made indifferently 
* Reamur. 
t 
