194 
THK mVK AND JIONICY-BEE. 
days, are found to be untcnanted. At the second attempt 
tliey usually start a larger number, and seldom fail of suc¬ 
cess. Does practice make them more perfect ? or were 
some of the necessary conditions wanting at first ? 
The following able communication, from the pen of Dr. 
Donhoff, may throw some light on this subject:—“ Dzicr- 
zon states it as a flict, that worker-bees attend more ex- 
elusively to the domestic concerns of the colony in the 
early period of life ; assuming the discharge of the more 
active out-door duties only during the later periods of 
their existence. The Italian bees furnished me with suit¬ 
able means to test the correctness of this opinion. 
“On the 18th of April, 1855, 1 introduced an Italian 
queen into a colony of common bees; and on the 10th of 
May following, the first Italian workers emerged from the 
cells. On the ensuing day, they emerged in great numbers, 
as the colony had been kept in good condition by regular 
and plentiful feeding. I will arrange my observations 
under the following heads: 
“1. On the 10th of May the first Italian workers 
emerged; .and on the 1 Vth they made their first appear¬ 
ance outside of the hive. On the next day, and then 
An extract from Huber’s preface will be Intorestlnjr In this connection. After 
speaking of his blindness, and praising the extraordinary taste for Natural History, 
of his assistant, Burnens, “ who was born with the talents of an observer,” he says: 
“ Every one of the facts I now publish, wo have scon, over and over acraiii, during 
the period of eight years, wlilch wo have employed in making our oliservatious en 
bees. It is impossible to form a just idea of the patience and skill with which 
Burnens has carried out the experiments which I am about to describe; he has 
often watched some of the working bees of our hives, which we had reason to 
think fertile, for the space of twenty-four hours, without distraction * ♦ ♦ • and lie 
counted fatigue and pain as nothing, compared with the great desire ho felt to 
know the results. If, then, there be any merit in our discoveries, I must share the 
honor w’lth him; and I have great satisl'actlon in rendering him this act of publio 
justice.” 
And yet the man who was too noble to apfiropriato llio merits of hl.s servant, lla^ 
l>y many, betm consldorcd base enough to attempt to impo.so upon Ilio world,as 
w«ll e.'itablishctl fact.**, tilings scarcely more prui)jible than the flctloTis of ‘SinbaJ 
the tiallor.’* 
