88 
EXTRACTS—NATURAL HISTORY. 
established its falsity. Some of the opponents extended their dissent so far as 
to assert that all the working bees possessed the power of procreation, and made 
their appeal to the alleged fact, that hives destitute of their queen will continue 
the process of breeding, and even produce a brood of drones. It was however, 
a part of the theory of Schirach that the drones originated from some false and 
corrupted eggs, or, in other words, that they were actual abortions. Harold was 
one of the greatest opponents of Schirach, and he disseminated the following 
system : 
l 
Working Bees Mother Bee 
2 
Working Bees 
r- -*-s 
a b 
Male Female 
3 
Drones. 
According to this system Harold maintained that the Queen, as the mother 
bee, copulated with the males, which she sought for amongst the common bees ; 
and, from the eggs which the queen laid, proceeded male and females bees. The 
latter operated on the materials, which the males brought into their hive; they 
built the cells, took care of the brood, and closed the cells when full of honey; 
in fact they were the housewives of the hive. If these female eggs were deposited 
in the larger cells, then the issue was the large mother or queens. The female 
working bees copulated with the males, and the produce then was nothing but 
drones : these he considered as a kind of abortion, and of no sex whatever. The 
latter hypothesis was, however, proved to be false, by anatomical examination of 
the insect; and therefore the republic of bees was changed by some individuals 
into a kind of Amazonian state, in which the drones, which had hitherto been 
considered as devoid of sex, were admitted to the rank of males or husbands. 
This theory found many adherents, but it w r as soon exploded to make room for 
another, by Heinmetz, which on account of its ingenuity, was adopted by many, 
as it seemed to clear away several of those obscurities, in which the natural his¬ 
tory of the bee, had been hitherto enveloped. He accordingly established a 
double genealogical tree of the bee family. 
1 The Queen, or the great mother bee, who copulates with the male working 
bees as her lawful husbands, and then she lays 
First, Male Eggs , from which originate insects similar to their sii*es. If these 
eggs be laid in large cells, the issue will be great male bees, if the rudiments, the 
germ, and the capacity to a great male bee, be existing in the egg. But, however, 
as only small male working bees are the issue, although they may be bred in 
large cells, the conclusion must be drawn, that in these male eggs the germ was 
only existing for small working bees of the male sex, and that from them no 
great male working bees were produced. 
Secondly, Female Eggs .—The issue of these eggs resembles the mothers: and 
if they be laid in cells agreeably to their nature, and are there bred and brought 
forth, it then follows that the issue are great mother bees or queens. If, however, 
