year old. They entered easily and without fighting, and were in general well received. The old inhabitants of the hive, which, since privation of their queen, had begun twelve royal cells, also gave the fertile queen a good reception; they presented her with honey, and surrounded her in regular circles. However, there was a little agitation in the evening, though confined to the surface of the comb where we had put the queen, and which she had not quitted, for all was perfectly quiet on the other side.

On the morning of the 7th, the bees had destroyed the twelve royal cells; but, independent of that, order continued prevalent in the hive; the queen laid the eggs of males in the large cells, and those of workers in the small ones respectively.

Towards the 12th, we found the bees occupied in constructing twenty-two royal cells, of the same species described by M. de Reaumur; that is, the bases not in the plane of the comb, but appended perpendicularly by pedicles or stalks of different length, like stalactites, on the edge of the passage made by the bees through their combs. They bore considerable resemblance to the cup of an acorn, the longest being only about two lines and a half in depth from the bottom to the orifice.

On the 13th, the queen seemed already more slender than when introduced into the hive; however, she still laid some eggs, both in common cells and those of males.

We also surprised her this day laying in a royal

cell; she first dislodged the worker there employed, by pushing it away with her head, and then supported herself by the adjoining cells while depositing the egg.

On the 15th, the size of the queen was yet farther reduced; the bees continued their attention to the royal cells, which were all unequally advanced, some to the height of three or four lines, while others were already an inch long; thus proving that the queen had not laid in the whole at the same time. At the moment when least expected, the hive swarmed on the 19th; we were warned of it by the noise in the air, and hastened to collect and put the bees into a hive purposely prepared. Though we had overlooked the facts attending the departure of this swarm, the object of the experiment was fulfilled; for, on examination of all the bees, we were convinced they had been conducted by the old queen, by her that we introduced on the 6th of the month, and which had been deprived of one of the antena. Observe, there was no other queen in this colony. In the hive she had left we found seven royal cells close at the top, but open at the side, and quite empty. Eleven more were sealed, and some others newly begun; no queen remained in the hive. The new swarm next became the object of our attention; we observed it during the rest of the year, in winter and the subsequent spring; and, in April, we had the satisfaction of seeing another depart with the same queen at its head

that had conducted the former one in May of the

preceding year.

You will remark, sir, that this experiment is positive. We put an old queen in a glass hive while laying the eggs of males; the bees received her well, and at that time began to construct royal cells; next she laid in one of them before us; and in the last place she led forth the swarm.

We have repeated the same experiment several times with equal success. Thus it appears incontestible, that the old queen always conducts the first swarm, but never quits the hive before depositing eggs in the royal cells, from which other queens will proceed after her departure. These cells are prepared by the bees only while the queen lays male eggs, which is attended by a remarkable fact, namely, that after this laying terminates, her belly being considerably diminished, she can easily fly, whereas it is previously so heavy that she can hardly drag it along. Therefore, it is necessary she should lay, in order to be in a state for undertaking her journey, which sometimes may be very long.

But this single condition is not enough. It is also requisite that the bees be very numerous-they should be even superabundant, and it may be said that they are aware of it, for, if the hive is thin, no royal cells are constructed when the male eggs are laid, which is done solely at the period that the queen is able to conduct a colony. This fact was proved by the following experiment on a large scale :

On the 3d of May, 1788, we divided each of eighteen hives, whose queens were about a year old, into two portions. Thus each portion of the hives had but half the bees that were originally there. Eighteen halves wanted queens, but the other eighteen had very fertile ones. They soon began to lay the eggs of males; but the bees being few, they did not construct royal cells, and none of the hives threw a

swarm.

Therefore, if the hive containing the old queen is not very populous, she remains in it until the subsequent spring, and, if the population is then sufficient, royal cells will then be constructed; she will begin to lay male eggs, and, after depositing them, will issue forth at the head of a colony, before the young queens are produced.

ON THE RESPIRATION OF BEES.

The respiration of insects accumulated together in a confined space, where the air can be renewed with difficulty, offers a new problem to the naturalist. Such is the case with regard to bees. Their hive, whose dimensions does not exceed one or two cubic feet, contains a multitude of individuals, all animated, active, and laborious. Its entrance, which is constantly very restricted, and often obstructed, by crowds of bees departing and arriving during the heats of summer, is the only opening admitting the

air, yet it suffices for their exigencies. The hive, besides being internally plastered over with wax and propolis by its inhabitants themselves, and closed up with lime from without by the cultivator, has none of the conditions necessary for preserving a current of natural air.

If a lighted taper be placed in a vessel of equal ca pacity as a hive, with an aperture larger in proportion than its entrance, the flame grows pale in a few minutes, then burns bluish, and is extinguished. Animals in the same situation would soon expire, yet how do the bees survive in their dwelling?

ARTICLE I. PROOFS OF RESPIRATION.

Experiment 1. Bees in the receiver of an air pump were not affected by the first strokes of the piston; but when the mercury sunk to a quarter of an inch above the level of the cistern, they fell down motionless. Exposure to the open air revived them.

2. I took three empty flagons, each capable of holding sixteen ounces of water, and introduced two hundred and fifty workers into the first, the same number into the second, and one hundred and fifty males into the third. The first and last were shut close, the second only restrained the escape of the bees, that they might serve for comparison. In a a quarter of an hour the workers in the close vessel began to testify signs of uneasiness; their rings con tracted and dilated with greater rapidity; they per