Curiosities & wonders > New observations on the natural history of bees

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EFFECTS OF
cated in like manner to the workers. The
moment one was hatched, I confined her to
the hive by contracting the entrances. When
assailed by the imperious desire of union
with the males, I could not doubt that she
would make great exertions to escape, and
that the impossibility of accomplishing it
would produce a kind of delirium. We had
the patience to observe this queen thirty-
five days. Every morning about eleven
o’clock, when the weather was fine, and the
sunshine invited the males to leave their
hives, we saw her impetuously traverse every
corner of her habitation, seeking to escape.
Her fruitless efforts threw her into an extra¬
ordinary agitation, the symptoms of which I
shall describe elsewhere, and all the com¬
mon bees were affected by it. As she ne¬
ver was out during this time, she could not
be impregnated. At length, on the thirty-
sixth day, 1 set her at liberty. She soon
took advantage of it; and was not long of
returning with the most evident marks of
fecundation.
Satisfied with the particular object of the
experiment, I was far from any hopes that
it would lead to the knowledge of another
very remarkable fact. How great was my as-