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

A STRANGEll QUEEN,
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’Confined her there, while the bees had not an
opportunity of going out. The stranger was
well received; her presence awakened the
workers from their lethargic state, into which
they did not relapse; she excited no car¬
nage ; the number of dead bees on the board
of the hive did not sensibly increase; and no
dead queens were found.
Before concluding any thing favourable to
the plurality of queens, it was necessary to
ascertain whether the native female was liv¬
ing when the new one was introduced into
the hivec however the author neglected it;
and it is very probable that the hive had
lost its queen, since the bees were languid,
and the presence of a stranger restored their
activity.
I trust, Sir, that you will pardon this
slight criticism. Far from industriously
seeking faults in our celebrated Reaumur,
I derive the greatest pleasure when my ob¬
servations coincide with his, and more espe¬
cially when my experiments justify his con¬
jectures. But I think it proper to point
out those cases where the imperfections of
his hives have led him into error, and to ex¬
plain from what causes I have not seen cer¬
tain facts under the same aspect he did. I