r of the thorax, and privation of the right antenna, instantly
recognised that it was one of the six that had passed to the vermicular
state in the vicinity of the royal cells.

I could no longer doubt the truth of my conjecture; at the same time, I
know not whether the truth will appear as rigorous to you, Sir, as it
does to myself. But I reason in the following manner: If it is certain
that fertile workers are always produced in the vicinity of royal cells,
it is no less true, that in itself, the vicinity is indifferent; for the
size and figure of these cells can produce no effect on the worms in
those surrounding them; there must be something more; we know that a
particular aliment is conveyed to the royal cells; we also know, that
this aliment has a very powerful effect on the ovaries; that it alone
can unfold the germ. Thus, we must necessarily suppose the worms in the
adjacent cells have had a portion of the same food. This is what they
gain, therefore, by vicinity to the royal cells. The bees, in their
course thither, will pass in numbers over them, stop and drop some
portion of the jelly destined for the royal larvae. This reasoning, I
presume, is consistent with the principles of sound logic.

I have repeated the experiment now described so often, and weighed all
the concomitant circumstances with so much care, that whenever I please,
I can produce fertile workers in my hives. The method is simple. I
remove the queen from a hive; and very soon the bees labour to replace
her, by enlarging several cells, containing the brood of workers, and
supplying the included worms with the royal jelly. Portions of this
aliment also fall on the young larvae deposited in the adjacent cells,
and it unfolds the ovaries to a certain degree. Fertile workers are
constantly produced in hives where the bees labour to replace their
queen; but we very rarely find them, because they are attacked and
destroyed by the young queens reared in the royal cells. Therefore, to
save them, all their enemies must be removed, and the larvae of the royal
cells taken away before undergoing their last metamorphoses. Then the
fertile workers, being without rivals at the time of their origin, will
be well received, and, by taking the precaution to mark them, it will be
seen, in a few days, that they produce the eggs of males. Thus, the
whole secret of this proceeding consists in removing the royal cells at
the proper time; that is, after being sealed, a