so plain, that I have ventured to advance my conjectures. You will
judge better than I can, whether they are well founded.--Let me now
return from this digression.

A few minutes after the two queens separated, their terror ceased, and
they again began to seek each other. Immediately on coming in sight,
they rushed together, seized one another, and resumed exactly their
former position. The result of this encounter was the same. When their
bellies approached, they hastily disengaged themselves, and fled with
precipitation. During all this time, the workers seemed in great
agitation; and the tumult appeared to increase when the adversaries
separated. Two different times, we observed them stop the flight of the
queens, seize their limbs, and retain them prisoners above a minute. At
last, the queen, which was either the strongest or the most enraged,
darted on her rival at a moment when unperceived, and with her teeth
caught the origin of the wing; then rising above her, brought the
extremity of her own body under the belly of the other; and, by this
means, easily pierced her with the sting. Then she withdrew her sting
after losing hold of the wing. The vanquished queen fell down, dragged
herself languidly along, and, her strength failing, she soon expired.

This observation proved that virgin queens engage in single combats; but
we wished to discover whether those fecundated, and mothers, had the
same animosity.

On the 22. of July, we selected a flat hive, containing a very fertile
queen: and being curious to learn whether, as virgin queens, she would
destroy the royal cells, three were introduced into the middle of the
comb. Whenever she observed this, _she_ sprung forward on the whole, and
pierced them towards the bottom; nor did she desist until the included
nymphs were exposed. The workers which had hitherto been spectators of
this destruction, now came to carry the nymphs away. They greedily
devoured the food remaining at the bottom of the cells, and also sucked
the fluid from the abdomen of the nymphs: and then terminated with
destroying the cells from which they had been drawn.

In the next place, we introduced a very fertile queen into this hive;
after painting the thorax to distinguish her from the reigning queen. A
circle of bees quickly formed around the stranger, but their intention
was not to caress and receive her well; for they insensibly accumulated
so much, and surrounded her so closely, that in scarc