never employ
their stings against the queen; but this cannot be called the welcome
reception of a stranger. They retain her within their ranks, and seem to
allow her liberty only when she prepares to combat the reigning queen.
This observation cannot be made except in the thinnest hives. Those used
by M. de Reaumur had always two parallel combs at least, which must
have prevented him from observing some very important circumstances that
influence the conduct of workers when supplied with several females. The
first circles formed around a stranger queen he has taken for caresses;
and, from the little that this queen could advance between the combs, it
must have been impossible for him to observe that the circles, which
always continued contracting, ended in restraint of the females there
inclosed. Had he used thinner hives, he would have discovered that what
he supposed indication of a favourable reception was the prelude of
actual imprisonment.

I feel reluctant to assert that M. de Reaumur was deceived. Yet I cannot
admit that, on certain occasions, bees tolerate a plurality of females
in their hives. The experiment on which this affirmation rests will not
be considered decisive. In the month of December, he introduced a
stranger queen into a glass hive, in his cabinet, and confined her
there. The bees had no opportunity of going out. This stranger was well
received; her presence awakened the workers from their lethargic state,
into which they did not relapse; she excited no carnage; 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 queen was living when the
new one was introduced into the hive: however the author neglected this;
and it is very probable 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 observations coincide with his, and still
more, when my experiments justify his conjectures. But I think it
proper to point out those cases where the imperfections of his hives
have led him into error, and to explain from what causes I have not seen
certain facts in the same manner he did. I feel particular anxiety to
merit