your confidence, and I am aware that the greatest exertions are
necessary, when I have to combat the historian of bees. I confide in
your judgment; and pray you to be assured of my respect.

_PREGNY, 30. August 1791._

FOOTNOTES:

{L} Edit. 4to, Tom. V. p. 258.

LETTER VIII.

_IS THE QUEEN OVIPAROUS? WHAT INFLUENCE HAS THE SIZE OF THE CELLS, WHERE
THE EGGS ARE DEPOSITED, ON THE BEES PRODUCED?--RESEARCHES ON THE MODE OF
SPINNING THE COCCOONS._

In this letter I shall collect some isolated observations relative to
various points in the history of bees, concerning which you wished me to
engage.

You desired me to investigate whether the queen is really _oviparous_.
M. de Reaumur leaves this question undecided. He observes, that he has
never seen the worm hatched; and he only asserts that worms are found in
those cells where eggs have been deposited three days preceding. If we
attempt to catch the moment when the worm leaves the egg, we must extend
our observations beyond the interior of the hive; for there the
continual motion of the bees obscures what passes at the bottom of
cells. The egg must be taken out, presented to the microscope, and every
change attentively watched. One other precaution is essential. As a
certain degree of heat is requisite to hatch the worms, should the eggs
be too soon deprived of it they wither and perish. The sole method of
succeeding in seeing the worm come out, consists in watching the queen
while she lays, in marking the egg so as to be recognised, and removing
it from the hive to the microscope only an hour or two before the three
days elapse. The worm will certainly be hatched, provided it has been
exposed as long as possible to the full degree of heat. Such is the
course I have pursued; and the following are the results obtained.

In the month of August, we removed several cells containing eggs that
had been three days deposited: we cut off the top of the cell, and put
the pyramidal bottom, where the egg was fixed, on a glass slider. Slight
motions were soon perceptible in the eggs. At first, we could observe no
external organization: the worm was entirely concealed from us by its
pellicle. We then prepared to examine the egg with a powerful magnifier;
however, during the interval, the worm burst its surrounding membrane,
and cast off part of the envelope, which was torn and ragged on
different parts of the body, and more evidently so towards the last
rings. The wor