gust; and I ascertained, by means of immersion, that no male was
present. The bees were confined four days in the closest manner, and
then I found forty young larvae.

I extended the precautions so far as to immerse this hive a second time,
to assure myself that no male had escaped my researches. Each of the
bees was separately examined, and none was there that did not display
its sting. The coincidence of this experiment with the other, proved
that the eggs were not externally fecundated.

In terminating the confutation of Mr Debraw's opinion, I have only to
explain what led him into error; and that was, his using queens whose
history he was unacquainted with from their origin. When he observed
the eggs produced by a queen, confined along with males, were fertile,
he thence concluded that they had been bedewed by the prolific fluid in
the cells: but to render his conclusion just, he should first have
ascertained that the female never had copulated, and this he neglected.
The truth is, that, without knowing it, he had used, in his experiments,
a queen after she had commerce with the male. Had he taken a virgin
queen the moment she came from the royal cell, and confined her along
with drones in his vessels, the result would have been opposite; for,
even amidst a seraglio of males, this young queen would never have laid,
as I shall afterwards prove.

The Lusatian observers, and M. Hattorf in particular, thought the queen
was fecundated by herself, without concourse with the males. I shall
here give an abstract of the experiment on which that opinion is
founded.{D}

M. Hattorf took a queen whose virginity he could not doubt. He excluded
all the males both of the large and small species, and, in several days,
he found both eggs and worms. He asserts that there were no drones in
the hive, during the course of the experiment; but although they were
absent, the queen laid eggs, from which came worms: whence he considers
she is impregnated by herself.

Reflecting on this experiment, I do not find it sufficiently accurate.
Males pass with great facility from hive to hive; and M. Hattorf took no
precaution that none was introduced into his. He says, indeed, there was
no male, but is silent respecting the means he adopted to prove the
fact. Though he might be satisfied of no large drone being there, still
a small one might have escaped his vigilance, and fecundated the queen.
With a view to clear up the doubt, I resolved to r