anding all the
evidence obtained of it, we eagerly desired to take the queen in the
fact; but, as she always rises to a great height, we never could see
what passed. On that account you advised us to cut part off the wings of
virgin queens. We endeavoured to benefit by your advice, in every
possible manner; but to our great regret, when the wings lost much, the
bees could no longer fly; and, by cutting off only an inconsiderable
portion, we did not diminish the rapidity of their flight. Probably
there is a medium, but we were unable to attain it. On your suggestion,
we tried to render their vision less acute, by covering the eyes with an
opaque varnish, which was an experiment equally fruitless.

We likewise attempted artificial fecundation, and took every possible
precaution to insure success. Yet the result was always unsatisfactory.
Several queens were the victims of our curiosity; and those surviving
remained sterile. Though these different experiments were unsuccessful,
it was proved that queens leave their hives to seek the males, and that
they return with undoubted evidence of fecundation. Satisfied with this,
we could only trust to time or accident for decisive proof of an actual
copulation. We were far from suspecting a most singular discovery, which
we made in July this year, and which affords complete demonstration of
the supposed event, namely, that the sexual organs of the male remain
with the female.{F}

FOOTNOTES:

{F} The remainder of this Chapter chiefly consists of anatomical
details. These may rather be considered an interruption of the
narrative; and the Translator has judged it expedient to transfer them
to an Appendix.

LETTER III.

_THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.--OBSERVATIONS ON RETARDING THE FECUNDATION
OF QUEENS._

In my first letter, I remarked, that when queens were prevented from
receiving the approaches of the male until the twenty-fifth or thirtieth
day of their existence, the result presented very interesting
peculiarities. My experiments at that time were not sufficiently
numerous; but they have since been so often repeated, and the result so
uniform, that I no longer hesitate to announce, as a certain discovery,
the singularities which retarded fecundation, produces on the ovaries of
the queen. If she receives the male during the first fifteen days of her
life, she remains capable of laying both the eggs of workers and of
drones; but should fecundation be retarded until t