on of females. This error arose from not observing bees in
very flat hives: had he used such as mine, he would have found, on
opening them in spring, a confirmation of M. de Reaumur's opinion. Then,
which is the season of swarming, hives in good condition are governed by
a very fruitful queen: there are royal cells of a figure widely
different from those constructed around the worms destined by the bees
for queens. They are large, attached to the comb by a stalk, and
hanging vertically like stalactites, such, in short, as M. de Reaumur
has described them. The females lay in them before completion. We have
surprised a queen depositing the egg when the cell was only as the cup
of an acorn. The workers never lengthen them until the egg has been
laid. In proportion as the worm grows, they are enlarged, and closed by
the bees when the first transformation approaches. Thus it is true,
that, in spring, the queen deposits in royal cells, previously prepared,
eggs from which flies of her own species are to come. Nature has,
therefore, provided a double means for the multiplication and
conservation of their race.

_PREGNY, 24. August 1791._

FOOTNOTES:

{H} The author's meaning here is obscure.--T.

LETTER V.

_EXPERIMENTS PROVING THAT THERE ARE SOMETIMES COMMON BEES WHICH LAY
FERTILE EGGS._

The singular discovery of M. Riems, concerning the existence of fertile
workers, has appeared very doubtful to you, Sir. You have suspected that
the eggs ascribed to workers by this naturalist had actually been
produced by small queens, which, on account of their size, were
confounded with common bees. But you do not positively insist that M.
Riems is deceived; and, in the letter which you did me the honour to
address to me, you requested me to investigate, by new experiments,
whether there are actually working bees capable of laying fertile eggs.
I have made these experiments with great care: and it is for you to
judge of the confidence they merit.

On the fifth of August 1788, we found the eggs and worms of large drones
in two hives, which had both been some time deprived of queens. We also
observed the rudiments of some royal cells appended like stalactites to
the edges of the combs. The eggs of males were in them. Being perfectly
secure that there was no queen of large size among the bees of these two
hives, the eggs, which daily became more numerous, were evidently laid
either by queens of small size or by fertile w