ontrived an aperture for her thrusting out her
trunk, and that the bees might feed her. I expected that she would have
been completely mute; but it was otherwise; for she emitted sounds
similar to those already described, therefore my conjecture was
erroneous.

I next conceived that the queen being restrained in her motions, and in
her desire for liberty, was induced to emit certain sounds. All queens,
in this new point of view, are equally capable of emitting the sound,
but to induce them to it, they must be in a confined situation. In the
natural state, the queens that come from workers are not a single
instant in restraint; and, if they do not emit the sound, it is because
nothing impels them to it. On the other hand, those produced at the time
of swarming are induced to do so by the captivity in which they are
kept. For my own part, I give little weight to this conjecture; and
though I state it here, it is less with a view to claim merit than to
put others on a plan of discovering something more probable.

I do not ascribe to myself the credit of having discovered the humming
of the queen bee. Old authors speak of it. M. de Reaumur cites a Latin
work published 1671, _Monarchia Femina_, by Charles Butler. He gives a
very brief abstract of this naturalist's observations, who we easily see
has exaggerated or rather disguised the truth, by mixing it with the
most absurd fancies; but it is not the less evident that Butler has
heard this peculiar humming of queens, and that he did not confound it
with the confused humming sometimes heard in hives.

Fourthly. _The young queens conducting swarms from their native hive are
still in a virgin state._ The day after, being settled in their new
abode, they generally depart in quest of the males; and this is usually
the fifth day of their existence as queens; for two or three pass in
captivity, one in their native hive, and a fifth in their new dwelling.
Those queens that come from the worm of a worker, also pass five days in
the hive before going in quest of males. So long as in a state of
virginity, both are treated with indifference by the bees; but after
returning with the external marks of fecundation, they are received by
their subjects with the most distinguished respect. However, forty-six
hours elapse after fecundation before they begin to lay. The old queen,
which leads the first swarm in spring, requires no farther commerce with
the males, for preservation of her fecu