coition and impregnation were not simultaneous." Linnæus thought that there was a sexual intercourse between the queens and the drones, and he even suspected that it proved fatal to the latter. His opinion, on both these points, seems to be confirmed by the experiments of Huber; who ascertained by repeated observations on newly impregnated queens, "Fuci organum, post congressum, in corpore feminæ hæsisse, unde exitus fatalis expectandus est; ita autem accidere re verâ non liquet." "Apum regina et mater," says Mr. Kirby, "in sublime fertur maritum infelicem petens, qui voluptatem brevem vitâ emat." Reaumur thought sexual union necessary to impregnation, and tried many experiments to ascertain the fact; such as confining a queen under a glass in company with drones: and these experiments were repeated by Huber. Both these naturalists witnessed the solicitations and advances of the queens towards the drones, "nihilominùs, coeuntia tempore quovis conspicere non possent." Reaumur _fancied_ he saw it; there is, however, very great reason to believe that he was mistaken: the queens so exposed all proved barren. Swammerdam asserted that clipping the wings of queens rendered them sterile, a fact which militates very much against his own theory of impregnation being produced by a seminal aura, but strongly confirms the theory of Huber; as in all probability the mutilating experiments of Swammerdam were made upon virgin queens, which thereby lost the power of quitting the hives. Huber found that clipping the wings of _impregnated_ queens produced no effect upon them; it neither diminished the respectful attentions of the workers, nor interfered with their laying of eggs. Why impregnation can only take place in the open air and when the insects are on the wing, at present remains a mystery. The young virgin-queens, generally, set out in quest of the males, the day after they are settled in their new abode, which is usually the fifth day of their existence as queens, two or three days being passed in captivity, one in the native hive after their liberation, and the fifth in the new dwelling. The ancients seem to have been very solicitous to establish for the bees a character of inviolable chastity: Pliny observes, "Apium enim coitus visus nunquam." And Virgil endeavours to support the same opinion: "But of all customs which the bees can boast, 'Tis this that claims our admiration most; That none will Hymen's softer joys approve, Nor waste their spirits in luxurious love: But all a long virginity maintain. And bring forth young without a mother's pain." It was the opinion of most ancient philosophers that bees derived their origin from the putrid carcases of animals. _Vide_ Chap. II. Some also have supposed them to proceed from the parts of fructification in flowers. Virgil, borrowing as usual from Aristotle, among the rest: