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236 clergyman, author of "Le Conservateur des Abeilles," and the discoverer of this supposed fact, shall speak for himself. We have never put his discovery to the test of experiment—at least with such minute accuracy as to warrant us in drawing conclusions, either affirmative or otherwise. But from the detail which M. Gelieu gives, there appears no great difficulty in settling the point beyond all doubt, whatever there may be in ascertaining the reasons for it, if well-founded. "I expected," says M. Gelieu, "that in doubling the population, it would be necessary to double the supply too. The more mouths, said I to myself, the more need of provisions. I consequently made a considerable addition to the stores of the hives whose population I had augmented; but, to my astonishment, when I weighed them at the return of spring, I found that their consumption had been no greater than that of the single hives. I thought I must surely have made some mistake, and was not convinced of the fact till I had repeated the same experiment a hundred times, and always with the same result. I cannot conceive how an army of 30,000 men can subsist on the supplies necessary for an army of only 10,000, supposing the soldiers of both to have an equal appetite, and equal means of satisfying it. It holds true, however, with the bees; the fact is undeniable; the reason is to me unknown. I leave to minds more penetrating than mine the task of discovering and explaining how two large families, when united, can live at as little expense as either of the two would have done when separated.