ANT COMMUNITIES 



jectures that the use of this piping, in the economy 

 of Nature, is to give notice that the young queen is ready 

 to be released an office which the workers keep well in 

 their own hands, in view of the instinctive tendency of 

 all apian royalties to destroy one another, and enjoy, 

 through regicide, an undisputed reign. Whatever be 

 the purpose of this ceremonial song, the fact is patent 

 that piping is a mode of communicating certain emotions 

 well understood by both queens and workers, and there- 

 fore serves the end of language. The worker-bees, upon 

 the adoption of a stranger queen, will gather in a series 

 of circles around the newly installed sovereign, and, 

 staidly vibrating their wings, sound a sort of coronation 

 anthem, which, as it appears to issue from the spiracles 

 as well as wings, may be classed with the piping of 

 queens. [Hu. 1, p. 107.] 



It is strange that an act which should have the bene- 

 fit of the community in view should open a way to dis- 

 aster. Yet so it appears. Huber was greatly disturbed 

 by the ravages of an unknown enemy among his hive- 

 bees. At last the invader was found to be a large moth 

 (Sphinx atropos], popularly known as the " death's-head 

 moth " (Fig. 63), from certain body-markings that rudely 

 resemble a skull and cross-bones. Experiments showed 

 that the bees have ample power to defend themselves 

 against this moth. In the case of the bumble-bee the 

 power is used to sting it to death, those children of the 

 wild being less open perhaps to the seductions of musical 

 enchantments than hive-bees with their more artificial 

 habits. How could a moth, destitute of natural force 

 and weapons fit to cope with throngs of insects which 

 can repulse a man, manage to cow them or charm them, 



and thus safely plunder their homes? 



13S 



