132 J. HUNTER ON THE QUEEN BEE. 



to say, is all fable. The bees' attention to the queen is solely in 

 interested motives, that is care for the eggs. A virgin queen receives 

 no attention whatever, no defence is ever offered for the queen. I 

 never hesitate to pick up a queen from the midst of her subjects, to 

 which the bees pay no heed, and in cases where an eruption of strange 

 workers takes place in the hive, the rightful inhabitants will suffer 

 their queen to be seized and ill-treated by the intruders without 

 resentment. A queen is possessed of a sting, but I have never known 

 her use it as a weapon, except in combat with another queen — but 

 it is probably used to direct her ovipositor when in use. 



