The Swarm 



of the queens appear anxious to make her 

 escape, then, be she the legitimate sover- 

 eign or be she the stranger, she will at 

 once be seized and lodged in the living 

 prison until such time as she manifest 

 once more the desire to attack her foe. It 

 is right to add, however, that the numer- 

 ous experiments that have been made on 

 this subject have almost invariably resulted 

 in the victory of the reigning queen, owing 

 perhaps to the extra courage and ardour 

 she derives from the knowledge that she 

 is at home, with her subjects around her, 

 or to the fact that the bees, however im- 

 partial while the fight is in progress, may 

 possibly display some favouritism in their 

 manner of imprisoning the rivals ; for 

 their mother would seem scarcely to suiFer 

 from the confinement, whereas the stranger 

 almost always emerges in an appreciably 

 bruised and enfeebled condition. 



103 



