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LIFE-HISTORY OF BOM2CS 
THE story of the life of the humble-bee is largely 
that of the queen. From start to finish she is 
the central and dominating personage upon whose 
genius and energy the existence of the race depends. 
For she alone survives the winter, and, unaided, 
founds the colony in which she takes the position 
of its most important member. 
The queen is raised in company with many 
others in July or August, the rearing of the queens 
being the final effort of the parent colony. 
Fertilisation is the first important event in the 
queen’s life. This takes place in the open air asa 
rule, but there are good reasons for supposing that 
it can be accomplished within the nest. The young 
queens are shy and show themselves very little. 
The males course up and down hedgerows, or 
hover over the surface of fields and around trees, 
in the hope of finding their mates. Each species 
has its particular kind of hunting-ground. 
If, on a warm day in the month of July, one 
takes up a position, out of the wind, in a partial 
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