116 THE ' HUMBLE-BEE vil 
angry buzzes, which are kept up for some time, and 
if further alarmed she will rush about and make a 
ereat fuss, In this connection it is interesting to 
note that the nature of the queen is always to remain 
at home, except when she is actually gathering food. 
Even if, through stress of weather, she is starving, 
she remains sitting faithfully on her brood, cold and 
lethargic, but ready to wake up and buzz should 
any intruder approach. 
In three cases it was ascertained that the queen 
deserted her nest because her first eggs were de- 
voured by ants, the offenders being in two instances 
the common black garden ant, Laszus niger, and in one 
instance the large brown ant, JZyrmzca rubra, - These 
two species of ants were very common, as was also 
the yellow garden ant, Lasews flavus, but this was 
not observed to do any mischief. In all three cases 
the eggs were eaten, and all hope of saving the 
nest gone, before I noticed anything wrong; but 
in another nest under a wooden cover | had the 
good fortune to discover the ants before they had 
begun to attack the brood, and succeeded in pro- 
tecting it from them, a good colony resulting. The 
method I employed was first to destroy every ant 
I could find in the nest and tunnel, and then to 
make a shallow trench around the wooden cover 
and entrance of the hole, pouring into the trench 
a mixture of turpentine and paraffin oil, the strong 
smell of which acted as a deterrent to the ants. 
Of course the smell gradually grew weaker, and | 
renewed it five days later by pouring some more 
