234 THE HUMBLE-BEE x 
drawing-room and, after closing the windows, opened 
it. She soon took wing, and after circling round 
the spot flew to the flowers on a geranium plant in 
the window, and afterwards to an orange lily in a 
vase. To the latter she paid particular attention, 
hovering from floret to floret, dusting herself with 
the pollen, and, with her tongue extended, rubbing 
her dangling legs together. A queen humble- 
bee is too heavy to dart about like a honey-bee, 
and it was very pretty to watch her manceuv- 
ring skilfully and gracefully among the blossoms, 
every turn executed with intelligence, delibera- 
tion, and poise, accompanied by the loud musical 
hum." 
She did not beat herself against the window- 
panes like a humble-bee usually does that flies in 
by accident through an open window; this was 
because she was not frightened and had her interests 
in the room. Soon she began to search for her 
nest; I placed it near her andsheranin. Probably 
it would be easy to train a humble-bee to rear her 
young ina room or conservatory,’ while allowing 
her liberty of flight inside. 
10 AM. The foster-mother was seen feeding 
the larvee with liquid food from her mouth. The 
sick queen had become weaker and crawled slowly 
about in the lobby apparently oblivious of everything, 
her only desire being to creep to the light. Her 
1 Edison has declared that man is not likely to gain complete mastery of 
the air until he has learnt to imitate the flight of the humble-bee. 
2 Some years ago the remains of a populous nest of 4. /ucorum was sent me 
from the palm-house at Kew. 
