236 THE HUMBLE-BEE x 
behaviour that she had no nest there, I caught her 
and brought her to my motherless nest, a distance of 
about 300 yards. Thinking she might possibly be 
the lost queen, I put her, under my net, to the 
mouth of the hole. She immediately recognised it, 
and after making several attempts, succeeded in 
getting through the mouse-excluder I had placed 
over it and disappeared inside. Two minutes later 
I lifted the cover and found that she was sitting on 
the brood, and had unburdened herself of the pollen. 
There was no question of her identity, and in order 
to avoid losing her again I caught her in a glass jar, 
brought her indoors and clipped her wings, after- 
wards returning her to the nest. Fearing she 
might stray on foot, I substituted a queen-interceptor 
for the mouse-excluder. 
July 4. The queen spent much of her time this 
morning trying to get through the interceptor. I 
visited the nest six times, and every time she was 
there. At 2.45 p.m., therefore, I removed the 
interceptor and watched her. After cleaning herself 
and making two attempts to fly she ran back down 
the passage quite content. Subsequently the hole 
was watched for three-quarters of an hour, during 
which the queen was seen to come out six times, 
but she never went farther than a foot from the 
hole, and always with great pleasure found her way 
back. The interceptor was put back over the hole 
at night. 
July 5. The queen was no more seen trying to 
get out: letting her have her liberty yesterday 
