146 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



reign, and cause the interloper to perish under the 

 stroke of their fatal stings. But no; the contest for em- 

 pire must be between the rival candidates ; no worker 

 must interfere in any other way than that which I have 

 described ; no contending- armies must fight the battles 

 of their sovereigns, for the law of succession seems to 

 be ^^ detur fortiori.'''' But to return to my narrative. 

 The legitimate queen appearing inclined to move to- 

 wards that part of the comb on which her rival was 

 stationed, the bees immediately began to retire from 

 the space that intervened between them, so that there 

 was soon a clear arena for the combat. When they 

 could discern each other, the rightful queen rushing 

 furiously upon the pretender, seized her with her jaws 

 near the root of the wings, and, after fixing- her without 

 power of motion against the comb, with one stroke of 

 her sting- dispatched her. If ever-so-many queens are 

 introduced into a hive, all but one will perish, and that 

 one will Iiave won the throne by her own unassisted 

 valour and strength. Sometimes a strange queen at- 

 tempts of herself to enter a hive : in this case the 

 workers, who are upon the watch and who examine 

 .every thing that presents itself, immediately seize her 

 w ith their jaws by the legs or w ings, and hem her in 

 so straitly with a clustered circle of guards, turning 

 their heads on all sides towards her, that it is impos- 

 sible for her to penetrate within. If they retain her 

 prisoner too long, she dies either from the want of food 

 or air, but never from their stings ^. 



Here you may perhaps feel curious to know, sup- 

 posing the reigning queen to die or be killed, and the 



» liuber, i. 186. 



