THE PASTORAL BEES. TS 
by the workers, who formed a ring about them, but 
showed no preference, and recognized the victor as 
the lawful sovereign. For these and many other curi- 
ous facts we are indebted to the blind Huber. 
It is worthy of note that the position of the queen 
cells is always vertical, while that of the drones and 
workers is horizontal; majesty stands on its head, 
which fact may be a part of the secret. 
The notion has always very generally prevailed 
that the queen of the bees is an absolute ruler, and 
issues her royal orders to willing subjects. Hence 
Napoleon the First sprinkled the symbolic bees over 
the imperial mantle that bore the arms of his dynasty ; 
and in the country of the Pharaohs the bee was used 
as the emblem of a people sweetly submissive to the 
orders of its king. But the fact is, a swarm of bees 
is an absolute democracy, and kings and despots can 
find no warrant in their example. The power and 
authority are entirely vested in the great mass, the 
workers. They furnish all the brains and foresight of 
the colony, and administer its affairs. Their word 
is law, and both king and queen must obey. They 
regulate the swarming, and give the signal for the 
swarm to issue from the hive; they select and make 
ready the tree in the woods and conduct the queen 
to it. 
The peculiar office and sacredness of the queen 
consists in the fact that she is the mother of the. 
swarm, and the bees love and cherish her as a mother 
and not asa sovereign. She is the sole female bee 
in the hive, and the swarm clings to her because she 
is their life. Deprived of their queen, and of all 
brood from which to rear one, the swarm loses all 
heart and soon dies, though there be an abundance 
of honey in the hive. 
