20 THE PASTORAL BEES. 



consists in the fact that she is the mother of the 

 swarm, and the bees love and cherish her as a mother 

 and not as a 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. 



The common bees will never use their sting upon 

 the queen; if she is to be disposed of they starve her 

 to death ; and the queen herself will sting nothing but 

 royalty nothing but a rival queen. 



The queen, I say, is the mother bee ; it is undoubt- 

 edly complimenting her to call her a queen and in- 

 vest her with regal authority, yet she is a superb 

 creature, and looks every inch a queen. It is an 

 event to distinguish her amid the mass of bees when 

 the swarm alights ; it awakens a thrill. Before you 

 have seen a queen you wonder if this or that bee, 

 which seems a little larger than its fellows, is not she, 

 but when you once really set eyes upon her you do 

 not doubt for a moment. You know that is the queen. 

 That long, elegant, shining, feminine-looking creature 

 can be none less than royalty. How beautifully her 

 body tapers, how distinguished she looks, how delib- 

 erate her movements ! The bees do not fall down be- 

 fore her but caress her and touch her person. The 

 drones, or males, are large loeea too, but coarse, blunt, 

 broad-shouldered, masculine-looking. There is but 

 one fact or incident in the life of the queen that looks 



