122 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



on the contrary, some of my queens became so 

 accustomed to frequent rapping that they failed to 

 answer unless I knocked very hard. Rapping at 

 night, when the queen ought to be at home, was a 

 ready means of ascertaining if all was well. 



Considering the frequency of my examinations and 

 manipulations, and the various delicate operations 

 carried out for the first time, freedom from accident 

 could not have been expected. That the mishaps 

 were so few shows how well suited humble-bees are 

 to treatment, especially when it is remembered that 

 with manipulations on honey-bees smoke is always 

 used as a quieter. Smoke has no effect whatever 

 upon humble-bees. 



Accidents sometimes resulted from the queen 

 staying from home for a day or two. Imagining 

 she had got lost, I removed the brood to save it, 

 and when the queen returned later, finding her brood 

 ofone, she deserted. 



Two losses in tin domiciles were due to another 

 kind of blunder. Lifting out the nests and examin- 

 ing them caused them to expand so much that when 

 they were put back they practically filled the tins. 

 The poor queens on returning home were unable to 

 find their brood in the disarranged mass of material 

 and, losing heart, deserted. The remedy, of course, 

 was to use less nest material or a larger tin. 



Several incidents showed how careful one should 

 be, after making an examination, to leave the brood 

 in a position where it will be readily found by the 

 queen on her return to the nest. In the course of a 



