"NUMBER 30" 231 



cared to pursue her ! She was almost past work, 

 and taking pity on her I provided her with a 

 worker that emerged yesterday in one of my more 

 advanced lapidarius nests. About noon I saw her 

 enter her nest, but only a minute later she came out 

 again, and I saw that her honey-pot was already 

 full. Certainly feeding had not made this queen lazy. 

 This, however, was the last day on which I saw 

 her fly. 



July 4. In the evening I poured some more 

 paraffin oil into the trench, the smell of the previous 

 application having almost disappeared. No ants 

 had got into the nest. 



July 5. The honey-pot having proved leaky, 

 I substituted an artificial one made of beeswax. 

 The first worker emerged to-day. 



I continued feeding the colony each evening 

 until the weather improved towards the end of 

 July, but it did not grow very rapidly, and the 

 workers got lazy. In August, however, it picked 

 up well and became quite strong. About the 

 middle of September the weather grew cool and 

 the colony lapsed occasionally into torpor. As 

 time went on the periods of torpor became more 

 frequent and 'lasted longer. During these periods 

 the bees were able to support life for days together 

 without food. And so the colony lingered on until 

 October 16, the queen remaining alive with four 

 workers until the end. 



