236 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



behaviour that she had no nest there, I caught her 

 and brought her to my motherless nest, a distance of 

 about 300 yards. Thinking she might possibly be 

 the lost queen, I put her, under my net, to the 

 mouth of the hole. She immediately recognised it, 

 and after making several attempts, succeeded in 

 getting through the mouse-excluder I had placed 

 over it and disappeared inside. Two minutes later 

 I lifted the cover and found that she was sitting on 

 the brood, and had unburdened herself of the pollen. 

 There was no question of her identity, and in order 

 to avoid losing her again I caught her in a glass jar, 

 brought her indoors and clipped her wings, after- 

 wards returning her to the nest. Fearing she 

 might stray on foot, I substituted a queen-interceptor 

 for the mouse-excluder. 



July 4. The queen spent much of her time this 

 morning trying to get through the interceptor. I 

 visited the nest six times, and every time she was 

 there. At 2.45 p.m., therefore, I removed the 

 interceptor and watched her. After cleaning herself 

 and making two attempts to fly she ran back down 

 the passage quite content. Subsequently the hole 

 was watched for three-quarters of an hour, during 

 which the queen was seen to come out six times, 

 but she never went farther than a foot from the 

 hole, and always with great pleasure found her way 

 back. The interceptor was put back over the hole 

 at night. 



July 5. The queen was no more seen trying to 

 get out : letting her have her liberty yesterday 



