MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 263 



their loads of pollen and honey under the glass. 

 Their good behaviour earned for them a first prize. 

 The vibration of the railway journey from Dover 

 to Maidstone upset the colonies a little at first ; 

 but the queens soon returned to their brood, and, 

 on the return journey, one of them was so reconciled 

 to the motion that she laid a batch of eggs in the 

 train ! 



When queens grow elderly and their prolificness 

 declines, they lose their desire to fight one another. 

 On July 25, 1 9 10, I added a prat on tm queen from 

 a declining nest to a strong nest of the same species. 

 The two queens lived happily together until one of 

 them died on August 15. Two lapidarius queens 

 from strong nests, put together on August 7, also 

 remained friendly. 



From July 15 to 27, when the above-mentioned 

 pratorum nest was at the height of its strength, the 

 weather was very unfavourable, with strong cold 

 winds, the temperature often failing to exceed 6o F., 

 and there was very little sunshine ; yet even on the 

 worst days a fair quantity of honey was gathered 

 and stored in the cells, although during this period 

 my honey-bees not only failed to gather honey, but 

 consumed all previously gathered stores, and had 

 to be fed to avoid starvation. 



The comb and nest of each species have a 

 distinct smell, although to our imperfect olfactory 

 sense the differences do not in all cases seem great, 

 and we have no words to describe them ; the bees, 

 too, have a distinct smell, which is not unlike that 



