BEE. 



409 



Bee. 



Combats of 



queens. 



ing thus deprived of both, would perish. Nature 

 has therefore inspi.ed queens with the most deadly ani- 

 mosity, and the most insatiable thirst for each others 

 life, which nothing but actual death can appease. 



The same intelligent naturalist, M. Huber,to whose 

 authority we frequently recur, gives an interesting 

 account of the combats of queens, part of which we 

 shall abbreviate. In one of his hives fittest for ob- 

 servation, two young queens left their cells almost at 

 the same mi ment. Whenever they observed each 

 other, they rushed together apparently with great 

 fury, and came into such a position that the antenna 

 were mutually seized by their fangs. The head, 

 breast, and belly of the one, were opposed to the 

 head, breast, and belly of the other. The extremity 

 of their bodies had only to be curved, that they might 

 be reciprocally pierced with the stings, and both fall 

 dead together. But nature has not decreed that the 

 two combatants should perish in the duel : when in 

 the position now described, they separate, and retreat 

 with the utmost precipitation ; and when these rivals 

 felt their extremities about to meet, they disengaged 

 themselves, and each fled away. A few minutes after 

 separating, however, their mutual terror ceased, and 

 they again began to seek each other. Immediately 

 on coming in sight, they again rushed together, seiz- 

 ed one another, and resumed exactly their former po- 

 sition. The result of this rencounter was the same : 

 when their bellies approached, they hastily disengaged 

 themselves, and precipitately retreated. During all 

 this time the workers were in great agitation ; and 

 the tumult seemed to increase when the adversaries 

 separated. Twice they interrupted the flight of the 

 queens, seized their limbs, and restrained them prison- 

 ers about a minute. At last, that queen which was 

 either the strongest or the most enraged, darted on 

 her rival at a moment when unperceived, and with her 

 fangs took hold of the origin of her wing, then rising 

 above her, she curved her own body, and inflicted a 

 mortal wound. She withdrew her sting, and likewise 

 quitted the wing she had seized : the vanquished 

 queen fell down ; dragged herself languidly along ; 

 and her strength declining, she soon expired. Ano- 

 ther experiment, equally interesting, on the mutual an- 

 tipathy of queens, elucidates the instinct of the com- 

 mon bees, and seems to prove that they are aware of 

 the necessity that such combats should have a fatal 

 issue. M. Huber having painted the thorax of a 

 queen, on purpose that she might be recognised, in- 

 troduced her into a hive already provided with the 

 natural queen. A circle of bees quickly formed 

 around the stranger, but not to caress or receive her 

 with that grateful homage which a queen is wont to 

 experience; on the contrary, they insensibly accumu- 

 lated to such a degree, and encompassed her so closely, 

 that scarce a minute elapsed before she lost her liber- 

 ty, and became a prisoner. By a remarkable concur- 

 rence, the workers at the same time collected around 

 the reigning queen, and restrained all her motions : 

 she was instantly confined like the stranger. But as if 

 the bees anticipated the combat in whicli these queens 

 were about to engage, and were impatient to witness 

 its issue, they retained them prisoners only when pre- 

 paring to withdraw from each other ; and if one less 

 restrained seemed desirous of approaching her rival, 



VOL. III. PART III. 



extend to 

 the imper- 

 fect Mate. 



all the bees clustering together gave way, to allow Be- 

 her full liberty for the attack: then if the queens tes- "" 



tilled a disposition to fly, they returned to enclose 

 them. These facts form a singular anomaly in the 

 history of bees. That they take a decided part on 

 the occurrence of such combats, is indubitable ; but 

 if they mean to accelerate them, how shall we ac- 

 count for the uncommon care and attention, on every 

 other occasion, bestowed on their queen, being now 

 forgotten, and for their opposing her preparations to 

 avoid impending danger ? The cluster of bees that 

 here surrounded the reigning queen having permitted 

 her seme freedom, she appeared to advance towards 

 that part of the comb on which her rival stood. All 

 the bees receded before her : the multitude of work- 

 ers between the adversaries gradually dispersed, un- 

 til only two remained : these also removed, and al- 

 lowed the queens to come in sight. At this moment 

 the reigning queen rushed on the stranger, and fixing 

 her against the comb, mortally pierced her body with 

 her sting. 



The mutual antipathy manifested by queens, is not Their an 

 limited to their perfect state, for it extends to nymphs tipathies 

 yt in the cells. The future existence of a rival, 

 which may dispute her place in the hive, seems to ex- 

 cite apprehension in a queen already come to matu- 

 rity. The oldest queen in a hive containing five 

 or six royal cells, having undergone her ultimate meta- 

 morphosis, hastened, within ten minutes of escaping 

 from her confinement, to visit the cells of the rest still 

 close. She furiously attacked that nearest to her, and, 

 by dint of labour, succeeded in opening the top : then 

 she began tearing the silk of the coccoon ; but her ef- 

 forts being probably inadequate to her purpose, she 

 sought the other end of the cell, where she effected a 

 larger aperture. When of sufficient size, she endea- 

 voured to introduce her belly ; and after many exer- 

 tions, succeeded in giving her approaching rival a 

 deadly wound. When she left the cell, the bees, 

 which had hitherto been spectators of her labour, be- 

 gan to enlarge the opening, and drew forth the body> 

 of a queen scarcely come from the nymphine state. 

 Meanwhile the victorious young queen attacked ano- 

 ther royal cell ; but did not endeavour to introduce 

 her sting : it contained only a nymph, and not a per- 

 fect queen as the former did. Hence it has been 

 conjectured, that the nymphs of queens inspire less ani- 

 mosity : still they do not escape destruction, for when^ 

 ever a royal cell is opened before its proper time, the 

 workeis extract the contents in whatever form they 

 appear, whether worm, nymph, or queen. Accord- 

 ingly when the young queen had here abandoned the 

 second cell, the opening which she had. made was 

 enlarged by the bees, and they extracted the included 

 nymph. Nymphs of other hives, introduced into one 

 where there is a queen, are equally the subject of ani- 

 mosity. But in this general work of destruction, 

 there is a fact, in the natural history of bees in their 

 earlier stages, elucidated, which we should otherwise 

 find it difficult to explain. The larvae of the whole 

 three species are endowed with a property widely 

 diffused among insects, that of spinning silk. Each, 

 as we have before observed, spins itself a web or coccoon, 

 in which it reposes a certain time inactive, previous 

 to transformation to the perfect state. The larvse of- 

 3f, 



