THE BEE. 



a queen-mother regnant in case a stranger queen pregnant were 

 introduced into the hive. A mark having been previously made 

 upon the back of such a queen, so that she might be afterwards 

 identified, she was placed in the hive. Immediately on her 

 appearance the workers collected in a crowd around her, and 

 formed as usual a circle of which she was the centre, the heads of 

 all the remaining crowd being directed towards her. This very 

 soon became so dense that she became an absolute prisoner 

 within it. 



While this was going o^h, a similar ring was formed by another 

 group of workers round the queen regnant, so that she was 

 likewise for the moment a prisoner. 



The two queens being thus in view of each other, if either 

 evinced a disposition to approach and attack the other, the two 

 rings were immediately opened, so as to give a free passage to the 

 combatants ; but the moment they showed a disposition to fly 

 from each other, the rings were again closed, so as to retain them 

 in the spot they occupied. 



At length the queen regnant resolved on the conflict, and the 

 surrounding crowd, seeming to be conscious of her decision, 

 immediately cleared a passage for her to the place where the 

 stranger stood perched on the comb. She threw herself with 

 fury on the latter, seized her by the root of the wing, and fixed 

 her against the comb so as to deprive her 

 of all power of movement or resistance, 

 and then bending her abdomen inflicted 

 a mortal stab with her sting, and put an 

 end to the intruder. 



126. A fruitful queen full of eggs was 

 next placed upon one of the combs of a hive 

 over which a virgin queen already reigned. 

 She immediately began to drop her eggs, 

 but not in the cells ; nor did the workers, 



by a circle of whom she was closely surrounded, take charge of 

 them ; but, since no trace of them could ^ be discovered, it is 

 probable that they were devoured. 



The group, by which this intruding queen was surrounded, 

 having opened a way for her, she moved towards the edge of the 

 comb, where she found herself close to the place occupied by the 

 legitimate virgin queen. The moment they perceived each other, 

 they rushed together with ungovernable fury. The virgin, 

 mounting on the back of the intruder, stabbed her several times 

 in the abdomen, but failed to penetrate the scaly covering of the 

 segments. The combatants then, exhausted for the moment, 

 disengaged themselves and retired. After an interval of some 

 60 



