THE BEE-MASTER 49 



allow a member of a strange swarm to enter. 

 Tegetmeier found that this hostility applies only 

 to working bees, and that the drones of one hive 

 are allowed free access to any other. Inasmuch 

 as the race is propagated by the drones (and not 

 the workers) the above fact has a significance 

 Tegetmeier was quick to realise, and Darwin 

 to apply with effect in his argument on the 

 inter-breeding of bees. 



Among Tegetmeier's voluminous writings on 

 the subject of bees, and perhaps one of the 

 most generally interesting, was the review of 

 Maeterlinck's work on " The Bee," which he 

 wrote for Literature, the literary organ started 

 by the Times and edited by the late H. D. 

 Traill. In this he entirely ignored the mystical 

 aspects of the book, and treated it solely from 

 the point of view of an expert in natural history ; 

 and, of course, he denounced a number of mis- 

 takes. His engagement to slaughter Maeterlinck's 

 masterpiece, says a writer in the Pall Mall 

 Gazette, was " one of the practical jokes of 

 journalism." 



But perhaps Tegetmeier's connection with bees 

 most prominent in the mind of the general public 

 was the incident of his securing the last flight of 

 bees that was taken in London. This is his own 

 account of the story. Referring to Wellington 

 Street, Strand, " where I spent many years of 

 my life pursuing my labours in what was then 



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