ESSEX SOCIETY. 83 



thousand, and of queen eggs, not more than five to eight. As 

 new queens are born, if swarming is desired and allowed, one 

 leaves with the swarm, and those that remain, swarming hav- 

 ing ceased, are supposed to be destroyed by the strongest re- 

 maining queen. We say one leaves, not specifying whether it 

 be the old queen or a new-born one, as that is a point upon 

 which apiarians are not agreed. To the queen mother, the 

 bees seem to pay the greatest respect, and to take the most spe- 

 cial care to preserve her life and health. She is indeed the life 

 of the hive, and might, as our common mother was called by 

 Adam, be called the Eve of the swarm, " for she is the mother 

 of all living " therein. 



" She lives, and pours through all, the accordant soul ; 

 She dies, and by her death dissolves the whole." 



The writer of this report has often seen and handled her, and 

 when seen, within the hive, among the bees, he has seen that 

 all the bees around her turned their heads towards her, and, if 

 she stopped, they formed a sort of circle about her, while some 

 fondled and licked her with their probosces, and some supplied 

 her with food. She is very gentle in her disposition, never 

 uttering an angry word, and can, only after the greatest provo- 

 cation, and scarcely then, be induced to attempt to sting. 

 Beautiful pattern for all her sex ! 



The life of the reigning, or queen mother, by a beautiful 

 adaptation of Divine Providence to the wants of the communi- 

 ty over which she presides, herself supplying her own faithful 

 subjects, is prolonged to the period of four or five years. If 

 she dies at such a time of the year, when there is no young 

 brood comb in the hive, say in November, December, January, 

 and possibly, February, the stock must inevitably die out and 

 perish. But if she dies, or is lost, when there is young brood 

 comb in the hive, then the worker bees, wisely provided with 

 the appropriate instinct, take a worm, of three or four days old, 

 which, under the ordinary operation, would have been a worker 

 bee, and, by means wholly unexplained, convert it into a queen 

 or mother bee. Of the fact there is not a doubt. As the man 

 said in the fable of the chameleon, so the writer says, having 



