102 A BEE TRAGEDY. 



queen in the completion of her butchery ; for no sooner does 

 she quit each scene of her successive assassinations, than drag- 

 ging from the chamber the body she has left, they hasten to 

 hide from view the evidence of her jealous fury. 



It seems quite essential to the welfare of a hive to acknow- 

 ledge only one sovereign ; but as on this single sovereign, in 

 her capacity of general mother, not only the welfare but the 

 very existence of the state depends ; and as over and above, 

 no emigration can take place without a queen to accompany 

 the swarm, a surplus number of royal nymphs is no less re- 

 quisite to meet contingencies. It will sometimes, however, 

 happen that, notwithstanding such provision, a hive is unex- 

 pectedly bereft of its sovereign, when no successor is existing 

 to supply her place. How then do the people act? Why, for 

 lack of a queen ready-made, they make one. 



For the space of several hours grief and consternation reign 

 in place of the defunct sovereign. Then do the murmuring, 

 but not despairing mourners bestir themselves to supply her 

 place. But how are they to do it? Can they mould from 

 their ready material wax, a royal effigy, and then breathe life 

 into the image ? Not so ; but they can resort, for the supply 

 of their exigence, to an expedient almost as miraculous. Let 

 us watch their proceedings in the creation of a queen. Why, 

 this work appears only a labour of destruction ! Surely they 

 are bereft not only of their sovereign, but also of their senses ; 

 and, in a fit of frenzy, are making havoc in the streets of this 

 well-ordered city ! Several parties are here and there attacking 

 the six-sided houses, hastily pulling down their waxen walls, 

 regardless of the young which lie cradled within. Out of 

 perhaps four or five of these unhappy nurslings, all but one 

 are sacrificed by those who had heretofore been their careful 

 nurses ; but for this one, still in its infant or grub estate, a 

 changed and brilliant destiny is in store. 



The first process of her manufacture is begun already by the 

 destruction going on around her. Her narrow lodging, by 



