ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 201 



duced four or five hundred bees to leave their hive, and 

 enter a glass-box, containing a small piece of comb. At 

 first, they were in great agitation, but from the moment 

 that he presented a new queen the tumult ceased, and the 

 stranger was received with all respect. 



" I do not dispute the truth of this experiment, but 

 Reaumur's bees were too much removed from their natural 

 condition to allow him to judge of their instincts and dis- 

 positions. He has himself observed, that their industry 

 and activity are affected by reducing their numbers too 

 much. To render such an experiment truly conclusive, it 

 must be made in a populous hive ; and on removing the 

 native queen, the stranger must be immediately substituted 

 in her place." 



It would seem, from his use of the word immediately, 

 that Huber must have been aware of the fact, that if a 

 strange queen is given to a colony, before its agitation is 

 calmed down (p. 158), and before royal cells are begun, 

 she will usually be well received. If the bees of a colony 

 are made to fill themselves with honey, by drumming, 

 smoking, or giving them liquid sweets, and often, if they 

 are removed to a new stand, they will readily accept of 

 any queen offered them, in place of their own. 



Bees, in possession of a fertile queen, are often quite 

 reluctant to accept of an unimpregnated one in her stead ; 

 indeed, it requires much experience to be able to give a 

 strange queen to a colony, and yet be sure of securing for 

 her a good reception. In several instances, the workers 

 have stung a strange queen to death, while I was holding 

 her in my fingers, to be able to remove her if she was 

 not kindly welcomed. To prevent accidents, it will be 

 well to confine a queen when given to a strange colony 

 in what the Germans call a " queen-cage," which may 



