BEE QUEEN-MAKING. 261 



take place without a queen to accompany the swarm, a sur- 

 plus number of royal nymphs is no less requisite to meet 

 contingences. It will sometimes, however, happen that, not- 

 withstanding such provision, a hive is unexpectedly bereft 

 of its sovereign, when no successor is existing to supply her 

 place. How then do the people act ? Why, they do in such 

 a strait, exactly what has been told; and what, in sober seri- 

 ousness, we will repeat: 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 be-reft 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 



