HYMENOPTERA. 345 
being made to deliver her from their clutches. They get rid of 
her by stifling. 
When it is wished to introduce into a hive a stranger queen, 
after having removed the original sovereign, many precautions 
must be used before putting her into the common home. It is only 
after some time that the bees become aware of the disappearance 
of their queen; but they then manifest great emotion. They run 
hither and thither, as though mad, leaving off their work, and 
making a peculiar buzzing sound. If you return to them their 
original sovereign, they recognise her, and calm is immediately 
restored ; but the substitution of a new queen for the original 
sovereign does not produce the same effect in every case. If you 
introduce the new queen half a day only after the removal of the 
old queen, she is very badly received, and is at once surrounded, 
the workers trying to suffocate her. Generally she sinks under 
this bad treatment. But if you allow a longer interval to elapse 
before you introduce the substitute, the bees, rendered more 
tractable by the delay, are better disposed towards her. If you 
allow an interregnum of twenty-four hours, the stranger queen is 
always received with the honours due to her rank, a general 
buzzing announcing the event to the whole pupulation of the hive. 
They assign to their adopted queen a train of picked attendants ; 
they draw up in line on her passing by ; they caress her with the 
tips of their antenne; they offer her honey. A little joyful flut- 
tering of the escort announces that every one in the little republic 
is satisfied. The labours out of doors and indoors then begin anew 
with more activity than ever. 
It is principally during stormy days, when the heat and the 
electricity in the air are favourable to the secretion of pollen in 
plants, that the bees go into the fields to make their harvest. 
They heap up provisions in the hive against the cold season, not 
forgetting, however, to watch over the eggs, their future hope, 
“spem gentis,” as Virgil calls them. | 
These peaceful occupations are sometimes interrupted by the dire 
necessities of war. It happens that the bees of an impoverished 
hive, impelled by hunger, that bad counsellor, make up their 
mind to attack and to pillage the treasures of a neighbouring hive 
which is abundantly stocked with provisions. A savage fight 
