212 THE BEE NATION. 



plainly manifested in the fact that the whole life of the 

 hive revolves more or less round the queen ; where she is 

 wanting, dies, or is not succeeded by another, the hive falls 

 into disorder, and in a longer or shorter time infallibly 

 perishes. Single members of the hive, if they scatter, either 

 die or become useless, lazy, vagabonds, and mischievous 

 highwaymen. The monarchical principle of the bee nation 

 is still more strikingly manifested in comparison with the 

 other social insects, in that only one ruler or queen is per- 

 mitted, and that where several accidentally come together 

 the superfluous ones are either killed or are compelled to go 

 out and found new colonies. 



We therefore fiad that the bees, under all circumstances, 

 have but a single queen, and that they obey implicitly the 

 famous maxim of Homer, so often quoted in the interest 

 of the political rule of one : 



" OIIK ayaSov TroXvKoipa.virj, cts /cotparos eWto." 

 (The rule of many is not good; let one be king !) 



Nevertheless we sometimes find that an old and abdicated 

 queen, no longer able to lay any fertilised eggs, is out of 

 mercy suffered to remain for awhile in the hive near her 

 successor, and receives some measure of the bread of charity. 

 Pfarrer Calminius (No. 21 of the " Bee Journal," 1855) ob- 

 served a case in which two queens lived peaceably and well- 

 cared-for near each other on two tables hanging side by side. 

 But these are rare exceptions. The workers generally sting 

 the old useless queens unmercifully to death, or suffocate 

 them by surrounding them closely on all sides. Sometimes 

 they are merely driven out of the hive and perish hopelessly. 

 It is, therefore, impossible to free the bees from the reproach 

 of republican ingratitude, and in this matter practical as 

 is their behavior they are decidedly behind men, who, 

 when they get a new ruler, reckon it a point of honor to 

 provide for the old and surviving one, and for all his cousins 

 and relations into the bargain ! 



The more remarkable, in contrast, is the behavior of the 

 "bees to the real reigning and egg-laying queen, who is 

 always treated with all imaginable love and care, and is 

 constantly followed by a court of young bees which antici- 

 pate all her wishes and needs. Especially is built for her, 

 or rather for her larvae, A dwelling, or cradle, which is large 



