THE BEE NATION. 219 1 



bees take no part in the duel of the pretenders to the crown, 

 but look quietly on at the battle with crossed forelegs, and 

 finally acclaim the conqueror and offer her their homage. 

 As to the corpse of the vanquished, they content themselves 

 with throwing it out of the hive. They behave throughout 

 as prudent politicians, and that in two respects. First, in 

 that they wholly accommodate themselves to the all- 

 important result, and secondly that they let their rulers 

 fight out their own battles and take no part in them them- 

 selves. Human rulers act very differently. When they 

 want to fight out a question, it is the blood of their subject* 

 that has to be spilt, and however the quarrel may end the 

 latter on both sides have the blows. Quidquid delirant 

 reges, plectuntur Achivi! (Whatever the kings may rave 

 ab'>'it the blows fall on the people.) 



But the young queens themselves behave no less prudently 

 than their subjects in the battles, and seem to follow the 

 well-know Falstaffean saying, that " Discretion is the -better- 

 part of valor." Franz Huber (''New observations on Bees," 

 published by G. Kleine, 1859) saw two youog queens, which 

 had come out of their cells almost simultaneously, fall 

 angrily on each other, but at once loosen their grasp when 

 they found that the use of their stings would, in the position 

 in which they were, kill them both. A few minutes later 

 the rivals again attacked each other, but the result of the 

 meeting was the same as before. The onlooking working 

 bees seemed very discontented with the cowardice of their 

 rulers ; they threw themselves in the path of the fugitives 

 and tried to hold them. On a third attack one succeeded 

 in approaching her rival unseen. She seized her at the root 

 of the wings with her teeth, mounted on her body, and drove 

 her sting without difficulty right through the abdomen. The 

 vanquished doubled itself up, crawled helplessly forward, 

 quickly lost its strength and soon died. Huber made similar 

 observation several times ; the working bees always tried to 

 hinder the flight of the combatants, while they gave them 

 plenty of room so long as they were moving towards each 

 other, and during the battle itself formed a regular ring 

 round them. 



If the young queens, as is usual, emerge at different 

 times, the one which has emerged first tries to inflict on her 

 yet unborn rivals the same fate which the old queen tried 



