44 A PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE 



return to the history of the humble bee. When the 

 queen issues forth in spring, after her long winter 

 sleep, to found a new community, she, as soon as 

 she has fixed upon a suitable spot to build in, collects 

 a small store of honey and poUen as a provision for 

 the first members of the family which she is about 

 to bring into the world. When the queen bee of 

 the hive species has made up her mind to start on 

 her own account she issues forth from the parent 

 hive followed by thousands of ready subjects. The 

 swarm is, indeed, already a miniattu-e state with a 

 perfectly organized government, and with suitable 

 quarters the machinery of govenmaent works smoothly 

 from the first. With the queen mother of the humble 

 bees the case is entirely different. As yet there is 

 no state, and she has no subjects ; she represents 

 the whole in her own royal person ; " 'Letat c'est 

 moi ! " is just now in her case literally as well as 

 figuratively true. She lays at first a few eggs, and 

 continues depositing at short intervals from half a 

 dozen to a dozen at a time. These eggs aU produce 

 neuter workers, and directly the first bees hatch 

 out they relieve the queen of aU the inferior duties 

 thrust upon her by the necessities of the situation. 

 They are soon in the fields, collecting suppHes for 

 the increasing wants of the young colony, and the 

 queen having resumed her proper position, she, 

 like her sister of the hive species, in future devotes 

 her attention solely to the production of eggs, her 

 subjects taking charge of all the duties of nursing, 

 food-producing, house-building, and defence. 



My observation of the colonies which I have kept 

 has always dated from about this stage. I have 

 never been able to induce a queen to commence 



