The Queen. 99 
a bee could not be expected to eat ordinary 
food. 
Queen Apis has tasters, as did the old 
kings of France and England. Only the 
king’s taster ate a little of the king’s dish 
in his Majesty’s presence, that he might be 
sure nobody had poisoned it, for they were 
fond of poisoning kings in those days. 
But Queen Apis is not afraid of poison. 
She knows her children love her too well 
for that, and that they taste her food out 
of love to her. In fact, they do more than 
taste it, they swallow and digest the bee- 
bread and honey, and in their bodies it 
is made into a very nutritious food with 
which they feed their queen. 
When she is hungry she goes to a worker 
bee, inserts her short tongue into its mouth, 
and takes what she wants, though sometimes 
she eats honey from the combs as well. 
Occasionally bees feed one another on 
honey in this way, and they also feed the 
drones. 
