FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 207 



No other hiyes were attacked. I somewliat expected to find 

 the queen killed, but she was all right next day, and no further 

 trouble occurred, as the colony was a strong one, and, when in 

 its right mind, capable of taking care of itself. 



DO EOBBED BEES JOIN THE EOBBEES "? 



One of the venerable ti'aditions that is perhaps generally 

 accepted without question is that when a colony is being robbed 



Fig. 73 — Miller Tent-Escape. 



it is a quite common thing for the bees that are robbed to joii 

 the robbers and help carry off the stores. I am very skeptical 

 as to there being any truth in the tradition. I do not say such 

 a thing never happened, but I never saw such a case, and I have 

 seen from first to last a number of cases in which all the stores^ 

 were emptied out of the combs by robbers, and the bees of the 

 colony seemed to be all left, and generally by taking the right 

 kind of pains I have succeeded in le-establishing such a colony. 

 In such cases there was certainly no joining the robbers. 



I have found other cases in which the bees were entirelj 

 gone, and I could only guess what had become of them. My 

 guess was that after being robbed of all their stores, and having 



