16 HONEY BEES. 
worker bees attempt to overcome the difficulty by length- 
ening the worker cells to accommodate the monstrosities. 
The queen has a sting yet she may be handled with 
impunity, for she will not use it except when in deadly 
combat with a rival queen. She receives the most 
marked attention from all members of her family ; deprive 
a swarm of their queen, and they will, as soon as the 
loss is known, manifest the greatest agitation and alarm, 
and if the swarm is one just hived, and only a few 
hours from the parent stock, they will all return at once 
to the old home. They appear to fully realize the vast 
importance of a mother, and that with no means to sup- 
ply her place they must soon perish; and to avoid their 
impending fate they return to the old hive. With old 
stocks deprived of their queen the result is different, as 
will be shown further on. Every one who keeps bees 
should strive to become familiar with the appearance of 
the queen, that they may be able to recognize her at a 
glance among thousands of workers, as it will often be 
necessary to look her up in my new system of bee man- 
agement. In looking for the queen in full hives, she is 
usually found on the brood combs, unless in opening the 
hive she may have been frightened and taken refuge in 
some hiding place, at the corner of the hive, at the bot- 
tom ends of the comb-frames, or some similar hiding 
place. After we become familiar with her appearance 
and movements we are able to find her quite readily, 
even when the hive is crowded with bees. 
