4 THE APIAKY; OR, 



Now shyly distant, n,ow with bolder air, 

 He woos and wins the all-complying fair; 

 Througli fields of etiier, veiled in vap'ry gloom 

 Tlify seek, with amorous haste, the nuptial room; 

 As erst the immortal pair, on Ida's height, 

 Wreaih'd round theii- noon of joy, ambrosial night. 



The loyalty aud attachment of bees to their queen is one of 

 their most remarkable characteristics ; they constantly supply her 

 with food, and fawn upon and caress her, softly touching her with 

 their anteimae, a favour which she occasionally returns. "When she 

 .moves about the hive, aU the bees through whom she successively 

 passes pay her the same homage ; those whom she leaves behind in 

 her track close together, and resume their accustomed occupations. 



The majestic deportment of the queen-bee and the homage paid 

 to her is, with a little poetic licence, thus described by Evans : — 



But mark of royal port and awful mien, 

 AV'here moves with measured pace the insect Queen ! 

 Twelve chosen guards, with slow and solemn gait. 

 Bend at her nod, and round her person wait. 



This homage is, however, only paid to matron queens. Whilst they 

 continue princesses, they receive no distinctive marks of respect. 

 Dr. Dunbar, the noted Scotch apiarian, observed a very striking 

 instance of this whilst experimenting on the combative qualities of 

 the queen-bee. " So long," says he, " as the queen which survived 

 the rencontre with her rival, remained a virgin, not the slightest 

 degree of respect or attention was paid her — not a single bee gave 

 her food ; she was obliged, as often as she required it, to help her- 

 self ; and in crossing the honey cells for that purpose, she had to 

 scramble, often with difficulty, over the crowd, not an individual of 

 which got out of her way, or seemed to care whether she fed or 

 starved : but no sooner did she become a mother, than the scene 

 was changed, and all testified towards her that most affectionate 

 attention, which is uniformly exhibited to fertile queens." 



The queen-bee, though provided with a sting, never uses it on 

 any account, except in combat with her sister queens. But she admits 

 of no rival to her throne ; almost her first act on coming forth from 

 the cell, is an attempt to tear open and destroy the cells containing 

 the pupae of princesses likely to become competitors. Should it so 

 happen that another queen of similar age does exist in the hive at 



