14 A MANUAL OF BEE-KEEPING. 



of the four it was evident the old Queen was becoming 

 worn out and was deposed. The Queen is not nearly so 

 bulky as a Drone, but her body is longer and consider- 

 ably more tapering, more so even than that of a Worker. 

 Her abdomen is also generally lighter in colour than the 

 other Bees ; and when she has fully entered upon her 

 duties as a matron, her movements are slow and majestic, 

 and she can rarely be induced to take wing. The sole 

 business of the Queen is to lay eggs. No part of the 

 work of the hive is done by her, and she is usually found 

 surrounded by many of her subjects standing in a circle, 

 with their heads towards her, ready to clean, feed, or other- 

 wise attend to her and take care of the deposited eggs. 

 Whenever her majesty changes her position, the Bees 

 make way for her, closing round and keeping the circle 

 up, allowing free space for her movements in the centre. 

 The sight of a Queen thus attended is one of the most 

 curious and interesting things in a hive. Old writers 

 have been very fond of descanting on the love and 

 veneration Bees have for their Queen, and the courage 

 with which they will defend her. Such is not the case. 

 I have hundreds of times picked up the Queen from the 

 midst of crowds of her subjects, and in no instance was 

 I ever attacked, nor could I discover any feeling of the 

 Bees in the matter. Not unfrequently the Workers will 

 attack their own Queen if she has been kept from the 

 hive many minutes, and in the case of an immigration 

 of strange Bees, they will permit the latter to seize and 

 worry the Queen without interference. The assiduous 

 attention paid to the Queen is evidently only Nature's 

 care for the safety of the eggs. Until a Queen begins 

 to lay she meets with no attention whatever from the 

 Bees. 

 The Queen has a sting, but has never been known to 



