NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY BEE. 15 



use it except in combat with a rival. It has many times 

 been related how in the case of a strange Queen's 

 appearance in the hive, the rightful sovereign and the 

 intruder engage in single combat, being urged thereto by 

 the Workers. I fear this is but a pretty fable ; my expe- 

 rience of a great many instances being that the stranger 

 is seized by the Workers, who gather round her and form 

 a closely packed ball as large as a walnut, where they 

 bite and worry her (rarely stinging) until she dies. I 

 have known her so kept ten days, during which time 

 she must of course have been fed. On the first gathering 

 of this ball, technically called " an encasement," the Bees 

 seem greatly excited ; a continual hissing is kept up, 

 and I have often taken the ball into my hand, and pulling 

 off the Workers released the Queen. The former have 

 no inclination to sting when so treated. If two Queens 

 are captured and confined together under a tumbler, 

 they run about until they meet, locked in each other's 

 embrace, they fight and tumble about like gladiators, 

 probably one getting soon stung, when she at once dies. 

 At other times they meet and separate again and again, 

 until they seem to get tired of fighting, and move indif- 

 ferent to each other's presence. 



The Workers form the bulk of the population, and are 

 the smallest Bees in the hive. Their development is 

 complete in twenty-one days from the laying of the egg, 

 although this period is sometimes extended or curtailed 

 a few hours. 



According to Reaumur, there are five thousand three 

 hundred and seventy-six Workers in each pound weight, 

 and the celebrated John Hunter counted two thousand 

 one hundred and sixty in an imperial pint. A populous 

 hive will often contain forty thousand or fifty thousand 

 Workers, whose part in the economy of the colony is, as 



