262 QUEEN EEABING. 



We will study the rearing of queens, in view of these 

 requirements. 



Loss OF THE QUEEK. 



499. That the queen-bee is often lost, and that her colony 

 will be ruined unless such a calamity is seasonably remedied, 

 ought to be familiar facts to every bee-keeper. 



Queens sometimes die of disease, or old age, when there is 

 no brood to supply their loss. Few, however, perish imder 

 such circumstances; for, either the bees build royal cells, 

 aware of their approaching end, or they die so suddenly as 

 to leave young brood behind them. Queens are not only much 

 longer-lived (157) than the workers, but are usually the last 

 to perish in any fatal casualty. As many die of old age, if 

 their death does not occur under favorable circumstances, it 

 would cause, yearly, the loss of a very large number of col- 

 onies. As they seldom die when their strength is not severely 

 taxed in breeding, drones are usually on hand to impregnate 

 their successors. 



500. Young queens are sometimes born with wings so 

 imperfect that they cannot fly; and they may be so injured 

 in their contests with each other, or by the rude treatment 

 they receive when driven from the royal-cells, that they can- 

 not leave the hive for impregnation (123). 



501. More queens, whose loss cannot he supplied by the 

 bees, perish when they leave the hive to meet the drones, than 

 in all other ways. After the departure of the first swarm, the 

 mother-colony and all the after-swarms have young queens 

 which must leave the hive for impregnation; their larger size 

 and slower flight make them a more tempting prey to birds, 

 while others are dashed, by sudden gusts of wind, against 

 some hard object, or blown into the water; for, with all their 

 queenly dignity, they are not exempt from mishaps common 

 to the humblest of their race. 



502. In spite of their caution to mark the position and 

 appearance of their habitation, the young queens frequently 



