FOREWORD 



Scarcely an incident in this monograph is 

 founded on other than scientific knowledge 

 of the habits of Honey -Bees, and the prac- 

 tical use made of them by professional or 

 amateur Apiarists. 



The Autobiography of an Italian Queen 

 Bee is the effort to put into language what 

 one naturally thinks has transpired, judg- 

 ing by what one knows is being repeated 

 year after year in a colony of Honey Bees. 

 It has grown out of a real fondness for 

 working among bees, and observation of 

 their wondrous ways for thirty years. It 

 is not mere imagery. Much has been en- 

 acted before the eyes of Bee- Keepers and is 

 already depicted in photographs. We have 

 all but their words. 



Reported conversations between the 

 three Orders of bees in a colony, as noted 

 5 



