SWARMING, 217 



the fact. Take them to some place but of the sun, a3 

 a less number will fly during the operation. 



HOW TO FIND QUEEN, WHEN TWO STBANGER8 ARE TOGETHER. 



First, look into the lower hive for a dead queen, and, 

 if none is found there, look thoroughly, as far as pos- 

 sible, for a little compact cluster of bees, the size of a 

 hen's egg, that may be rolled about without separat- 

 ing. Secure this cluster in a tumbler ; it is quite sure 

 one of the queens is a prisoner in the middle ;* should 

 two be seen, get both. Then divide the bees, and give 

 the one destitute, a queen ; or, if you have two, one t6 

 each, as the case may be. It would be well first td 

 'see if the queen was alive, by removing the bees from 

 about her. But should you find nothing of the kind, 

 spread a sheet on the ground, shake the bees on one 

 end of it, and set the hive on the other ; they will im- 

 mediately begin a march for the hive. You may now 

 see the cluster, and may not; but they will spread out 

 in marching, and give a good chance to see her ma- 

 jesty, when a tumbler is the most convenient thing to 

 set over her. No matter if a few bees are shut up 



- All stranger queens, introduced into a stock or swarm, are secured 

 and detained in this manner by the workers, but whether they dispatch 

 them, or this is a means adopted to incite them to a deadly conflict, 

 writers do not agree, and I shall not attempt a decision, as I never 

 saw the bees voluntarily release a queen thus confined. But I have 

 seen queens, when no bees interfjred, rush together in a fatal rencoun- 

 ter, and one of them was soon left a fallen victim of the contest. 'Tis 

 Baid it never happens that both are killed in these battles, — perhaps 

 . not. As I never saw quite all of these royal combats, of course I can- 

 not decide. 



10 



