12 THE BEE AS AN INSECT. [Ch. i. 



Evans, with proper loyalty, has duly furnished a glowing 

 epithalamium for the queen bee, thus : — 



" But now, when noontide Sirius glares on high, 

 With him young love ascends the glowing sky. 

 From vein to vein swift shoots prolific fire, 

 And thrills each insect fibril with desire. 

 Thence, Nature, to fulfil thy prime decree, 

 Wheels round in wanton rings the courtier bee ; 

 Now shyly distant, now with bolder air. 

 He woos and wins the all-complying fair ; 

 Through fields of ether, veiled in vapoury gloom, 

 They seek with amorous haste the nuptial room, 

 As erst the immortal pair on Ida's height 

 Wreathed round their noon of joy ambrosial night." 



The loyalty and attachment of bees to their queen is 

 one of their most remarkable characteristics ; they con- 

 stantly supply her with food, and fawn upon and caress 

 her, softly touching her with their antennae— a favour 

 which she occasionally returns. When she moves about 

 the hive all the bees through whom she successively 

 passes pay her the same homage ; she experiences no 

 inconvenience from overcrowding, for though the part 

 of the hive to which she is journeying may be the most 

 populous, way is immediately made, the common bees 

 tumbling over each other to get out of her path, so 

 great is their anxiety not to interfere with the royal 

 progress. A number of them often form a circle round 

 her, none venturing to turn their backs upon her, but 

 all anxious to show that respect and attention due to 

 her rank and station. 



