§ n.J THE QUEEN. 13 



The majestic deportment of the queen bee, and the 

 homage paid to her, are, with a little poetic licence, thus 

 described by Evans : — 



' ' But mark, of regal port and awful mien, 

 Where moves with measured jjace the insect queen ! 

 Twelve chosen guards, with slow and solemn gait, 

 Bend at her nod, and round her person wait. 

 Not eastern despots, of their splendour vain, 

 Can boast, in all their pomp, a brighter train 

 Of fear-bound satraps ; not in bonds of love 

 Can loyal Britons more obedient move." 



Some modification has to be made, however, in the 

 old ideas on this head, though, so long as it is under- 

 stood that the reverence of the bees for their queen is an 

 official and not a personal reverence, it may be allowed, 

 except as to the existence of a regular guard, to be for 

 the most part true enough. But the government is a 

 limited and not an absolute monarchy, for the workers 

 often impose their own will upon the sovereign. This 

 homage, moreover, is paid only to matron queens, as 

 Dr. Dunbar noted whilst experimenting on the com- 

 bative qualities of the queen bee. "So long," says 

 he, "as the queen which survived the rencontre with 

 her rival remained a virgin, not the slightest degree of 

 respect or attention was paid her ; not a single bee gave 

 her food ; she was obliged, as often as she required it, 

 to help herself; and, in crossing the honey cells for that 

 purpose, she had to scramble, often with difficulty, over 

 the crowd, not an individual of which got out of her way, 



