60 AN EASY METHOD 



parent hive, catch a young queen from any small swarm, and 

 introduce her at the mouth of the old hive. If their queen 

 is lost, as was anticipated, she will eti#r and usually bring 

 out the swarm in the course of a day or two ; otherwise, 

 the bees must remain in the old stock several days for a 

 queen, which is a great loss of time to them, in. their most 

 abundant harvest. 



The queen may be taken in the hand without danger, for 

 she never stings by design ; her timidity disarms her of 

 every species of hostility ; she may be drawn in quarters, 

 and she will not sting. In trying many experiments, we 

 never could discover in her the least hostile feeling, except 

 when conflicting with one of her own species : her only ex- 

 ertion seems to be to make her escape ; and yet she has a 

 sting much longer than a worker. 



The queen is known by her peculiar shape, size and move- 

 ments. She is not often found standing still like other bees ; 

 she is usually on the constant move, running over, under, 

 through, betwixt and all around the swarm. She differs but 

 little in color from a worker, and has the same number of 

 legs and wings. She is MUCH LARGEE and LONGER 

 than any of the bees. HER ABDOMEN IS VERY 

 LARGE AND PERFECTLY ROUND, and is shaped 

 more like the SUGAR-LOAF, which makes her known to 

 the observer the moment she is seen. Her wings and pro- 

 boscis are short. Her movements are stately and majestic ; 

 at the same time shy, and rather inclined to conceal herself 

 from human observation, with seeming jealousy of being 

 caught. We have known her to remain in the air on the 

 wing several minutes after her whole colony had alighted, 

 when we stood near the swarm. She is; much less iii size 

 after the season for breeding is over. She is easily selected 



