THE SWAR.M 



the enumeration of such procedures 

 belongs rather to technical treatises on 

 apiculture, and would take us too far.^ 



^ The stranger queen is usually brought into the 

 hive enclosed in a little cage, v.-ith iron wires, v.-hich is 

 hung between two combs. The cage has a door made 

 of v,-ax and honey, which the workers, their anger 

 over, proceed to gnaw, thus freeing the prisoner, 

 whom they will often receive without any ill-v/ill. 

 Mr. Simmins, manager of the great apiary at Potting- 

 dean, has recenth' discovered another method of intro- 

 ducing a queen, which, being extremel}' simple and 

 almost invariably successful, bids fair to be generally 

 adopted by apiarists who value their art. It is the 

 behaviour of the queen that usually makes her intro- 

 duction a matter of so great difficulty. She is almost 

 distracted, flies to and fro, hides, and generally com- 

 forts herself as an intruder, thus arousing the suspicions 

 of the bees, which are scion confirmed by the workers' 

 examination. .Mr. Simmins at first completely is<Dlates 

 [86] 



