54 THE LIFE OF THE BEE 



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But we are constantly tampering with what they must 

 regard as immovable laws of nature ; constantly placing them 

 in a position that may be compared to that in which we 

 should ourselves be placed were the laws of space and gravity, 

 of light and heat, to be suddenly suppressed around us. What 

 are the bees to do when we, by force or by fraud, introduce 

 a second queen into the city ? It is probable that, in a 

 state of nature, thanks to the sentinels at the gate, such 

 an event has never occurred since they first came into the 

 world. But this prodigious conjuncture does not scatter 

 their wits ; they still contrive to reconcile the two principles 

 that they appear to regard in the light of divine commands. 

 The first is that of unique maternity, never infringed except 

 in the case of sterility in the reigning queen, and even then 

 only very exceptionally ; the second is more curious still, 

 and, although never transgressed, is susceptible of what might 

 almost be termed a Judaic evasion. I refer to the law that 

 invests the person of a queen, whoever she be, with a sort 

 of inviolability. It would be a simple matter for the 

 bees to pierce the intruder with their myriad envenomed 

 stings : she would die on the spot, and they would merely 

 have to remove the corpse from the hive. But though this 

 sting is always held ready to strike, though they make 

 constant use of it in their fights among themselves, they 

 will never draw it against a queen ; nor will a queen ever 

 draw hers on a man, an animal, or an ordinary bee. She 

 will never unsheathe her royal weapon — curved, in scimitar 



