THE SWARM ^j 



bees will at once detect the imposture ; the intruder will 

 be seized, and immediately enclosed in the terrible, tumultuous 

 prison, whose obstinate walls will be relieved, as it were, 

 till she dies ; for in this particular instance it hardly ever 

 occurs that the stranger emerges alive. 



And here it is curious to note to what diplomacy and 

 elaborate stratagem man is compelled to resort in order to 

 delude these little sagacious insects, and bend them to his 

 will. In their unswerving loyalty they will accept the 

 most unexpected events with touching courage, regarding them 

 probably as some new and inevitable, fatal caprice of nature. 

 And indeed, all this diplomacy notwithstanding, in the desperate 

 confusion that may follow one of these hazardous expedients, it 

 is on the admirable good sense of the bees that man always, and 

 almost empirically relies ; on the inexhaustible treasure of their 

 marvellous laws and customs, on their love of peace and order, 

 their devotion to the public weal and fidelity to the future ; 

 on the adroit strength, the earnest disinterestedness of their 

 character, and, above all, on the untiring devotion with which 

 they fulfil their duty. But the enumeration of such procedures 

 belongs rather to technical treatises on apiculture, and would 

 take us too far.^ 



1 The stranger queen is usually brought into the hive enclosed in a little cage with iron 

 wires, which is hung between two combs. The cage has a door made of wax and honey, 

 which the workers, their anger over, proceed to gnaw, thus freeing the prisoner, whom 

 they will often receive without any ill-will. Mr. Simmins, manager of the great apiary at 

 Rottingdean, has recently discovered another method of introducing a queen, which being 

 extremely 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 

 introduction a matter of so great difficulty. She is almost distracted, flies to and fro, hides, 

 and generally comports herself as an intruder, thus arousing the suspicions of the bees, 

 which are soon confirmed by the workers' examination. Mr. Simmins at first completely 

 isolates the queen he intends to introduce, and lets her fast for half-an-hour. He then lifts 

 a corner of the inner cover of the orphaned hive, and places the strange queen on the top of 



H 



