114 BEE-FJRMING. 



difference. Dr. Dunbar strikingly illustrates this : " So 

 long as the queen remained a virgin, not the slightest 

 degree of respect or attention was paid to her ; not a single 

 bee gave her food ; she was obliged, as often as she re- 

 quired 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, or seemed to care whether she fed or starved ; but 

 no sooner did she become a mother than the scene was 

 changed, and all testified towards her that most affectionate 

 attention which is uniformly exhibited to fertile queens." 



^ But mark her royal port and awful mien, 

 Where moves with measured pace the insect queen. 

 Twelve chosen guards, with slow and solemn gait, 

 Bend at her nod, and round her person wait." 



— Evans. 



Though provided with a sting like the worker-bee, she 

 never uses it in self-defence, excepting only in combat 

 with a rival queen. Not unfrequently, after the first 

 swarm has left the hive, which is always led by the old 

 queen, she leaves behind her two or three young queens in 

 the cells ; and it may occur that two of them leave the 

 cell at the same time ; in that case, if the hive is not suffi- 

 ciently populous to throw off another swarm, the two 

 queens fight; the victor reigns afterwards supreme over the 

 colony. In this case, Huber states, she uses her sting to 

 destroy her rival. 



The queen lays the eggs, which may produce workers, 

 drones, or queens. Langstroth, the noted American 

 apiarian, who has devoted many years to the study of 

 bees, says, " It has been noticed that the queen-bee 

 usually commences laying very early in the season, and 

 always long before there are anv males in the hive." How, 

 then, are her eggs impregnated ? Francis Huber, of 

 Geneva, by a long course of indefatigable investigations. 



