MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 86 



nervous action induced by the general excitement of the bees, 

 which always follows active storing, is not only possible, but 

 quite likely. 



The old poetical notion that the queen is the revered and 

 admired sovereign of the colony, whose pathway is ever lined 

 by obsequious courtiers, whose person is ever the recipient'of 

 loving caresses, and whose will is law in this bee-hive king- 

 dom, controlling all the activities inside the hive, and leading 

 the colony whithersoever they may go, is unquestionably mere 

 fiction. In the hive, as in the world, individuals are valued 

 for what they are worth. The queen, as the most important 

 individual, is regarded with solicitude, and her removal or loss 

 noted with consternation, as the welfare of the colony is 

 threatened ; yet, let the queen become useless, and she is 

 despatched with the same absence of emotion that charac- 

 terizes the destruction of the drones when they have become 

 supernumeraries. It is very doubtful if emotion or senti- 

 mentality are ever moving forces among the lower animals. 

 There are probably certain natural principles that govern in 

 the economy of the hive, and aught that conspires against, or 

 tends to intercept the action of these principles, becomes an 

 enemy to the bees. All are interested, and doubtless more 

 united than is generally believed, in a desire to promote the free 

 action of these principles. No doubt the principle of antag- 

 onism among the various bees has been overrated. Even, the 

 drones, when they are being killed off in the autumn, make a 

 sickly show of defense, as much as to say, the welfare of the 

 colony demands that such worthless vagrants should be exter- 

 minated ; " so mote it be ;" go ahead. The statement, too, 

 that there is often serious antagonism between the queen and 

 ■workers, as to the destruction or preservation of inchoate 

 queens, yet in the cell, is a matter which may well be inves- 

 tigated. It is most probable that what tends most for the 

 prosperity of the colony is well understood by all, and with- 

 out doiibt there is harmonious action among all the denizens 

 of the hive, to foster that which will advance the general 

 welfare, or to make war on whatever may tend to interfere 

 ■with it. If the course of any of the bees seems wavering 

 and inconsistent, we may rest assured that circumstanqes have 

 changed, and that could we perceive the bearing of all the 



