32 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



add to this the fact that a few bees prepare and sup- 

 ply her with food, in connection with the knowledge 

 or instinct which teaches the bees the necessity for 

 the presence of the queen, merely for the purpose of 

 supplying the hive with eggs — and we have all of 

 royalty or filial affection for the queen by the work- 

 ers which I have been able to discover. Whenever 

 she ceases to perform this duty to the satisfaction of 

 the workers — when from age or accident she becomes 

 less prolific, ceasing to furnish sufficient eggs to sup- 

 ply the wants of the colony — how do the workers 

 proceed ? Are they prompted by their filial affection 

 for their mother, so to speak, to permit her to remain 

 mistress of the hive, doing the best service her age 

 or infirmities would permit her to render ? Nay ; 

 when this occurs, they rear one or more young queens 

 (we might suppose, in opposition to her remon- 

 strances, or perhaps entreaties). When one is in a 

 fit condition to take her place, she is ignominiously 

 sacrificed, apparently for the good of the society for 

 which she is unable longer to furnish the means of 

 perpetuation. Just as soon as she fails to perform 

 her appropriate duties, she is dealt with as remorse- 

 lessly and as promptly by the workers as the drones 

 are when they cease to be useful to promote the 

 welfare of the colony ; hence the old adage is true, 

 that in a hive not a single useless idle bee is permitted 

 to remain. 



My object has been to get at facts; I have no 

 disposition to attempt to underrate the value and the 

 well known and absolute necessity of the queen ; no 



