AETIFICIAL SWARMING. 201 



duced foiu- or five hundred bees to leave tLeir hive, and 

 enter a glass-hox, containing a small piece of comb. At 

 first, they were- in great agitation, but from the moment 

 that he presented a new queen the tumult ceased, and the 

 stranger was received with all respect. , 



" I do not dispute the truth of this experiment, but 

 Reaumur's bees were too much removed from their natural 

 condition to allow him to judge of their instincts and dis- 

 positions. He has himself observed, that their industry 

 and activity are affected by reducing their numbers too 

 much. To render such an experiment truly conclusive, it 

 must be made in a populous hive ; and on removing the 

 native queen, the stranger must be immediately substituted 

 in her place." 



It would seem, from his use of the word immediately, 

 that riuber must have been aware of the fact, that if a 

 strange queen is given to a colony, before its agitation is 

 calmed doivn (p. 158), and before royal cells are begun, 

 she will usually be well received. If the bees of a colony 

 are made to fill themselves with honey, by drumming, 

 smoking, or giving them liquid sweets, and ofi;en, if they 

 are removed to a new stand, they will readily accept of 

 any queen offered them, in place of their o-\vn. 



Bees, in possession of a fertile queen, are often quite 

 reluctant to accept of an unimpregnated one in her stead ; 

 indeed, it requires much experience to be able to give a 

 strange queen to a colony, and yet be sure of securing for 

 her a good reception. In several instances, the workers 

 have stung a strange queen to death, while I was holding 

 her in my fingers, to be able to remove her if she was 

 not kindly welcomed. To prevent accideilts, it will be 

 well to confine a queen — when given to a strange colony 

 — in what the Germans call a " queen-cage," which may 



