278 LOSS OP THE QUEEN. 



when there are no drones to impregnate the one reared in 

 her place. 



In speaking of the age of bees, it has already been stated 

 that queens commonly die in their fourth year, while none 

 of the workers live to be a year old. Not only is the queen 

 much longer lived than the other bees, but she is possessed 

 of much greater tenacity of life, so that when disease over- 

 takes the colony, she is usually among the last to perish. 

 By an admirable provision, her death ordinarily occurs under 

 circumstances the most favoroble for her bereaved family. 

 If it were otherwise, a much greater number of colonies 

 would annually perish ; for as many superannuated queens 

 die every year, some, or even most of them, might die at a 

 season when their loss would necessarily involve the ruin of 

 their whole colony. In non-swarming hives, I have found 

 cells in which queens were reared, not to accompany a new 

 swarm, but to supply the place of the old one which had 

 died in the hive. There are a few well authenticated in- 

 stances, in which a young queen has been matured before 

 the death of the old one, but after she had become quite 

 aged and infirm. Still, there are cases where old queens 

 die, either so suddenly as to leave no young brood behind 

 them, or at a season when there are no drones to impregnate 

 the young queens. 



That queens occasionally live to such an age as to become 

 incapable of laying worker eggs, is now a well established 

 fact. The seminal reservoir sometimes becomes exhausted, 

 before the queen dies of old age, and as it is never replen- 

 ished, she can only lay unimpregnated eggs, or such as 

 produce drones instead of workers. This is an additional 

 confirmation of the theory first propounded by Dzierzon. I 

 am indebted to Mr. Wagner for the following facts. " In 

 the Bienenzeitung, for August, 1852, Count Stosch gives us 



