The Swarm 
although never transgressed, is susceptible 
of what might almost be termed a Judaic 
evasion. I refer to the law that invests the 
person of a queen, whoever she be, with a 
sort of inviolability. It would be a simple 
matter for the bees to pierce the intruder 
with their myriad envenomed stings: she 
would die on the spot, and they would 
merely have to remove the corpse from the 
hive. But though this sting is always held 
ready to strike, though they make constant 
use of it in their fights among themselves, 
they will never draw it against a queen; nor will 
a queen ever draw hers on a man, an animal, 
or an ordinary bee. She will never un- 
sheath her royal weapon—curved, in scimitar 
fashion, instead of being straight, like that 
of the ordinary bee—save only in the case 
of her doing battle with an equal; in other 
words, with a sister queen. 
No bee, it would seem, dare take on itself 
the horror of direct and bloody regicide. 
Whenever, therefore, the good order and 
prosperity of the republic appear to demand 
that a queen shall die, they endeavour 
to give to her death some semblance of 
83 
