The Swarm 
these little sagacious insects, and bend 
them to his will. In their unswerving 
loyalty they will accept the most unexpected 
events with touching courage, regarding 
them probably as some new and inevitable, 
fatal caprice of nature. And indeed, all 
this diplomacy notwithstanding, in the des- 
perate confusion that may follow one of 
these hazardous expedients, it is on the 
admirable good sense of the bees that man 
always, and almost empirically relies; on 
the inexhaustible treasure of their marvellous 
laws and customs, on their love of peace 
and order, their devotion to the public weal 
and fidelity to the future; on the adroit 
strength, the earnest disinterestedness of 
their character, and, above all, on the un- 
tiring devotion with which they fulfil their 
duty. But the enumeration of such pro- 
cedures belongs rather to technical treatises 
on apiculture, and would take us too far." 
1 The stranger queen is usually brought into the hive 
enclosed in a little cage with iron wires, which is hung 
between two combs. The cage has a door made of wax 
and honey, which the workers, their anger over, proceed 
to gnaw, thus freeing the prisoner, whom they will often 
receive without any els Mr. Simmins, manager of 
7 
