The Life of the Bee 
34 
As regards this personal affection of 
which we have spoken there is one word 
more to be said. That such affection exists 
is certain, but it is certain also that its 
memory is exceedingly short-lived. Dare 
to replace in her kingdom a mother whose 
exile has lasted some days, and her indig- 
nant daughters will receive her in such a 
fashion as to compel you hastily to snatch 
her from the deadly imprisonment reserved 
for unknown queens. For the bees have 
had time to transform a dozen workers’ 
habitations into royal cells, and the future 
the great apiary at Rottingdean, has recently discovered 
another method of introducing a queen, which being ex- 
tremely simple and almost invariably successful, bids fair 
to be generally adopted by apiarists who value their art. 
It is the behaviour of the queen that usually makes her in- 
troduction a matter of so great difficulty. She is almost 
distracted, flies to and fro, hides, and generally comports 
herself as an intruder, thus arousing the suspicions of 
the bees, which are soon confirmed by the workers’ 
examination. Mr. Simmins at first completely isolates 
the queen he intends to introduce, and lets her fast for 
half-an-hour. He then lifts a corner of the inner cover 
of the orphaned hive, and places the strange queen on 
the top of one of the combs. Her former isolation having 
terrified her, she is celgi to find herself in the midst 
