PYGMY WORKERS AND BUILDERS. 117 



queen pass all the sentinels and guards, until she comes in 

 presence of the old queen, a. battle is inevitable, as the 

 workers will detain either if they seem disposed to fly. 



9. After the loss of a queen by a swarm, if a strange 

 queen be introduced, her reception will depend entirely 

 upon the time which has elapsed since their bereavement. 

 At first they refuse to be comforted, and reject any attempt 

 to replace their loss. After eighteen hours they begin to 

 consider the matter, and in twenty-four receive, with royal 

 honors, any queen which may be offered them. 



10. A common bee, when it reaches its maturity, emerges 

 from its cell without help, but for some time it is too weak 

 to fly. A queen, however, is guarded by the workers ; she is 

 closely watched, and constantly fed through a small aper- 

 ture in the covering of her cell, until she has attained suf- 

 ficient strength to fly. The presence of a developed and 

 imprisoned queen is generally made known by a peculiar 

 note which she utters, called "piping." Above the busy 

 hum of the hive this sound may be distinguished ; it seems 

 to be the expression of her impatience at her imprisonment, 

 and is the usual precursor of swarming. 



11. When the swarming season arrives, and the drones 

 and some of the new queens have nearly arrived at matu- 

 rity, the old queen becomes violently agitated, and rapidly 

 passes over the combs, communicating her agitation to all 

 she meets. In a short time the whole swarm appears to be 

 in a violent state of excitement. Within the hive the ther- 

 mometer rises from between 90° and 95° to 104°, a heat in- 

 tolerable to the bees, and, with the queen at their head, they 

 rush impetuously out of the hives. The initial cause of 

 the queen's agitation is not known, but the swarming is as 

 much occasioned by the excessive heat as by the overstocked 

 hive. 



12. Honey is not directly obtained from flowers, but is 

 a saccharine substance which is worked over by the inter- 



