LOSS OF THE QUEEN. 259 



stincts, they would have scattered their nests, and glad- 

 dened hia eyes with a numerous offspring. 



Every bee-keeper, whose hives are so arranged that the 

 young queens are liable to make mistakes, must count upon 

 heavy losses. If he puts a number of hives, under circum- 

 stances similar to those described, upon a bench, or the 

 shelves of a bee-house, he can never keep their number 

 good without constant renewal. 



605. The bees are sometimes so excessively agitated 

 when their queen leaves for impregnation (120), that they 

 exhibit all the appearance of swarming. They seem to 

 have an instinctive perception of the dangers which await 

 her, and we have known them to gather around her and 

 confine her, as though they could not bear to have her 

 leave. If a queen is lost on her wedding excursion, the 

 bees of an old colony will gradually decline ; those of an 

 after-swarm, will either unite with another hive, or dwindle 

 away (182). 



606. It would be interesting, could we learn how bees 

 become informed of the loss of their queen. When she is 

 taken from them under circumstances that excite the whole 

 colony, we can easily see how they find it out ; for, as a 

 tender mother, in time of danger, is all anxiety for her 

 helpless children, so bees, when alarmed, always seek first 

 to assure themselves of the safety of their queen. If, how- 

 ever, the queen is very carefully removed, several hours 

 may elapse before they realize their loss. How do they 

 first become aware of it? Perhaps some dutiful bee, anxious 

 to embrace her mother, makes diligent search for her 

 through the hive. The intelligence that she cannot be 

 found being noised abroad, the whole family is speedily 

 alarmed. At such times, instead of calmly conversing, by 

 touching each other's antennse, they may be seen violently 

 striking them together, and by the most impassioned dem- 

 onstrations manifesting their agony and despair (181). 



