The Swarm 
of the queens appear anxious to make her 
escape, then, be she the legitimate sover- 
eign or be she the stranger, she will at 
once be seized and lodged in the living 
prison until such time as she manifest 
once more the desire to attack her foe. It 
is right to add, however, that the numer- 
ous experiments that have been made on 
this subject have almost invariably resulted 
in the victory of the reigning queen, owing 
perhaps to the extra courage and ardour 
she derives from the knowledge that she 
is at home, with her subjects around her, 
or to the fact that the bees, however im- 
partial while the fight is in progress, may 
possibly display some favouritism in their 
manner of imprisoning the rivals; for 
their mother would seem scarcely to suffer 
from the confinement, whereas the stranger 
almost always emerges in an appreciably 
bruised and enfeebled condition. 
103 
