THE GENESIS OF THE QUEEN iii 



The old trite saying among beemen, that bees 

 never do anything invariably, receives constant 

 illustration in any near study of the ways of the 

 honey-bee. It has been seen that a colony de- 

 prived of its queen, and having no worker-egg or 

 grub less than three days old wherewith to make 

 good its deficiency, is commonly doomed to early 

 extinction. But, on rare occasions, colonies sup- 

 posed to be in this plight will make an unexpected 

 and inexplicable recovery. After a period of the 

 doldrums, extending for three weeks or more, a 

 sudden renewed activity and exhilaration is observ- 

 able in the hive. The pollen-bearers, who have 

 been hitherto almost idle, resume their busy work ; 

 and, on the hive being opened, all the evidences of 

 the presence of a fertile, laying queen-mother are 

 again to be seen. In many instances in which a 

 new lease of life has thus been vouchsafed to a 

 colony under what seems an inexorable ban, no 

 doubt appearances have been deceptive. The 

 bees may have discovered in their midst a worker- 

 larva not yet too far advanced for promotion to 

 queenship, and thus have achieved their salvation 

 at the eleventh hour. But, in at least one case, 

 the testimony against the possibility of this seems 

 complete. A nucleus stock, containing only three or 

 four small combs and only about five hundred bees, 

 was deprived of its queen. Ten days later every 

 queen-cell that had been formed in the interval 

 was destroyed, leaving in the hive not a single egg 



