bee-keeper's manual. 37 



which the hive was placed, and among the slain was a 

 queen, perfect in size and form I The question then 

 arose, where did this dead queen come from ? If there 

 had been a queen with that portion of the two swarms, 

 that I had forced into this hive, such queen would then 

 not have been killed by them. Had there been more 

 than one queen in this portion of the swarm, then it 

 would have been very natural for one to have been im- 

 mediately killed by the other ; and in such case the bees 

 would have remained contented with the remaining 

 queen ; but in a few hours the whole of the bees left this 

 hive in which the queen had lost her life, and joined the 

 other half of the swarms, thus giving conclusive evidence 

 that both queens of the two swarms were in the first 

 hive, and consequently, the small family of bees, that I 

 had considered to be without a queen, did actually pos- 

 sess one, and it was her majesty that had perished with 

 her subjects. 



In all cases of my experience, I had found that differ- 

 ent families of bees, or swarms mix peaceably together, 

 while being hived ; hence my surprise at the fight in this 

 instance; but it must have been the existence of a queen 

 among' them, and the treasure of honey that engendered 

 so deadly a strife. 



When the bees departed from this hive, in which the 

 battle had taken place, not a drop of honey remained. 

 It had all been taken in their honey bags, to deposit 

 wherever a permanent abode should be found. 



Huber has stated that queens are never slain by 

 workers in combat, but here is an instance to the con- 



