38 miner's AMERICAN 



trary, of such a nature, as not to admit of a question, of 

 the queen being killed in the general melee, and by the 

 workers, too. 



I recently met with another instance of an attempt 

 on the life of a queen by workers. During a remarka- 

 able season of cold, wet and drizzly weather, that lasted 

 about two weeks, some of my bees commenced robbing 

 their weaker neighbors, and one day, while standing in 

 front of one of these invaded hives, watching the de- 

 structive strife, I beheld a queen on the ground directly 

 in front of the combatants, struggling with a worker. 

 The worker embraced her, with curved abdomen, en- 

 deavoring to find a penetrable point, in which to plant 

 its deadly sting. I seized the queen, but in my anxiety 

 to save her from harm, she escaped and flew away. At 

 evening, I found her in a cluster, near the entrance of 

 the hive, in front of which I first discovered her. 



I mention this fact to show that workers pay no re- 

 spect to royalty, when engaged in a general warfare. 

 In this case, it is probable, that the queen was forced 

 out of the hive, in the conflict that was raging within, 

 and was passively the object of one of the robbers' ven- 

 geance when discovered. I say passively, for whatever 

 may be the attack upon a queen by a worker, she never 

 retaliates. She never lowers her dignity sufficiently to 

 return a thrust made by a subject, but, as it were, bares 

 her breast and says, " slay me, if you have a heart to do 

 it. I choose death rather than defence." But let queen 

 be pitted against queen, and how changed the scene ! 

 The modest non-resisting queen, that tamely suffers 



