RECIPROCAL SENTIMENTS OF THE QUEENS. 211 



for under the following circumstances. The bees of the 

 respective swarms, each striving for the ascendancy, attack 

 the queen which does not belong to them. The bees of the 

 swarm A attacking the queen of the swarm B, and the bees 

 of the swarm B attacking the queen of the swarm A ; thus 

 perhaps both the queens fall at the same moment, and for 

 this reason, we strongly recommend that the queen of one of 

 the swarms should, if possible, be caught before the junction 

 takes place; but, at the same time, the captive queen should 

 not be immediately killed, nor until the result of the junction 

 has been satisfactorily ascertained. 



In all the experiments by which we have tried to discover 

 the reciprocal sentiments of one queen bee towards a stranger 

 queen, supposing both of them to be in the same hive, we 

 never met with a single instance in which they did not shun 

 each other ; and, rather than enter into single combat, most 

 anxiously betake themselves to the utmost possible distance 

 from each other. In fact, there is no living insect, which 

 appears to be more sensible of its value and importance to 

 the community over which she presides, than the queen bee ; 

 and we have invariably experienced, that rather than risk a 

 personal encounter « la Hnber, she very wisely retires to a 

 place of safety, and leaves the task to her faithful subjects, of 

 emancipating her from the presence of a hated rival, and 

 thereby remove all the danger, which an usurping and in- 

 trusive monarch would be likely to cause to her awful and 

 legitimate sovereignty. 



Some portion of the foregoing matter may perhaps be 

 considered as irrelevant to the immediate subject of this 

 chapter, but, on a close analysis, it will be found perfectly 

 applicable to it. There is scarcely any motion of the queen 

 bee, that has not a proximate or a remote relation to the 

 formation or the departure of the swarms ; which may be 

 considered, whether in regard to interest or profit, as the 

 most important of all circumstances in the natural economy 

 k 6 



