14 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



When the queen is removed they very soon miss 

 her, and immediately make a diligent search for her 

 in and about the hive, apparently manifesting a great 

 anxiety for her safety. If she is not found in a short 

 time, they settle down and go to work quietly, as if 

 nothing unusual had happened. To replace their 

 lost queen now seems to be their greatest concern. 

 It would be very difficult for the most skillful and 

 careful observer to detect any thing different in their 

 movements from those in possession of a queen ; the 

 only difference, perhaps, is, that if any comb is built 

 it is pretty certain to be drone cells. Honey and 

 pollen will be gathered and stored, and every thing 

 carried on with the same order and precision that it 

 could be if a queen was present. Now if the queen 

 rules a colony and directs its movements, laying out 

 all the plans, &c. as most writers would have us be- 

 lieve, where is the directing or governing power 

 vested, in the absence of a queen ? Are the various 

 manipulations of the hive carried on at random? I 

 think not. Every bee, when it is born into the world, 

 is most unquestionably endowed by nature with that 

 instinct which prompts it to enter upon the discharge 

 of its appropriate duties, and also with the knowledge 

 and mechanical skill necessary to perform those du- 

 ties; no apprenticeship under skilled architects is 

 necessary to enable the young bee to build the most 

 beautiful comb, complete in all its relations, which 

 has been a problem to the most profound philoso- 

 phers and geometricians for centuries (the mode of 

 testing the truth of this position will be given in 



