22 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



CO 



lony, as has already been remarked, knows its 

 duty, and discharges that duty with alacrity, not wait- 

 ing for orders from the queen or from each other. ; 



When the yield of honey abroad is good, an in- 

 creased amount of brood is reared ; but when it is 

 cut off suddenly by frost, or any other casualty, I 

 have seen them drag the brood, both worker and 

 drones, in all stages, from the combs, at the same 

 time killing and driving out the mature drones, as if 

 a famine was just at hand. Is it the queen that di- 

 rects this destruction of her offspring ? To test the 

 matter to the satisfaction of any one, just remove the 

 queen, when such a case occurs, from some strong 

 stock, and the only perceptible difference will be, that 

 the one having no queen will retain a portion of 

 the drones, for the purpose, doubtless, of impregnat- 

 ing the young queen, should they be successful in 

 rearing one from eggs in the combs when the queen 

 is taken away. 



The preparation for swarming is, I believe, made 

 entirely by the workers. The fact is stated by sev- 

 eral authors, in which I concur, that a guard of 

 worker bees are placed over the queen cells during 

 their progress, to prevent the old queen from de- 

 stroying them, which she would most certainly do if 

 left to the freedom of her own will, and effectually 

 prevent any swarm from going forth in a state of 

 nature, the result of which would be to bring the 

 whole race to an end ere long. 



Here we have positive evidence of the workers 

 governing the queen, and controlling her actions. 



