PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 871 
their wishes ; yet when they are once acknowledged as governors of the 
hive, and leaders of the colony, their instinct assumes a new and wonderful 
direction. From this moment they become the “ publica cura,” the objects 
of constant and universal attention ; and wherever they go, are greeted by 
a homage which evinces the entire devotion of their subjects. You seemed 
amused and interested in no slight degree by what I related in a former 
letter of the marked respect paid by the ants to their females’; but this 
will bear no comparison with that shown by the inhabitants of the hive to 
their queen. She appears to be the very soul of all their actions, and the 
centre of their instincts. When they are deprived of her, or of the means 
of replacing her, they lose all their activity, and pursue no longer their 
daily labours. In vain the flowers tempt them with their nectar and am- 
prosial dust: they collect neither ; they elaborate no wax, and build no 
cells; they scarcely seem to exist; and, indeed, would soon perish. were 
not the means of restoring their monarch put within their reach. But, if 
asmall piece of comb, containing the brood-grubs of workers, be given to 
them, all seem endued with new life: their instincts revive ; they imme- 
diately set about building royal cells: they feed with their appropriate food 
the grubs they have selected, and everything proceeds in the usual routine. 
Virgil has described this attachment of the bees to their sovereign with 
great truth and spirit in the following lines : — 
‘Lydian nor Mede so much his king adores, 
Nor those on Nilus’ or Hydaspes’ shores: 
The state united stands while he remains ; 
But should he fall, what dire confusion reigns! 
Their waxen combs and honey, late their joy, 
With grief and rage distracted, they destroy : 
He guards the works, with awe they him surround, 
And crowd about him with triumphant sound ; 
Him frequent on their duteous shoulders bear, 
Bleed, fall, and die for him in glorious war.” 
M, Huber thus describes the consequences of the loss of a queen. When 
the queen is removed from a hive, at first the bees seem not to perceive it, 
their order and tranquillity not being disturbed, and their labours proceed- 
ing as usual. About an hour after her departure, inquietude begins to 
manifest itself amongst them; the care of the young brood no longer en- 
gages their attention, and they run here and there as if in great agitation. 
This agitation, however, is at first confined to a small portion of the com- 
munity. The bees that are first sensible of their loss meet with others ; 
they mutually cross their antennas, and strike them lightly. By this action 
they appear to communicate the sad intelligence to those who receive the 
blow, who in their turn, impart it in the same way to others. Disorder 
and confusion increase rapidly, till the whole population is>in a tumult: 
Then the workers may be seen running over the combs, and against each 
other, impetuously rushing to the entrance and quitting the hive ; from 
thence they spread themselves all around ; they re-enter and go out again 
and again,” The hum in the hive becomes very loud, and increases the 
tumult, which lasts two or three hours, rarely four or five: they then 
Teturn,and resume their wonted: care of the young ; and if the hive be 
“sited twenty-four hours after the departure of the queen, it will be seen 
2 See above, p. 320. 
BB2 
