CONTROLLED INCREASE. 
263 
balance, and the weights adjusted so as to turn when 
the quantity of bees desired has been added. These 
are jerked or brushed from the frames into the funnel 
mouth, when they slide to their destination. In this 
case, the queen is best given at the last, by lifting a 
corner of the perforated zinc cover. The bees need not 
all come from one stock, and the queen may be an entire 
stranger to every worker. Being fastened up, they 
soon discover that they are queenless, broodless, and 
imprisoned, and commence their lamentations by a 
loud and characteristic roaring buzz. Any queen may 
now be dropped in, and she will be received as the 
harbinger of hope. When the heterogeneous colony 
is liberated on new ground, it goes to work as would 
a natural swarm. Mr. Simmins, who has done so 
much to improve and simplify queen introduction, is, 
1 believe, the originator of this very useful method. 
In order to give the purchaser confidence in the 
strength of the swarms offered, some dealers have 
quoted 20,000 bees as a guaranteed number ; but 
surely this has been done under a misapprehension, 
continued because of the difficulty actual counting 
involves. It has been already stated (p. 212) that 
bees of distinct races vary considerably in weight, 
but the amount of material contained in the digestive 
tube, and the state of the honey-sac, may cause the 
number per pound to differ much more widely. I found 
10,200 individuals, brought to starvation, weigh ilb. only, 
while the larger of the dark-coloured bees, gorged as 
at swarming time, weigh ilb. per 3000 — the smaller, 
yellow races running up to 4500 or even 5000 per pound ; 
and these bees will yet take more food when it is 
