RAISING AND INTRODUCTION OF QUEENS. 319 
It will be seen, from the plans suggested, that the 
eggs furnishing queens, in the hands, of the expert, 
are scarcely, in any instance, laid by a mother sur- 
rounded in her stock by the swarming fever ; and since 
I (if I may be allowed a convenient but, perhaps, slightly 
! inaccurate expression) the mental conditions under 
I which these eggs are laid are likely to reappear, this 
i is of the highest moment. Every faculty or propen- 
sity derives force from exercise, and diminishes in 
intensity by infrequent use. This is equally true of the 
organs of the body as of the instincts accompanying it. 
I In our coal-mines exist eyeless spiders, the descend- 
ants of those carried down, probably, in the fodder of 
the horses, and which, in the darkness, long years 
since, had to secure their food by the exercise of the 
sense of touch. Their eyes, out of use, and never 
stimulated by the presence of light, have decreased 
in energy and size generation after generation, until 
we have their progeny actually devoid of the organ 
which circumstances had rendered useless. Similarly, 
if queens be raised, generation after generation, from 
parents which have never joined in a swarming expe- 
dition, and which have been strangers to the stimulus 
I of the swarm fever, it is certain that the disposition 
j to swarm will gradually all but disappear. 
The compactness of the brood-nest is a point of 
more than trifling moment, aiding the bees in main- 
taining temperature, and the bee-keeper in preserving 
his brood and honey chambers practically distinct. It 
: is the result, undoubtedly, of selection, and is not 
dependent upon the environment of the queen. On 
; one occasion here a swarm was hived carelessly, and 
