90 
BEE CULTURE. 
another hive, and are stung to death by its inmates. Occa- 
sionally, when all return to their own domicil, the workers, 
as if displeased with the procedure, seize their queen, and, 
forming themselves into a knot, squeeze her to death. I am 
by no means confident that this aft'ectiouate embrace springs 
from maternal affection ; still they might sting her to death 
in a moment, while I have known them to be engaged in this 
hugging process for three successive days together, and the 
queen still living, while in other cases they will continue to 
hug her carcass for several hours after life has become ex- 
tinct. As soon as they discover her decease they drag her 
to the entrance and cast her out of the hive. 
After impregnation has taken place, and she has safely 
returned to her hive, losses are comparatively few, unless tho 
nucleus hive or colony be too small to satisfy her prolific de- 
mands, when she will disencumber herself of eggs by de- 
positing them on tho edges, or in large numbers in the cells, 
and then desert and seek a wider field for her operations by 
entering, or attempting to enter, another hive, in which ef- 
fort she generally perishes. At other times, in such small 
ducIcus hives, the population becomes too dense for comfort, 
and they “swarm." Usually, however, in such cases, as in 
starving, it is rather a desertion than swarming, as no queen 
cells or workers remain behind. When they become too 
densely populated I divide them, or rob them of brood be- 
fore hatched, in order to prevent it. Where they chance 
to become too weak I furnish them brood from other hives ; 
so also with honey, thus keeping them in proper condition 
for my purposes. 
Iu all cases where the young queens become impregnated 
by the native or impure Italian drones they should be sup- 
planted by others as speedily us possible, reared from Italian 
e ggs of unquestionable purity ; and this precautionary pro- 
cess should be repeated until every colony in the apiary is 
supplied with a queen of undoubted purity. 
INTRODUCING QUEENS. 
The worker bees manifest great affection for their queen. 
I have mere than once been stung by them. When catching 
or holding her she would utter a erv of distress. When de- 
prived of her they manifest the greatest sorrow and anxiety 
