REARING QUEENS. 
89 
follow her, as in swarming, and all desert their home togeth- 
er; at others they attempt to enter auother hive and arc stung 
to death by its inmates. Occasionally, when all return to their 
own domicil, the workers, as if displeased with the proceed- 
ure, seize their queen, and forming themselves into a knot 
squeeze her to death. I am by no means confident that this 
affectionate 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 succes- 
sive days together, aod the queen still living; while in other 
cases they will continue to hug her carcass for several hours 
after life has become extinct. 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 the 
nucleus hive or colony be too small to satisfy her prolific de- 
mands, when she will disencumber herself of eggs by depos- 
iting them on the edges, or in large numbers in the cells, and 
then desert to seek a wider field lor her operations by enter- 
ing, or attempting to enter, another hive, in which effort she 
generally perishes. At other times, in such small nucleus 
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 pop- 
ulated, 1 divide them off, or rob them of brood before 
hatched, in order to prevent it. Where they chance to be- 
come too weak, I furnish them brood from other hives ; so 
also with honey ; thus keeping them in proper condition for 
my purpose. 
In all cases where the young queens become impregnated 
by the native or impure Italian drones, they should be sup- 
planted by others as speedily as possible reared from Italian 
eggs 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 workerbees man ifestgreataffectionfortheirqueen. When 
catching or holding her she would utter a cry of distress. When 
