NATURAL HISTORY OP THE HONEY-BEE. 
31 
usually darker than that of the other bees. Her motions 
are generally slow and matronly, although she can, when 
she pleases, move with astonishing quickness. No colony 
can long exist without the presence of this all-important 
insect ; but must as surely perish, as the body without the 
spirit must hasten to inevitable decay. 
The queen is treated with the greatest respect and 
affection by the bees. A circle of her loving offspring 
constantly surrounds her,* testifying in various ways their 
dutiful regard ; some gently embracing her with their 
antennas, others offering her honey from time to time, and 
all of them politely backing out of her way, to give her a 
clear path when she moves over the combs. If she is 
taken from them, the whole colony is thrown into a state 
of the most intense agitation as soon as they ascertain 
their loss ; all the labors of the hive are abandoned ; the 
bees run wildly over the combs, and frequently rush from 
the hive in anxious search for their beloved mother. If 
they cannot find her, they return to their desolate home, 
and by their sorrowful tones reveal their deep sense of so 
deplorable a calamity. Their note at such times, more 
especially when they first realize their loss, is of a pecu- 
-liarly mournful character; it sounds somewhat like a 
succession of wailings on the minor key, and can no more 
be mistaken by an experienced bee-keeper, for their 
ordinary happy hum, than the piteous moanings of a sick 
child could be confounded by the anxious mother with 
its joyous Growings when overflowing with health and 
happiness. 
I know that all this will appear to many much more 
like romance than sober reality ; but, believing that it is a 
crime for any observer wilfully to misstate or conceal 
important truths, I have determined, in writing this book, 
* See the group of bees on the Title-Page. 
