28 
THE HONEY-MAKERS. 
the business of the hive goes on well for about an 
hour ; then a few workers appear agitated, cease 
from work, forsake the young, and wander about 
in great alarm. As one bee meets another, they 
mutually cross their antennoe, or feelers, and the 
one which seems first to have learned the sad 
news tells the mournful story to the other, by 
gently tapping it with these slender, flexible or- 
gans. The latter, in turn, becomes agitated, runs 
over the cells spreading the tidings in the same 
manner. Thus, at length, the whole hive is in 
confusion, and so continues for several hours, 
when all becomes calm, and they set to work to 
repair the loss. 
They accomplish this in a most surprising 
manner. Hastily pulling down the waxen walls 
of several of their six-sided houses, they slay all 
the infant bees, or grubs, within them but one. 
For this a brilliant life is in prospect. But for 
the vacated throne, this bee of humble birth, 
straitly housed, and poorly fed, would have left 
her cell a common worker. But now, room 
being made by tearing down the adjacent cells, 
her narrow house is changed to a royal dwelling, 
