CHOICE OF A NEW QUEEN. 
25 
for bee-laborers, who there recruit for fresh exer- 
tions. The little community is in commotion ; 
their queen has gone, and what is to prevent an- 
archy in place of the well-ordered government 
under which they have been living ? God has 
provided for this, and the new queen is chosen 
with less hesitation and even more certainty than 
among the nations of men. 
Among the common six-sided dwellings and 
store-houses are a few circular royal structures, 
such as have been already described. These are 
occupied by young scions of royalty, who, in com- 
mon with all the young of the community, were 
on the sixth day from their birth each shut in 
her cell by an arching roof thrown over it, and 
as yet have not been released from their prison. 
Within these waxen palaces have been nurtured 
for some weeks, in different stages of growth, the 
young princesses, for one of whom the vacant 
throne is destined. The first-born is the one 
always chosen. The anxious bees, with faces 
turned toward the royal apartments, where, 
wrapped in their silken robes, the nymphs abide 
their time, wait the appearance of their sovereign. 
