
HYMENOPTERA. 345 
they give them. In this case, then, the evil can be repaired ; the 
workers themselves find a remedy without assistance. But if the 
hive possesses a degenerate queen, which only lays male eLes, 
the intervention of man is necessary to save it, by the substitution 
of a properly impregnated queen. If, indeed, a strange queen 
wished to penetrate alone into a hive already containing a sovereign, 
she would infallibly be stopped at the door and stifled by the sen- 
tinels who guard the entrance to the hive. These would surround 
her immediately, and keep her captive under them till she perished, 
either through suffocation or hunger. They do not employ their 
stings against an intruding queen, except in the case of an attempt 
beimg made to deliver her from their clutches. They get rid of 
her by stifling. 
When it is wished to introduce into a hive a stranger queen, 
after haying removed the original sovereign, many precautions 
must be used before putting her into the common home. Itis only 
after some time that the bees become aware of the disappearance 
of their queen: but they then manifest great emotion. They run 
hither and thither, as though mad, leaving off their work, and 
making a peculiar buzzing sound. If you return to them their 
original sovereign, they recognise her, and calm is immediately 
restored ; but the substitution of a new queen for the original 
sovereign does not produce the same effect in every case. If 
you introduce the new queen half a day only after the removal 
of the old queen, she is very badly received, and is at once sur- 
rounded, the workers trying to suffocate her. Generally she sinks. 
under this bad treatment. But if you allow a longer interval to 
elapse before you introduce the substitute, the bees, rendered more 
tractable by the delay, are better disposed towards her, If you 
allow an interregnum of twenty-four hours, the stranger queen is 
always received with the honours due to her rank, a general 
buzzing announcing the event to the whole population of the hive. 
They assign to their adopted queen a train of picked attendants. 
| They draw up in line on her passing by ; they caress her with the 
tips of their antenne ; they offer her honey. A little joyful flut- 
tering of the escort announces that every one in the little republic 
is satisfied. The labours out of doors and indoors then begin anew 
with more activity than ever. 

























