able precautions to rear a successor; or
else she dies very suddenly, so as to leave behind her, brood of a
suitable age. It is seldom that a queen in a hive that is strong in
numbers and stores, dies either at a period of the year when there is no
brood from which another can be reared, or when there are no drones to
impregnate the one reared in her place. In speaking of the age of bees,
it has already been stated that queens commonly die in their fourth
year, while none of the workers live to be a year old. Not only is the
queen much longer lived than the other bees, but she seems to be
possessed of greater tenacity of life, so that when any disease
overtakes the colony, she is usually among the last to perish. By a most
admirable provision, their death ordinarily takes place under
circumstances the most favorable to their bereaved family. If it were
otherwise, the number of colonies which would annually perish, would be
very much greater than it now is; for as a number of superannuated
queens must die every year, many, or even most of them might die at a
season when their loss would necessarily involve the ruin of their whole
colony. In non-swarming hives, I have found cells in which queens were
reared, not to lead out a new swarm, but to supply the place of the old
one which had died in the hive. There are a few well authenticated
instances, in which a young queen has been matured before the death of
the old one, but after she had become quite aged and infirm. Still,
there are cases where old queens die, either so suddenly as to leave no
young brood behind them, or at a season when there are no drones to
impregnate the young queens.

That queens occasionally live to such an age as to become incapable of
laying worker eggs, is now a well established fact. The seminal
reservoir sometimes becomes exhausted, before the queen dies of old age,
and as it is never replenished, (see p. 44,) she can only lay
unimpregnated eggs, or such as produce drones instead of workers. This
is an additional confirmation of the theory first propounded by
Dzierzon. I am indebted to Mr. Wagner for the following facts. "In the
Bienenzeitung, for August, 1852, Count Stosch gives us the case of a
colony examined by himself, with the aid of an experienced Apiarian, on
the 14th of April, previous. The worker-brood was then found to be
healthy. In May following, the bees worked industriously, and built new
comb. Soon afterwards they ceased to buil