The queen-bee, unlike the great majority of her subjects, is a stayer at home; generally speaking, she only quits the hive twice in her life. . The first occasion is on the all-important day of her marriage, which always takes place at a great height in the air, and generally on the second or third day of her princess-life; she never afterwards leaves the hive, except to lead off an emigrating swarm. Evans, with proper loyalty, has duly furnished a glowing epithalamium for the queen-bee thus:-- "When noon-tide Sirius glares on high, Young love ascends the glowing sky, From vein to vein swift shoots prolific fire, And thrills each insect fibre with desire; Then Nature, to fulfil thy prime decree, Wheels round, in wanton rings, the courtier Bee; Now shyly distant, now with bolder air, He woos and wins the all-complying fair; Through fields of ether, veiled in vap'ry gloom They seek, with amorous haste, the nuptial room; As erst the immortal pair, on Ida's height, Wreath'd round their noon of joy ambrosial night." The loyalty and attachment of bees to their queen is one of their most remarkable characteristics; they constantly supply her with food, and fawn upon and caress her, softly touching her with their antennæ--a favour which she occasionally returns. When she moves about the hive, all the bees through whom she successively passes pay her the same homage; those whom she leaves behind in her track close together, and resume their accustomed occupations. The majestic deportment of the queen-bee and the homage paid to her is, with a little poetic licence, thus described by Evans:-- "But mark, of royal port and awful mien, Where moves with measured pace the insect Queen! Twelve chosen guards, with slow and solemn gait, Bend at her nod, and round her person wait." This homage is, however, only paid to matron queens. Whilst they continue princesses, they receive no distinctive marks of respect. Dr. Dunbar, the noted Scotch apiarian, observed a very striking instance of this whilst experimenting on the combative qualities of the queen-bee "So long," says he, "as the queen which survived the rencontre with her rival remained a virgin, not the slightest degree of respect or attention was paid her; not a single bee gave her food; she was obliged, as often as she required it, to help herself; and in crossing the honey cells for that purpose, she had to scramble, often with difficulty, over the crowd, not an individual of which got out of her way, or seemed to care whether she fed or starved: but no sooner did she become a mother, than the scene was changed, and all testified towards her that most affectionate attention, which is uniformly exhibited to fertile queens."