ON THE ECONOMY OF BEES. 251 



»nd questioned, at the mouth of each hive ; but I could not 

 discover any thing like actual resistance, or hostility, to take 

 place; though I was much inclined to believe the intercourse 

 between the hives to be hostile and predatory. The same 

 kind of intercourse continued, iu a greater or less degree; 

 during eight succeeding days, and though I watched them 

 very closely, nothing occurred to induce me to suppose, 

 that their intercourse was not of an amicable kind. On the Ended in a 

 tenth morning, however, their friendship ended, as sudden H uarre »* 

 •and violent friendships often do, in a quarrel ; and they , 



fought most furiously ; and after this there was no more vi» 

 siting. 



Two jears subsequent to this period I observed the same Similar inter- 

 kind of intercourse to take place between two hives of my course between 

 own bees, which were situate about two hundred yards dis- hives, 

 tant from each other ; they passed from each hive to the 

 other just as they did in the preceding instance, and a simi- 

 lar degree of agitation was observable. In this instance, 

 however, their friendlhip appeared to be of much shorter Quarrelled oi» 

 duration, for they fought most desperately on the fifth day; tne fi * l h 4ar, 

 and then, as in the last mentioned case, all further visiting 

 ceased. 



I have some reason to believe, that the kind of intercourse Sometimes 



I have described, which I have often seen, and which is by two swarm* 



r. .i j • • form a June* 



no means uncommon, not untrequently ends in a junction t \ oaf 



of the two swarms ; for one instance came under my obser- 

 vation, many years ago, in which the labouring bees, under 

 •circumstances perfectly similar to those I have described, 

 wholly disappeared, leaving the drones in peaceable posses- 

 sion of the hive, but without any thing to live upon. I have 

 also reasons for believing, that whenever a junction of two 

 swarms, with their property, is agreed upon, that which pro- 

 poses to remove, immediately, or soon afterward, unites 

 with the other swarm, and returns to the deserted hive during 

 the day only to carry off the honey : for having examined at 

 night a hive from which I suspected the bees to be migrat- 

 ing, I found it without a single inhabitant. I was led to 

 make the examination by information I had received from a 

 very accurate observer, that all the bees would then be ab- 

 sent. A very considerable quantity of honey was in this in- 

 stance 



