PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 411 



enable her to fly with ease. The most indubitable sign that a hive is 

 preparing to swarm, — so says Reaumur, — is when on a sunny morning, 

 the weather being favorable to their labors, few bees go out of a hive, 

 from which on the preceding day they had issued in great numbers, and 

 little pollen is collected. This circumstance, he observes, must be very 

 embarrassing to one who attempts to explain all their proceedings upon 

 principles purely mechanical. Does it not prove, he asks, that all the 

 inhabitants of a hive, or almost all, are aware of a project that will not 

 be put in execution before noon, or some hours later ? For why should 

 bees, who worked the day before with so much activity, cease their labors 

 in a habitation which they are to quit at noon, were tliey not aware that 

 they should soon abandon it ?^ The appearance of the males, and the 

 clustering of the population at the mouth of the hive (though this last is 

 less to be relied upon, being often occasioned by extreme heat), are also 

 indications of the approach of this event. A good deal depends, how- 

 ever, on the warmth of the atmosphere and the slate of the weather either 

 to accelerate or retard it. Another sign is a general hum in the evening, 

 which is continued even during the night, — all seems to be in a bustle, 

 the greatest restlessness agitates the bees. Sometimes, to hear this hum, 

 the ear must be placed close to the hive, when clear and sharp sounds 

 may be distinguished, which appear to be produced by the vibration of 

 the wings of a single bee. This hum by some has been gravely con- 

 strued into an harangue of the queen to animate her subjects to the great 

 undertaking which she now meditates — the founding of a new empire. 

 There sometimes seem to happen suddenly amongst them, says Reaumur, 

 events which put all the bees in motion, for which no account can be 

 given. If you observe a hive with attention, you may often remain a 

 long time and hear only a slight murmur ; and then, all in a moment, a 

 sonorous hum will be excited, and the workers, as if seized with a panic 

 terror, may be seen quitting their various labors, and running off in dif- 

 ferent directions. At these moments if a young queen goes out, she will 

 be followed by a numerous troop. 



Huber has given a very lively and interesting account of the interior 

 proceedings of the hive on this occasion. The queen, as soon as she 

 began to exhibit signs of agitation, no longer laid her eggs with order as 

 before, but irregularly, as if she did not know what she was about. She 

 ran over the bees in her way ; they in their turn struck her with their 

 antennae, and mounted upon her back; none offered her honey, but she 

 helped herself to it from the cells in her path. The usual homage of a 

 court attending round her was no longer paid. Those, however, that were 

 excited by her motions followed her, rousing such as were still tranquil 

 upon the combs. She soon had traversed the whole hive, when the 

 agitation became general. The workers, now no longer attentive to the 

 young brood, ran about in all directions ; even those that returned from 

 foraging, before the agitation was at its height, no sooner entered the hive 

 than they participated in these tumultuous movements, and, neglecting to 

 free themselves from the masses of pollen on their hind legs, ran wildly 

 about. At length there was a general rush to the outlets of the hive, 

 which the queen accompanied, and the swarm took place.^ 



» Reaum. v. 611. 2 Huber, i. 251. 



