160 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



as to enable her to fly with ease. The most indubitable 

 sign that a hive is preparing to swarm, — so says Reau- 

 mur, — is when on a sunny morning, the weather being 

 favourable to their labours, 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 cir- 

 cumstance, 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 be- 

 fore noon, or some hours later ? For why should bees, 

 who worked the day before with so much activity, cease 

 their labours in a habitation which they are to quit at 

 noon, were they not aware that they should soon aban- 

 don it^ ? The appearance of the males, and the clus- 

 tering 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, however, 

 on the warmth of the atmosphere and the state 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 construed into an harangue of the queen to 



' Reaum. V. 611. 



