PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 163 



her gravid body is so heavy that she can scarcely drag 

 it along,) as to enable her to fly Avith ease. The most 

 indubitable sign that a hive is preparing to swarm, — so 

 says Reaumur, — is when on a sunny morning, the wea- 

 ther 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 circumstance, he observes, must be very embar- 

 rassing to one who attempts to explain all their pro- 

 ceedings 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 labours in a habitation 

 which they are to quit at noon, were they 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, however, on the warmth of the at- 

 mosphere and the state of the weather either to acce- 

 lerate 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 constiued into an 



* Rcaum. v. 611. 

 M 2 



