168 PEllFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



much in the space of three weeks as to send forth a 

 new colony. Being- already impregnated, she is in a 

 condition to oviposit as soon as there are cells ready to 

 receiv e her eggs : and an all-wise Providence has so 

 ordered it, that at this time she lays only such as pro- 

 duce workers. And it is the first employment of her 

 subjects to construct cells for this purpose '', The youiig- 

 queens that conduct the secondary swarms usually pair 

 the day after they are settled in their new abode ; when 

 the indifference with which their subjects have hitherto 

 treated them is exchanged for the usual respect and ho- 

 mage. 



We may suppose that one motive with tlie bees for 

 following the old queen, is their respect for her ; but 

 the reasons that induce them to foliov/ the virgin queens, 

 to whom they not only appear to manifest no attach- 

 ment, but rather the reverse, seem less easy to be as- 

 sif^ned. Probably the high temperature of the hive 

 durino- these times of tumultuous agitation may be the 

 principal cause that operates upon them. In a popu- 

 lous hive tiie thermometer commonly stands between 

 92°and 97°; but during the tumult that precedes swarm- 

 ing it rises above 10 1% a heat intolerable to these ani- 

 mals''. This is M. Huberts opinion. Yet still, though 

 -a high temperature v. ill v. ell account for the departure 

 of the swarm from the hive with a virgin queen, if 

 there were really no attachment, (as he appears to 

 think,) is it not extraordinary, that when this can- c no 

 longer operates upon them, they should agglomerate 

 about her, as they always do, be unsettled and agi- 

 tated without her, and quiet when she is with them ? 



* Jlubcr, i, 280. " Ibid- 305. 



