64 Transactions of the 



hands of the bee : by means of these delicate organs the bees 

 converse with one another, and if they be deprived of them, 

 they seem to lose the wonderful instinct with which nature 

 has endowed them. They are perpetually in motion, and 

 have a wonderfully keen sense of all surrounding objects ; 

 they even convey to the bee a knowledge of the state of the 

 atmosphere. It is by the aid of these organs that the bee 

 is able to carry on its exact and regular work inside the 

 hive, in total darkness, and through them it perceives the 

 loss of the queen, and communicates its alarming discovery 

 to the other bees. The abdomen of the queen and workers 

 is furnished with a sting, consisting of two fine darts lying 

 side by side, and enclosed in a sheath. These are pressed 

 deeper and deeper into the flesh, and when the hooks have 

 taken firm hold of it, the sheath follows, conducting the 

 poison into the wound ; this contrivance is often quoted as 

 a combination of chemical action with mechanical apparatus. 

 I will now describe the history of a stock of bees, and will 

 begin my description from the time when a new swarm 

 settles in its new abode. It has already been mentioned 

 that during the months of April and May, the queen lays a 

 great many eggs, destined chiefly to become drones. This 

 addition to the colony causes great inconvenience, owing to 

 the increase of the temperature of the hive and the decrease 

 of room. The old queen at this time deposits eggs in the 

 royal combs, in order to provide a successor for herself, or a 

 queen for the new colony. It is at this time that she is seized 

 with the phrenzy to destroy the royal brood. Her excite- 

 ment is communicated to the workers, and great confusion 

 is produced in the hive. The rapid movements of the bees in 

 this tumult cause the temperature to rise about 16°, that is, 

 from 90° to about 108° Fahr. A large portion of the bees are 

 now preparing themselves for their departure, by filling their 

 crops with honey. A place for the new swarm has often 

 been selected beforehand, in a hollow tree, or elsewhere, by 

 the bees that acted as pioneers. But when a suitable place 

 has not been found, or when the queen bee is too weak to 

 accompany the swarm to the spot selected, they cluster 

 round the branch of a tree or some other sitnilar object. 

 Not long ago a swarm settled in Temple Street, Bristol, and 

 about the same time, another was seen winging its way 

 across the College Close ; and once a still more sociable 

 swarm chose as its resting-place an old gentleman's head. 

 When the swarm is settled in its new abode, the first thing 

 to be done is, to construct some combs composed of workers' 



