THE HONEY-BEE. 211 



From another hive, made of straw, that hung out 

 in the same manner, we extracted a swarm by a 

 method described by some of the older Bee-masters, 

 and with equal success : We carried the full hive 

 into a dark place, turned it up, fixed it in the frame 

 of a chair from which the stuffed bottom had been 

 removed, placed an empty hive over it, joining them 

 mouth to mouth, and partially drove it.* As soon 

 as we perceived that about half of the bees had 

 ascended into the empty hive, knowing that in these 

 cases the queen is generally amongst the foremost^ 

 we immediately replaced the old hive on its former 

 station, and removed the new one containing the 

 queen, to a little distance. As the former had plenty of 

 eggs and young brood, they were at no loss to procure 

 another queen ; while the other having a queen, pro- 

 ceeded to work in all respects as a natural swarm. 



With such a hive as Huber's, or any other square - 

 shaped hive that opens in two parts vertically, the 



satisfactory proofs of the complete success of the operation. 

 The hive contained a considerable quantity of honey, and, 

 what was of greater consequence to the naturalist, the piece 

 of brood comb which had been inserted, of about two inches 

 square, contained the remains of two royal cells, one of which 

 was open at the end, while the other had its opening in the 

 broadside. From these appearances we infer, that, from the 

 first cell a queen had issued in the natural way, and had suc- 

 ceeded in destroying her rival in the other, effecting her pur- 

 pose by tearing open the cell in the quarter which afforded 

 direct access to the vital parts of her rival's body. 



* By driving is to be understood the process of forcing the 

 bees out of a full hive into an empty one. The mode of 

 operating is described at length in page 227. 



