AUGUST 1, 1913 



forms of insect life 

 darting hither and 

 tliither as at the 

 swarming' of the hon- 

 eybees I ask, " How is 

 it that they do not 

 bump against one an- 

 otlier? " But wonder- 

 ful as is the fact that 

 they can Qy so swiftly 

 and yet each in its own 

 undisturbed and un- 

 disturbing path, how 

 imieh more wonderful 

 is it that, when they 

 are massed together, 

 they can freely move 

 in and out, and that 

 the whole mass, though 

 it be a foot in diame- 

 ter, is not only sup- 

 ]iorted as a single body 

 by the clinging legs, 

 but any one bee in that 

 mass may go out or go 

 in, may change its po- 

 sition at will, and do 

 so apparently without 

 disturbing any other 

 bee in the cluster! 

 Here are visible vibra- 

 tions of an astonish- 

 ing mass of mammoth 

 living " atomies " that 

 compose the compact 

 cluster that we know 

 as a colon}'. We think 

 it a wonderful feat 

 when we see athletes 

 clinging together in 

 some picturesque 

 form; but how much 

 more wonderful would 



it be if they could for hours retain that 

 form, and if each could freely change his 

 position and move freely among the others! 

 They may build up, they may cling together 

 for a minute in the form of a pyramid, of 

 a cross or a harp, but every one within that 

 mass must keep his place and remain mo- 

 tionless. But bees can form a mass of vari- 

 able form, sometimes resembling the letter 

 W, again the letter M, but more frequently 

 the letter V; and that this mass has its con- 

 stituent particles of insect life perfectly 

 and actively interchangeable is the amazing- 

 fact. I do not recall that in any book or 

 magazine pertaining to bees that I have 

 seen, this astonishing fact is mentioned ; 

 yet to me there are few things pertaining 

 to honeybees so astounding. Though we 

 may not be able to explain how it is done, 

 to see the thing actually done is more than 



Spending a comfortable afternoon ^vith plenty of company. 



interesting. For that purpose, go to the 

 swarm, without glove and veil, approach so 

 near that each member of the group is sin- 

 gly visible, then here and there gently sepa- 

 rate a little mass ; note how they cling, note 

 how freely they move one over another: 

 how, perhaps, a dozen supporting a hun- 

 dred below can freely travel over the dozens 

 that are above, and at the same time each of 

 the hundred below and each of the hundred 

 above is traveling swiftly in and out of the 

 cluster, with no apparent notice from its 

 associates. Here is a new field for a study 

 that should be done not so much in the hope 

 of solving the problem as to witness the 

 astonishing performance. Remove a small 

 mass from the cluster, hold it on the end of 

 your finger and see how the bees cling to- 

 gether. 



The accompanying photogi'aphs show the 



