CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



after an abode of four hours, she began to deposit 

 male eggs in the cells she met with. 



'While these events passed on the surface of 

 the comb where the queen stood, all was quiet 

 on the other side. There the workers were 

 apparently ignorant of a queen's arrival in the 

 hive. They laboured with great activity at the 

 royal cells, as if ignorant that they no longer 

 stood in need of them : they watched over the 

 royal worms, supplied them with jelly, and the 

 like. But the queen having at length come to 

 this side, she was received with the same respect 

 that she had experienced from their companions 

 on the other side of the comb. They encompassed 

 her, gave her honey, and touched her with their 

 antennae ; and, what proved more satisfactorily 

 that they treated her as a mother, was their 

 immediately desisting from work at the royal 

 cells : they removed the worms, and devoured the 

 food collected around them. From this moment 

 the queen was recognised by all her people, and 

 conducted herself in this new habitation as if it 

 had been her native hive.' 



If one queen is not so introduced to supply 

 the loss of another, and no royal larvae exist, one 

 of the most wonderful phenomena of the hive 

 takes place. It has been stated that bees, on 

 losing their queen, build a royal cell around an 

 ordinary worker-bee larva, or several of them, 

 if the larvae are abundant. These, by pecu- 

 liar feeding, are formed and developed into 

 queens; proving that the worker bees, commonly 

 viewed at one time as neuters, are in reality 

 undeveloped females. This remarkable dis- 

 covery was made by Schirach. Huber proved 

 the same thing by experiment. ' I put some pieces 

 of comb, containing workers' eggs in the cells, of 

 the same kind as those already hatched, into a 

 hive deprived of the queen. The same day 

 several cells were enlarged by the bees, and con- 

 verted into royal cells, and the worms supplied 

 with a thick bed of jelly. Five were then removed 

 from these cells, and five common worms, which, 

 forty-eight hours before, we had seen come from 

 the egg, substituted for them. When they had 

 hatched on them seven days, we removed the 

 cells, to see the queens that were to be produced. 

 Two were excluded almost at the same moment, of 

 the largest size, and well formed in every respect. 

 The term of the other cells having elapsed, and 

 no queen appearing, we opened them. In one 

 was a dead queen, but still a nymph ; the 

 other two were empty. The worms had spun 

 their silk cocoons, but died before passing into 

 their nymphine state, and presented only a dry 

 skin.' 



Swarming. 



Swarming usually takes place, in temperate 

 climes, in May and June, though additional 

 swarms, and swarms from swarms, are commonly 

 later. In noticing the proceedings of a com- 

 munity from its first settlement, it was mentioned 

 that the old queen led off the first swarm, which 

 she does as if under alarm at the number of royal 

 embryos, usually from twelve to twenty, which 

 were in progress to maturity, and which the 

 worker-bees would not allow her to approach. 

 Other causes . also operate, beyond doubt, in a 

 certain degree. The increased heat of the hive 

 from crowding, for example, in all likelihood 



influences the movement. Bees cannot do with- 

 out freedom of respiration and fresh air, and it 

 has surprised many observers to find the air 

 usually pure, and below 80 degrees, in a hive 

 ordinarily filled. The insects, however, have been 

 discovered to manage this by active ventilation 

 in their own way. A number of them are always 

 to be seen near the inner, and sometimes the 

 outer side of the opening of the hive, vibrating 

 their wings with great rapidity, and sending the 

 entering air backwards in a smart current. One 

 band relieves another at this task. But when the 

 hive gets overcrowded, the heat often rises to 

 about 100 degrees ; the bees are driven to the 

 door, where they hang in clusters, while the 

 warmth makes the hive visibly moist. At the 

 same time, the old queen's alarm at the growth 

 of the royal young seems to have its influence. 

 She would fain kill them, but the worker-bees lose 

 all respect for her, biting and beating her off with 

 violence. The way in which they defend the 

 royal young at swarming-time is indeed most 

 remarkable. If, at any other season, they bring 

 up queens from worker-larvae, the first queen that 

 leaves the cell is allowed to kill the rest at 

 pleasure. But when casting colonies, the workers, 

 as if from the sense that various swarms may be 

 cast off, and various queens required, will not 

 permit the old queen to touch the young, whom 

 nature has given them the strange power of 

 keeping alive, for better security, in their cells. 



Huber says : ' The longest intervals we have 

 observed between the departure of each natural 

 swarm have been from seven to nine days. This 

 is the time that usually elapses from the period 

 of the first colony being led out by the old queen 

 until the next swarm is conducted by the first 

 young queen set at liberty. The interval between 

 the second and third is still shorter ; and the 

 fourth sometimes departs on the day after the 

 third. In hives left to themselves, fifteen or 

 eighteen days are usually sufficient for the throw- 

 ing of the four swarms, if the weather continues 

 favourable, as I shall explain. 



' A swarm is never seen except in a fine day, or, 

 to speak more correctly, at a time of the day when 

 the sun shines and the air is calm. Sometimes 

 we have observed all the precursors of swarming 

 disorder and agitation but a cloud passed be- 

 fore the sun, and tranquillity was restored ; the 

 bees thought no more of swarming. An hour 

 afterwards, the sun having again appeared, the 

 tumult was renewed ; it rapidly augmented, and 

 the swarm departed. 



'Bees generally seem much alarmed at the 

 prospect of bad weather. While ranging in the 

 fields, the passing of a cloud before the sun 

 induces them precipitately to return. I am led 

 to think that they are disquieted by the sudden 

 diminution of light For if the sky is uniformly 

 obscured, and there Is no sudden alteration in 

 clearness, or in the clouds dispelling, they pro- 

 ceed to the fields for their ordinary collections, 

 and the first drops of a gentle shower do not make 

 them return with much precipitation.' 



The capture of the queen, when a swarm has 

 settled on some bush or tree, is the first step 

 towards lodging a swarm in a new hive. If she 

 be placed in it, with two or three bees, the rest will 

 soon follow. A strong glove will enable any one 

 to handle the bees without risk, as they are less 



