HYMENOPTERA. 349 



details on apiculture, that is to say, on the attention it is necessary to 

 pay to bees, we will mention the principal duties of the bee-keeper. 



When, in the spring, the bees font la barbe (as the French say), 

 that is, when they are getting" ready to swarm, one must watch 

 narrowly, so as not to lose them. As soon as a swarm has settled on 

 a tree or on any artificial resting-place prepared on purpose in the 

 neighbourhood, it is approached, after having covered one's face with 

 a piece of transparent linen or canvas, or with a hood, and the cluster 

 is caused to fall into a hive turned upside down. The hive is then 

 turned up and again put in its place ; or else, if it is only to serve for 

 the conveyance of the swarm to another place, shaken about before 

 the door of the hive which the swarm is destined to occupy. The 

 bees then beat to arms, and set to work to enter their new habitation 

 in a compact column. Fig. 324 represents the manner in which one 

 ought to proceed in order to gather a swarm of bees, which is fixed 

 on a branch of a tree, and introduce it into the hive prepared for it. 

 Let us listen on this subject to an experienced bee-keeper, M. Hamet : 

 " As soon as a swarm has fixed itself anywhere, and there are only 

 a few bees fluttering round the cluster, you must make your prepara- 

 tions for lodging them in a hive you have got ready for the purpose. 

 Some people rub the hive on the inside with aromatic plants or 

 honey, with the object of making the bees fix themselves there more 

 surely. This precaution is not indispensable. What is essential is, 

 that the hive should be clean, and free from any bad smell. It is a 

 good thing to pass it beforehand over the flame of a straw fire, which 

 destroys the eggs of insects and insects themselves which may have 

 lodged in it. 



" After having covered your head with a veil, if the swarm has 

 settled in a difficult place, and you are afraid of being stung, you hold 

 the hive under the cluster of bees and make them fall into it, either 

 by shaking the branch to which the swarm is attached, very hard, or 

 by means of a small broom, or even with the hand, for then they very 

 rarely sting : it is hardly ever necessary to take any precautions in 

 approaching them, except for swarms which have been fixed for many 

 hours, or since the day before. When the bees have fallen in a mass 

 to the bottom of the hive, you turn this gently over, and place it on a 

 piece of linen stretched out on the ground near the place where the 

 swarm was, or on a tray, or simply on the ground itself, if it is dry 

 and clean. You will have taken care to place on this linen a little 

 wedge, a stick or a stone, to raise the hive a little, and to leave room 

 through which the bees may enter. A great part of the bees which 

 fall into the hive fix themselves on to its sides ; but a good number 



