The Cycle of the Year 73 



story of the hive, thus causing the bees to return. At 

 eight o'clock the following Saturday morning the queen 

 was liberated and about nine o'clock the camera was focused 

 on the entrance and front of the hive. In not more than 

 fifteen minutes after everything was ready and as the wait- 

 ing group was in attendance seated on adjoining hives, the 

 swarm came out and the camera was put in action. When 

 the (clipped) queen left the hive, the camera was stopped 

 and she was put into a queen cage which was then tied to 

 the limb of a tree, so situated that a swarm hanging on it 

 would show against the sky. When the bees returned to 

 the hive they were shaken into a box and thrown uncere- 

 moniously into the branches of the tree around the caged 

 queen. Those that returned to the hive were again brought 

 out. In a short time the fanning observed in a natural 

 cluster was set up and the bees gradually formed a shapely 

 cluster. To get pictures of the settling of the swarm, the 

 branch was now shaken, at first gently and then more and 

 more vigorously, and the bees returned to the same branch 

 in the exact manner of the clustering of a natural swarm. 

 Here again the camera man was busy. The further treat- 

 ment of the bees was exactly as with a natural swarm. 



Since the first pictures were not satisfactory, the per- 

 formance was repeated twice the next year but without 

 the aid of a natural swarm. The bees were shaken into an 

 empty hive on the old stand with the entrance closed by a 

 stick. The clustered bees were then loosened from the 

 inside of the hive cover by pounding, and as the stick was 

 removed the camera was started. The rushing out of the 

 bees could not be distinguished from that of a natural swarm. 

 The bees were then shaken into a box and placed on a branch 

 about the caged queen. These unusual procedures suggest 

 that the clustering is brought about by the attraction of the 

 odor from the dorsal scent gland and that the bees may be 

 induced to abandon their old hive by the shaking incident 

 to this manipulation. It is also suggested that the queen 

 plays an important part in clustering. 



