H YMENOPTERA, 335 



noise is the agitation of the wings of a great number of the bees in 

 the middle of the hive. 



It has been remarked, that when about to swarm the bees seem 

 as if mad. They lose their senses ; the queen setting them the 

 example. Francis Ruber has made the most curious remarks on this 

 subject. Here is, according to this immortal observer, what goes on 

 in the hive when an emigration is about to take place : — The queen, 

 being angry at the noise which the young females ready to be hatched 

 are making in their cells, runs about the hive, examines the cells, and 

 endeavours to destroy those which contain the females ; but she 

 meets with a very firm resistance from the workers, who take upon 

 themselves to protect them. She endeavours here and there to lay 

 an egg, but generally retires without having done so. She runs, stops 

 short, sets off again, walks over the bodies of the workers she meets ; 

 sometimes, when she stops, the bees near her stop also, as if to look 

 at her. They advance briskly towards her, strike her with their heads, 

 and mount on her back. She then dashes off, carrying with her some 

 of the workers. Not one of them offers her honey; she takes it 

 herself from the open cells, which are for the use of the whole hive. 

 They no longer draw up in line on each side of her as she moves 

 along; her guard of honour no longer surrounds her; she seems 

 fallen from her high rank. 



However, the first bees which were disturbed by her now follow, 

 running like herself, and spread alarm in their turn among the rest of 

 the population. The road which the queen has traversed is to be 

 recognised by the excitement which she has caused on her passage, 

 and which cannot now be calmed. Very soon she has visited every 

 corner of the hive, so that the fever has become general. She now 

 no longer lays her eggs in the cells, but lets them fall anywhere at 

 random. She seems to have lost her wits. 



The nurses in their turn are attacked with the contagion. They 

 pay no attention now to their charges. Those which return from the 

 country have no sooner entered the hive than they take part in these 

 tumultuous movements, and give themselves up to the general excite- 

 ment. Not even thinking of depositing the pellets of pollen which 

 they carry on their legs, they run about apparently without aim. The 

 delirium takes possession of the whole republic. The end of all this 

 is a general sortie. The whole hive, with the queen at its head, 

 precipitates itself towards the door, and issues forth to create a 

 swarm. Once in the fresh air, they become quiet; their madness 

 subsides, and they fix themselves to a branch of a tree, and having 

 b^en captured, set to work again as usual. Francis Huber often 



