HYMENOP TEKA, 3 39 



approaches them the workers pinch her, pull her about, drive hei 

 \ away, and oblige her to move on, and, as the royal cells are numerous, 

 she finds with difficulty any corner in her hive where she may be at rest. 

 Incessantly tormented by the desire of attacking the other females, 

 and incessantly driven back by the guard, she becomes very much 

 excited, passes through the different groups of workers at a run, 

 and communicates to them her agitation. She leads the inmates of 

 tiie hive the same sort of dance frequently in the course of the day. 



Sometimes the young queen at the end of her attempts utters a 

 shrill song, analogous to that of the grasshopper. This song, so 

 unusual among these insects, has the effect of petrifying the bees. So 

 says Francis Huber, speaking of a queen which had just been hatched, 

 and which was trying in vain to satisfy her jealous instincts. "She 

 sang," says he, " twice. When we saw her producing this sound, she 

 was motionless, her thorax rested against the honeycomb, her wings 

 being crossed on her back, and she moved them about without un- 

 crossing them, and without opening them. Whatever cause it was 

 that made her choose this attitude, the bees seemed affected by it, all 

 of them now lowered their heads and remained motionless. Next 

 day the hive presented the same appearances, there remained still 

 twenty-three royal cells, which were all assiduously guarded by a great 

 number of bees. The moment the queen approached these, all the 

 guards were in a state of agitation, surrounded her, bit her, hustled 

 her in every way, and generally finished by driving her off; some- 

 times when this happened she sang, resuming the attitude which I 

 just now described ; from that moment the bees became motionless."'' 

 But the fever which had seized on the young queen ended by com- 

 municating itself to her subjects, and, at a particular moment, a new 

 swarm set out under her guidance. 



When the emigration is effected, the workers which had remained 

 at home set free another female. This one acts in the same way as 

 the first. She tries to get at her rivals still imprisoned, whom she 

 can smell in their cradles ; but the guard repel her with vigour, and 

 defeat all her attempts, till she makes up her mind to emigrate with a 

 new swarm. This curious scene is repeated, with the same circum- 

 stances, three or four times in the space of a fortnight, if the weather 

 is favourable, and the hive well peopled. In the end, the number of 

 bees is so much reduced, that they can no longer keep such vigilant 

 ^uard round the royal cells, and it then happens that two females 

 come out together from their cradles. Immediately the two rivals 



* " Observations sur les Abeilles," tome i., p. 265. 



