THE HONEY-BEE. 141 



round the apiary, wheeling about in mazy circles, 

 and in a kind of regular confusion, but dart away in 

 a condensed body, and with a rapid wing, with a 

 shrill whizzing sound, and almost always in a straight 

 line, as if they had some particular selected spot in 

 view. It is supposed, indeed, and on feasible grounds, 

 that in every case the bees, previous to swarming, 

 have fixed on a place of abode ; that they alight in 

 the first instance on a bush or tree, merely as a 

 general rendezvous, before proceeding to their final 

 destination ; and that some days previously they send 

 out some of their number in the character of scouts 

 to look out for a suitable habitation. Whether this 

 be the fact or not, is a question which has given 

 rise to considerable discussion ; and a host of apia- 

 rians have taken opposite sides on the subject. The 

 advocates of the scout system are Warder, Butler, 

 Bonner, and Knight among the British writers, several 

 French naturalists, and the author of the letters of 

 an American farmer. On the other side are Reau- 

 mur, Buffon, Bonnet, and Huber. Who shall decide 

 when such authorities differ in opinion ? As far as 

 our experience goes, it is in favour of the scout 

 system. At the approach of the swarming season, 

 we usually place an empty hive or two in the apiary 

 to be ready for the reception of swarms ; and few years 

 perhaps none have elapsed in which we have not 

 observed for some days before the swarming com- 

 mences, a few scores of bees very busy in some one of 

 these empty hives ; a circumstance almost uniformly 

 followed by a swarm taking possession of it. They are 



