484 



FARMERS' R KG I ST BR. 



[No. 8 



hia ooiMjluelone (rom facte, nnd has fallen into few 

 errors, are, first, the appearance of drones in a 

 hive; ("or no swarm will proceed from one where 

 there are none; secondly, when the bees are so 

 numerous, that part crowd about the outside ol'the 

 hive, or lodtxe on the board in clusters of thou- 

 sands: and thirdly, which Is the least equivocal 

 sign of the day of swarniing, when fewer bees than 

 usual go abroad tor collection, and return without 

 honey "or wa::. IVjOst observers also afhirm, that i 

 in the evening before swarming an rnccmnion j 

 humming or buzzing is heard in tlie '/live, and a i 

 distinct sound from the queen, called ioUin^ or 

 adUiig. Mr. Hunter compares it to a note of a 

 piano ibrtc; and other authors to diflhrent tonsc-;. 

 Thia we rather incline to suppose is not an i-idi- 

 Lvation of swarming, but h proof that thero is a 

 young queen as yet conPned in her ceil, and that 

 probably the eountl proceeds from her. We shall 

 afterwarde have occasion to eay a tew w rds con- 

 cerning the power of a queen in emitting sor.nds, 

 and the wonderful elfect vv^hich these instantly pro- 

 duce on the whole worUerc. 



In illustrating the concomitanlH of swarming, 

 we shall again resort to the ojservations of the na- 

 turalist Huber, one of the few in-vesligators of the 

 subject, whose rernarkr. are to be received with 

 implicit credit. After esiahlislung that an old 

 queen conducts swarnTiS, leaving worms or nymphs 

 in the hive, which, in their turn, transform to 

 queens, he availed himsslf of a favorable season 

 to follow their history in the perfect state. 



A young queen being introduced into a hive on 

 the 12th of May, the bses received her well, and 

 she immediately' began laying. Twelve royal 

 cells, all tituated on the edges of the communica- 

 tions or passages through the combs, were begun 

 on the twentieth, and on the twenty-seventh, ten 

 of them were much; but unequally, enlarged. On 

 the twenty-eighth, previous to which the queen 

 had ceased laying, her belly was very slender, 

 and she began to exhibit signs of agitation. Her 

 motion soon became more lively, though she still 

 continued exanuning the cells, as if about to lay: 

 sometimes introducing her belly, but suddenly 

 withdrawing it without having laid; at other times 

 depositing an egg in a diderent position from what 

 it should natuiaily aave. The queen produced 

 no audible aonnd in her course, nor was any thir.g 

 heard different from the ordinary humming of 

 bees. She pasted over the workers in her way: 

 at times, on stopping, those meeting her also stop- 

 ped, and seeming to consider her, advanced brisk- 

 ly, struck her with iheir antennfe, and mounted on 

 her back; and she proceeded thus carrying some 

 of them above her. The l;.cos no longer inclosed 

 and formed regular circles around the queen, nor 

 did they supjily her vdth honey; but she volunta- 

 rily took it from the cells in her way. Those 

 which were first amused by her motions, followed 

 her, running in the same manner, and in their 

 passage excited others ;:;ill tranquil on the combs. 

 The path she had traversed was evident after she 

 had left it, by the agitation there created, which 

 never afterwards subsided. The queen had now 

 visited every part cf the hive, and occasioned a 

 general agitation: if some places yet remained 

 quiet, the bees in motion arrived, and imparted 

 that which affected them. The queen disconti- 

 nued depositing her eggs in the cells: she dropped 

 them at random; and t lie workers ceased to watch 



over the young. They ran about in every difler- 

 ent direction: even those returning from tlie fields 

 before the agitation reached its height, no sooner 

 entered the hive, than they participated in ilie 

 same tumultuous impulse: they neglected to free 

 themselves of the waxen pellets on their limbs, 

 and ran heedlessly about. At last the whole 

 rushed precipitately to the outlets of the hive, and 

 the queen along with them. 



T.hese fiicts were ascertained with the utmost 

 care, anJ corroborated by future experiments. On 

 the first cf June, all was quiet in a hive at eleven 

 in the fbre;^;oon ; but at mid-day the queen, fi-om 

 a state of perfect tranquillity, became evidently 

 a.^ilated, and her agitation was insensibly commu- 

 nicated io tlie workers in every part of their dwell- 

 ing, in a few minutes they precipitately crowded 

 ♦o the oullets, and, along with the queen, lei'i the 

 hive. Afler they had settled on the branch of a 

 neighboring tree, the observer sought for the 

 queen, thin'.;ing, if she was removed, that the bees 

 would return to the hive: a fact which actually 

 ensued. Their first care then seemed to consist in 

 eeeldng their female : they were still in great agi- 

 tation, which graduallj' subsided, and in three 

 hours complete tranquillity was restored. 



Our limits preclude us from entering at sufficient 

 length on this most interesting part of the natural 

 economy of bees, and we must be content with re- 

 ferring to I he works of the two celebrated authors 

 alreadj^ cited. The latter ascribes the chief in- 

 ducement of those bees conducted byyoungqueens 

 to swarm, to tlie agitation by wdiich the queen is 

 animated being imparted to them. He endeavors 

 to trace the source of that agitation to the antipa- 

 thy mutually entertained by the females, which, 

 extending even to those in an imperfect state, is 

 directed against the nymphs lodged in the cells. 

 No sooner does a young queen herself attain ma- 

 turity, tlian she attempts to destroy her rivals : but 

 there is a constant guard of workers preserved over 

 them ; she is repulsed, maltreated, and driven 

 away. If deserting one cell she approaches an- 

 other, it is to experience the same resistance ; she 

 is actuated by an unconquerable desire to accom- 

 plish Jier object ; she is harassed by the incessant 

 opposition of the bees ; agitation thence ensues, 

 and she resolves on flight. It is here to be ob- 

 served, that although experiments prove that the 

 agitation o!' a queen is communicated to the work- 

 ers, and though, with regard to young (lueens, 

 such may influence the bees to swarm, the same 

 reasons will not apply to old queens leading forth 

 new colonics, for what we have above described 

 only belongs to young ones. So long as a young 

 queen remains in a virgin state, she meets with 

 little of that conspicuous respect, care, and atten- 

 tion, which is lavished on her when the bees 

 know she is about to become a mother. She is 

 previous treated with great indifference; and hence 

 arises the resistance she suffers when attempting 

 to destroy the nymphs in their cells, and her con- 

 sequent agitation. "But the conduct of the bees 

 towards the old queen, destined to conduct the first 

 ewarm, is very different. Always accustomed to 

 respect their fertile queens, they do not forget what 

 they owe to her : they allow her the most uncon- 

 trouled liberty. She "is permitted to approach the 

 royal cells ; and if she even attempts to destroy 

 them, no opposition is offered by the bees. Thus 

 her inclinations are not obstructed ; and we cannot 



