414 



BEE. 



out the 

 swarm. 



Bee. the least equivocal sign of the day of swarming, 

 when fewer bees than usual go abroad for collection, 



and return without honey or wax. Most observers 

 also affirm, that in the evening before swarming an 

 uncommon humming or buzzing is heard in the hive, 

 and a distinct sound from the queen, called tolling 

 or calling. Mr Hunter compares it to a note of a 

 piano forte ; and other authors to different tones. 

 This we rather incline to suppose is not an indica- 

 tion of swarming, but a proof that there is a young 

 queen as yet confined in her cell, and that probably 

 the sound proceeds from her. We shall afterwards 

 have occasion to say a few words concerning the 

 power of a queen in emitting sounds, and the won- 

 derful effect which these instantly produce on the 

 whole workers. 

 The old In illustrating the concomitants of swarming, we 



queen leads s hall again resort to the observations of the naturalist 

 Huber, one of the few investigators of the subject, 

 whose remarks are to be received with implicit cre- 

 dit. After establishing that an old queen conducts 

 swarms, leaving worms or nymphs in the hive, which, 

 in their turn, transform to queens, he availed himself 

 of a favourable season to follow their history in the 

 perfect state. 



A young queen being introduced into a hive on 

 the 12th of May, the bees received her well, and she 

 immediately began laying. Twelve royal cells, all 

 situated on the edges of the communications or pas- 

 sages through the combs, were begun on the twen- 

 tieth, and on the twenty-seventh, ten of them were 

 much, but unequally, enlarged. On the twenty- 

 eighth, previous to which the queen had not 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 examining 

 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 different po- 

 sition from what it should naturally have. The queen 

 produced no audible sound in her course, nor was any 

 thing heard different from the ordinary humming of 

 bees. She passed over the workers in her way : at 

 times on stopping, those meeting her also stopped, 

 and seeming to consider her, advanced briskly, struck 

 her with their anteniue, and mounted on her back ; 

 and she proceeded thus carrying some of them above 

 her. The bees no longer inclosed and formed regu- 

 lar circles around the queen, nor did they supply her 

 with honey ; but she voluntarily took it from the 

 cells in her way. Those which were first aroused by 

 her motions, followed her, running in the same man- 

 ner, and in their passage excited others still 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 of the hive, and oc- 

 casioned a general agitation : if some places yet re- 

 mained quiet, the bees in motion arrived, and im- 

 parted that which affected them. The queen dis- 

 continued depositing her eggs in the cells : she drop- 

 ped them at random ; and the workers ceased to 

 watch over the young. They ran about in every 

 different direction : even those returning from the 

 fields before the agitation reached its height, no soon- 



er entered the hive, than they participated in the same 

 tumultuous impulse : they neglected to free them- 

 selves of the waxen pellets on their limbs, and ran 

 heedlessly about. At last the whole rushed preci- 

 pitately to the outlets of the hive, and the queen 

 along with them. 



These facts were ascertained with the utmost care, 

 and corroborated by future experiments. On the first 

 of June, all was quiet in a hive at eleven in the fore- 

 noon ; but at mid-day the queen, from a state of perfect 

 tranquillity, became evidently agitated, and her agita- 

 tion was insensibly communicated to the workers in 

 every part of their dwelling. In a few minutes they pre- 

 cipitately crowded to the outlets, and, along with the 

 queen, left the hive. After they had settled on the 

 branch of a neighbouring tree, the observer sought for 

 the queen, thinking, if she was removed, that the bee6 

 would return to the hive : a fact which actually en- 

 sued. Their first care then seemed to consist in seek- 

 ing their female : they were still in great agitation, 

 which gradually subsided, and in three hours com- 

 plete 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 the works of the two celebrated authors al- 

 ready cited. The latter ascribes the chief induce- 

 ment of those bees conducted by young queens to 

 swarm, to the agitation by which the queen is anima- 

 ted being imparted to them. He endeavours to 

 trace the source of that agitation to the antipathy 

 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 maturity, than she at- 

 tempts to destroy her rivals : but there is a constant 

 guard of workers preserved over them ; she is repul- 

 sed, maltreated, and driven away. If deserting one 

 cell she approaches another, it is to experience the 

 same resistance ; she is actuated by an unconquerable 

 desire to accomplish her object ; she is harassed by 

 the incessant opposition of the bees ; agitation thence 

 ensues, and she resolves on flight. It is here to be 

 observed, that although experiments prove that the 

 agitation of a queen is communicated to the workers, 

 and though, with regard to young queens, such may 

 influence the bees to swarm, the same reasons will not 

 apply to old queens leading forth new colonies, 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 attention, which is lavished on her when the 

 bees know she is about to become a mother. She is pre- 

 viously treated with great indifference ; and hence arises 

 the resistance she suffers when attempting to destroy 

 the nymphs in their cells, and her consequent agitation. 

 " But the conduct of the bees towards the old queen 

 destined to conduct the first swarm, is very different. 

 Always accustomed to respect their fertile queens, 

 they do not forget what they owe to her : they al- 

 low her the most uncontrolled liberty. She is per- 

 mitted to approach the royal cells ; and if she even at- 

 tempts to destroy them, no opposition is oflered by 

 the bees. Thus her inclinations arc not obstructed ; 

 and we cannot ascribe her flight, as that of the young 



Be. 



