THE BEE. 



in a well-peopled hive, until the population is so reduced that the- 

 number necessary to form a sufficient guard upon the royal cells 

 can no longer be spared from the general industry of the hive. 

 Several princesses then escape from the cells, nearly at the same 

 time, who fall upon each other in the manner already described, 

 being now encouraged instead of being opposed by the workers. 

 In fine, all but one fall in those combats, and this fortunate 

 survivor, who is in general the eldest of the princesses remaining 

 in the hive, ascends the throne, and is acknowledged by the whole 

 community. 



According to Huber, swarms issue from the hive only in sun- 

 shine and a calm atmosphere. After all the precursors of a 

 swarm have appeared, a passing cloud often arrests it, and the 

 intention of the bees seems to be abandoned. An hour later the 

 appearance of the bright sun will reproduce all the usual move- 

 ments, and the swarm will issue. 



Many conjectures are made as to the means by which the- 

 workers know so well, as they undoubtedly do, the relative ages 

 of the several princesses, so as to liberate them according to- 

 seniority. Huber conjectures that a peculiar sound, which they 

 produce before their liberation from the cells, and which he 

 thought varied in loudness and pitch, might be the distinguishing 

 character of relative age. 



140. A contingency arises occasionally in the bee community r 

 which we have not yet noticed, and which is attended with conse- 

 quences of a very curious and interesting nature. It was dis- 

 covered by Schirach, and confirmed by numerous and long continued 

 observations of Huber, that when by any cause a colony loses its. 

 queen, without having any royal cells or royal eggs previously 

 provided, they are enabled by certain extraordinary processes and 

 expedients to produce princesses, among whom they may obtain a 

 successor to their last sovereign. 



M. Schirach, Secretary of an Apiarian society, at Little 

 Bautzen in upper Lusatia, observed that bees, when shut up with, 

 a portion of comb containing worker brood only, would soon con- 

 struct royal cells, into which they would put worker eggs, the- 

 grubs from which, being nourished with royal jelly, would grow 

 up as queens. This remarkable result is known among apiculturers 

 as the Lusatian experiment. This experiment has since been 

 repeated thousands of times, and always with the same results by 

 all the most eminent naturalists who have directed their 

 researches to this part of entomology, and indeed generally by 

 all bee cultivators. So that of the fact itself, strange and 

 incredible as it may seem, there is not the faintest shadow o 

 doubt. 

 70 



