HYMENOPTEEA. 337 



Francis Huber often remarked that, in a swarm which, had started, 

 if the queen, who directed the flight, were seized and killed, im- 

 mediately all the bees would return to the hive. It would seem 

 that having lost their chief they acknowledged themselves inca- 

 pable of forming a colony. 



A swarm never comes out except on a fine day, or to speak more 

 accurately, at an hour of the day when the sun is shining, when 

 the air is calm, and the sky clear. It is generally between ten 

 o'clock in the morning and three o'clock in the afternoon. " We 

 observed," says Francis Huber, " in a hive all the signs which are 

 the forerunners of a cast for a swarm, disorder and agitation ; 

 but a cloud passed before the sun, and quiet was restored to the 

 hive ; the bees thought no more of swarming. An hour after, the 

 sun having shown itself again, the tumult recommenced, increased 

 very rapidly, and the swarm set out on its journey." : 



At the moment which precedes their exit, the buzzing increases 

 in the hive. Some of the workers go out first, as if to ascertain 

 the state of the atmosphere. The moment the queen has passed 

 the threshold, the emigrants follow in a crowd behind her ; in 

 an instant the air is darkened with bees, which crowd together 

 and form a thick cloud. The swarm rises whirling round about in 

 the air ; it poises itself for a few minutes over the hive, to allow 

 time to reconnoitre, and for the laggards to join, and then goes 

 off at full speed. 



The queen does not make choice of the place where the company 

 shall find shelter. When a branch of a tree has been selected 

 by a certain number, they fix themselves on it. Many others follow 

 them. When a great many have collected the queen joins 

 the throng, and brings in her train the rest of the troop. The 

 group already formed becomes larger and larger every instant. 

 Those which are still scattered about in the air hasten to join the 

 majority, and very soon all together compose one solid mass or 

 clump of bees clinging to each other by their legs. This cluster 



* In general, bees very much dislike bad weather ; when they are foraging in the 

 country, the appearance of a single cloud before the sun causes them to return home 

 precipitately. However, if the sky is uniformly dark and cloudy, and if there are 

 not any sudden alternations of darkness and light, they are not easily alarmed, and 

 the first drops of a gentle rain hardly drive them away from their hunting- 

 ground. 



Z 



