PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 377 



at its height, no sooner entered the hive than they participated in these 

 tumultuous movements, and, neglecting to free themselves from the masses 

 of pollen on their hind legs, ran wildly about. At length there was a general 

 rush to the outlets of the hive, which the queen accompanied, and the 

 swarm took place. 1 



It is to be observed that this agitation, excited by the queen, increases 

 the customary heat of the hive to a very high temperature, which the ac- 

 tion of the sun augments till it becomes intolerable, and which often 

 causes the bees accumulated near the mouth of the hive to perspire so 

 copiously, that those near the bottom, who support the weight of the rest, 

 appear drenched with the moisture. This intolerable heat determines the 

 most irresolute to leave the hive. Immediately before the swarming, a 

 louder hum than usual is heard ; many bees take flight ; and if the queen 

 be at their head, or soon follows them, in a moment the rest rise in crowds 

 after her into the air, and the element is filled with bees as thick as the fall- 

 ing snow. The queen at first does not alight upon the branch on which 

 the swarm fixes ; but as soon as a group is formed and clustered, she joins 

 it : after this it thickens more and more, all the bees that are in the air 

 hastening to their companions and their queen, so as to form a living mass 

 of animals supporting themselves upon each by the claws of their feet. 

 Thus they sometimes are so concatenated, each bee suspending its legs to 

 those of another, as to form living chaplets. 2 After this they soon be- 

 come tranquil, and none are seen in the air. Before they are housed they 

 often begin to construct a little comb on the branch on which they alight. 3 

 Sometimes it happens that two queens go out with the same swarm ; and 

 the result is, that the swarm at first divides into two bodies, one under 

 each leader ; but as one of these groups is generally much less numerous 

 than the other, the smallest at last joins the largest, accompanied by the 

 queen to whom they had attached themselves ; and when they are hived, 

 this unfortunate candidate for empire falls sooner or later a victim to the 

 jealousy of her rival. Till this great question is decided, the bees do not 

 settle to their usual labours. If no queen goes out with a swarm, they 

 return to the hive from whence they came. 



As in regular monarchies, so in this of the bees, the first-born is proba- 

 bly the fortunate candidate for the throne. She is usually the most active 

 and vigorous ; the most able to take flight ; and in the best condition to 

 lay eggs. Though the queen that is victorious, and mounts the throne, is 

 not, as Virgil asserts, resplendent with gold and purple, and her rival 

 hideous, slothful, and unwieldy 4 , yet some differences are observable ; the 

 successful candidate is usually redder and larger than the others ; these 

 last, upon dissection, appear to have no eggs ready for laying, while the 



1 Huber, i. 251. 



2 Some critics have found fault with Mr. Southey for ascribing in his Curse of 

 Keliama, to Camdeo, the Cupid of Indian mythology, a bow strung with bees. The 

 idea is not so absurd as they imagine ; and* the poet doubtless was led to it by his 

 knowledge of the natural history of these animals, and that they form themselves 

 into strings or chaplets. See Reaum. v. t. xxii. f. 3. 



3 Reaumur, 615644. 



4 " Alter erit maculis auro squalentibus ardens 



(Nam duo sunt genera), hie melior, insignis et ore, 

 Et rutilis clarus squamis : ille horridus alter 

 Desidia, latamque trahens inglorius alvum." 



Georg. iv. 91. 



