Aug. 1. 1911 



Swarms which appear early in the season 

 come out for either one of two reasons — be- 

 cause the food is exhausted, or because the 

 numbers are depleted. In either case, con- 

 ditions have arisen which oppose barriers 

 to the i)erformance of function. None of 

 the functions of bees, or of animals in gen- 

 eral, are possible in the absence of food; and 

 the functions of bees can not continue long 

 in the absence of sufficient numbers to 

 maintain a temperature requisite for brood- 

 rearing. Under such circumstances there 

 are two courses open — remaining in their 

 present abode and becoming extinct, or re- 

 moval in search of a new abode in an effort 

 to avoid extinction. 



We will consider next those swarms which 

 issue before the swarming season i)roi)er 

 opens, when there is no congestion in the 

 hive, and when, as before, nectar is not 

 abundant in the fields. These are the 

 swarms which appear on what are called 

 supersedure cells. An examination of the 

 combs, deserted by such a swarm, generally 

 reveals the fact that the queen was either 

 inferior or failing — the effect in either case 

 being the same. The combs are only part- 

 ly filled with brood and eggs. There are 

 scattering worker-cells containing drone 

 brood, and the brood itself is more or less 

 scattered. Here, as before, a resistance was 

 imposed in the way of perpetuation, and, 

 therefore, in the way of function. But why, 

 it may be asked, did not the bees merely su- 

 persede the queen and thus remove the ob- 

 struction? To this question a satisfactory 

 answer may be given. 



Keen observers must have noticed that 

 supersedure swarms do not issue until brood- 

 rearing has been under way for a considera- 

 ble length of time, and when, therefore, the 

 swarming season proper is a]iproaching. 

 Furthermore, cells have been started, and 

 these are conditions which are insei)aratbly 

 connected with normal swarming. The 

 l)resence of queen-cells suggests the idea of 

 swarming, for the same reason that the aj)- 

 pearance we call ice suggests coldness, and 

 the appearance we call fire suggests heat. 

 Arising, as these feelings always have, in 

 connection with these particular ai^pear- 

 ances, these appearances necessarily call up 

 the feelings with which they have become 

 indissolubly connected, and so with swarm- 

 ing. Swarming has, through countless gen- 

 erations, been associated with the building 

 of queen-cells, and, therefore, it is not at 

 all strange that, with the actual approach 

 of the swarming season, when there is con- 

 siderable brood in the hive, the building of 

 queen-cells should call up the idea of swarm- 

 ing. 



Here, again, swarming was primarily due 

 to restricted function — the peri)etuation of 

 the colony, and, therefore, of the individu- 

 als which compose it, being jeopardized, for 

 the mere raising of .sowie brood is not enough; 

 there must be sufficient to insure storage of 

 enough surplus honey to carry the colony 

 through the next period of scarcity in nec- 

 tar. 



•59 



There still remain for treatment those 

 swarms which trouble us during the swarm- 

 ing season proper — swarms which issue from 

 hives which are by no means congested, and 

 in which cpieen-cells may or may not be 

 present. These swarms issue, not because 

 the conditions in their own hives impel it, 

 but because the conditions in neighboring 

 hives impel it. The excited issuance of im- 

 mense clouds of bees, filling the air with 

 their mighty roar, which, once heard, is 

 never to be forgotten, has a powerful influ- 

 ence in exciting adjacent colonies to repeat 

 the performance. It appears, then, that 

 these swarms, though not directly, are indi- 

 rectly due to the restriction of function. 



The law of swarming, then, may be form- 

 ulated thus: Swarming, among bees, is a 

 migratory habit which takes place under 

 the pressure of conditions which render dif- 

 ficult or impossible the performance, by the 

 inmates of the hive, of their respective func- 

 tions. 



A few words must now be appended rela- 

 tive to after-swarms. That these are due to 

 restricted function hardly needs stating, 

 seeing that they are merely smaller addi- 

 tional waves of migration following the first 

 great wave, and taper off more or less ab- 

 ruptly, depending upon the size of the colo- 

 ny and the amount of nectar coming in. 

 Attention must, however, be called to the 

 fact that they occur in obedience to the 

 simple law of motion — that motion started 

 in a given direction continued in that direc- 

 tion, the motion here being nervous motion 

 — nervous change or nervous impulse 

 through certain channels which is the cor- 

 relative of thought. 



But why does swarming, after a time, 

 cease? The answer suggests itself. Restrict- 

 ed function having initiated swarming, it 

 necessarily follows that removal of restric- 

 tion causes its discontinuance — conditions 

 finally arising after excessive swarming, 

 similar to those under which the colony be- 

 gan its functions in the sjiring — a small 

 number of bees, abundant room, many 

 empty cells, small amount of nectar coming 

 in from the fields, honey in combs, etc. 



Thus, then, swarming begins because con- 

 ditions inside of the hive restrict function, 

 while conditions outside of the hive make 

 function possible, and swarming ceases be- 

 cause conditions outside of the hive will re- 

 strict function, while conditions inside of 

 the hive will facilitate function. In both 

 cases motion follows the line of least resist- 

 ance. 

 Cadotte, Wisconsin. 



UNITING PARENT COLONIES THAT HAVE 

 SWARMED. 



BY W. T. DAVIDSON. 



I prefer ten-frame hives with full sheets 

 of foundation when a colony swarms. I re- 

 move the old hive (No. 1), put the new hive 

 with the swarm on the old stand, and open 

 the old hive and shake all of the bees in 



