132 SYMPTOMS PRIOR TO SWARMING* 



that the swarming bees form a cloud round their 

 queen, and set off without seeming to know the 

 place of their destination ; " the world before 

 them, where to choose their place of rest." I will 

 however detail a few cases that support the theory 

 of " spies and quartermasters." In the Philosophi- 

 cal Transactions for 1807, MR. KNIGHT, writing to 

 Sir Joseph Banks, relates several instances of the 

 kind. On one occasion he observed from twenty 

 to thirty bees paying daily visits to some decayed 

 trees, about a mile distant from his garden ; the 

 bees appeared to be busily employed in ex- 

 amining the hollow parts, and particularly the 

 dead knots around them, as if apprehensive of 

 the knots admitting moisture. In about fourteen 

 days, these seeming surveyors were followed by 

 a large swarm from his apiary, which was 

 watched the whole way, till it alighted in one of 

 these cavities. It was observed to journey nearly 

 in a direct line from the apiary to the tree. On 

 several similar occasions the bees selected that 

 cavity which Mr. Knight thought best adapted 

 to their use. He has also noticed that, a stock 

 being nearly ready to swarm, one of these hollow 

 trees was daily occupied by a small number of 

 bees ; but the swarm from that stock, being 

 lodged in another hive, the tree was wholly de- 

 serted. This preference of a hive, when offered 



