SYMPTOMS PRIOR TO SWARMING. 133 



them, to a place chosen by themselves, Mr. 

 Knight ascribes to a habit acquired by domesti- 

 cation, which generating a dependence upon man 

 for providing them a dwelling, descends here- 

 ditarily from the parents to their offspring. 

 Another instance is related by DR. EVANS : he 

 suffered a hive, whose tenants had died in the 

 winter, to remain upon the stand till spring : he 

 then observed several bees paying it daily visits, 

 and busily employed within, but leaving it at the 

 close of evening. These soon appeared, like 

 Dr. Warder's providers, to be the harbingers of 

 a swarm ; for, early in June, an immense body 

 of these insects were seen rapidly approaching, 

 and then surrounding the hive : they took pos- 

 session as quickly as its narrow entrance and 

 crowded combs would permit. The same result 

 was noticed after the mild winter of 1806-7, 

 which untenanted one of his hives by famine : 

 he was present when the swarm issued (from 

 another hive in his garden) to take possession of 

 the empty one, which, on his endeavouring to 

 raise it, to give facility to their entrance, he 

 found already cemented to the floor. The Doctor 

 also relates a case in which a swarm of bees 

 " made its way either over the tops of some very 

 high houses, or through several winding streets, 

 to an old house in the centre of Shrewsbury, and 



