146 HIVING OF SWARMS. 



entirely to disregard it. The following day, 

 though dead, she was still guarded ; and though 

 the bees were still constantly supplied with honey, 

 their numbers were gradually diminished by 

 death, till, at the end of three or four days, not 

 a bee remained alive. 



WILDMAN says that if the queen of a swarm be 

 lost, though it happen several weeks after leaving 

 the mother hive, the bees will return to it, carry- 

 ing their honey with them. This, if true, must 

 occur where no grub can be converted into a 

 queen. Both REAUMUR and WILDMAN tried the 

 experiment of introducing a royal larva into a 

 queenless stock, when the bees immediately set 

 to work again, on the inspiration of hope alone. 



Should symptoms of discontent be observed 

 after hiving, the queen will probably be dis- 

 covered on the ground, or somewhere apart ; 

 surrounded by a small cluster of attendants, whom 

 nothing but violence can separate from her. If 

 she be taken up either singly or with the cluster, 

 and placed near the entrance of the hive contain- 

 ing the swarm, all will be harmony. 



Sometimes a swarm divides into two portions, 

 which settle apart from each other and have each 

 a distinct leader. The conduct of the apiarian 

 must be governed by the size of the two divisions, 

 and the season at which they emerge ; unless both 

 be large and the swarming early, they had better 



