18 AN EASY METHOD OF 



that during the same season, may be most cer- 

 tainly predicted as follows : Listen near the 

 entrance of the hive in the evening, v If a 

 swarm is coming forth the next day, the Queen 

 will be heard giving an alarm at short intervals. 

 The same alarm may be heard the next 

 morning. The observer will generally hear 

 two Queens at a time in the same hive, the 

 one much louder than the other. The one 

 making the least noise is yet in her cell, and 

 in her minority. The sound emitted by the 

 Queens is peculiar, differing materially from 

 :hat of any other bee. It consists of a number 

 of monotonous notes in rapid succession, simi- 

 lar to those emitted by the mud-wasp v/hen 

 working her mortar and joining it to her cells, 

 to raise miss-wasps. If, after all, the weather is 

 unfavorable to their swarming two or three 

 lays while in this peculiar stage, they will not 

 be likely to swarm again the same season. 



Two reasons, and two only, can be assigned 

 why bees ever swarm. The first is, want of 

 room, and the second, to avoid the battle of 

 the Queens. It is indeed true that there are 



