l62 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [annO 1792. 



happens in that time, is probably including the whole economy of bees; for 

 though they may live more than one year, which I believe is not known, from 

 its not being easily ascertained, yet each year can only be a repetition of the last, 

 as I conceive they are complete in the first; therefore the history of one year 

 may be said to make a whole, and of course it is not material at what time in 

 the circle we begin the history. Perhaps the best time to begin the history of 

 such insects as only come to full growth the season they are bred, and live 

 through the winter, and breed the summer following, is when they emerge from 

 the torpid state, and begin to breed; but it might be thought that the common 

 bee is an exception to this rule, because they begin early in the spring to breed, 

 generally before they can be observed; and as they breed to form a colony, which 

 is to go off from the old stock, in order to set out anew, it might seem most 

 natural to begin with this colony, and trace it through its various actions of life 

 for one year, when it, as it were, regenerates itself, and comes round to the 

 same point again, that the old stock was in when it threw off this colony. 



Bees, like every other animal that is taken care of in the time of breeding, 

 or incubation, and nursed to the age of taking care of itself, cannot be said to 

 have a period in which we can begin its natural history; but in some 

 other insects there is such a period, for they can be traced from an egg, becoming 

 totally independent of the parent from the moment of being laid, as the silk- 

 worm, &c. There are 3 periods at which the history of the bee may commence: 

 first, in the spring, when the queen begins to lay her eggs; in the summer, at 

 the commencement of a new colony; or in the autumn, when they are going 

 into winter-quarters. I shall begin the particular history of the bee with the 

 new colony, when nothing is formed; for it begins then every thing that can 

 possibly happen afterwards. 



When a hive sends off a colony, it is commonly in the month of June, but 

 that will vary according to the season, for in a mild spring bees sometimes swarm 

 in the middle of May, and very often at the latter end of it. Before they come 

 off, they commonly hang about the mouth of the hole, or door of the hive, for 

 some days, as if they had not sufficient room within for such hot weather, which 

 I believe is very much the case; for if cold or wet weather come on, they stow 

 themselves very well, and wait for fine weather. But swarming appears to be rather 

 an operation arising from necessity, for they would seem not naturally to swarm, 

 because if they have an empty space to fill, they do not swarm; therefore by 

 increasing the size of the hive, the swarming is prevented. This period is 

 much longer in some than in others. For some evenings before they come off, 

 is often heard a singular noise, a kind of ring, or sound of a small trumpet; by 

 comparing it with the notes of tlie piano-forte, it seemed to be the same sound 

 with the lower a of the treble. 



