Deborah: " The Honey -Bee" 273 



scantest possible ceremony on occasion), she never uses 

 her sting against them. " Majestate tantum " (by majesty 

 alone), was therefore a favourite motto of principalities 

 and powers. Among others it was the motto on the bee- 

 crest of Louis XII. of France, "Pere du Peuple." But 

 the fancy was surely stretched to the snapping-point 

 when the " Maid " of Orleans was given a queen-bee for her 

 impresa. 



When the hive is over-crowded, the conservative party 

 of the community secedes from the parent-stock, taking 

 the old queen with it, to found a new colony. As soon 

 as the owner or a friendly neighbour hears " the murmuring 

 sound of the swarming bees," he comes out the practice 

 is still almost universal among the countryfolk and striking 

 a key on a pan, or jingling the fire-irons together, "calls" 

 the swarm. 



"So on"a~ Sabbath morn 

 Cloudy and calm, with not one sunny gleam 

 To lure them forth, I've seen a num'rous swarm 

 (Whether attracted by the silence deep 

 And pause of rural toil, or sudden struck 

 By that instinctive impulse which directs 

 More wisely than proud Reason's rule) rush out 

 In myriads and take wing : while mingling sounds 

 Of distant church-bells and the jangling pan 

 Essayed in vain to stop the living cloud." Grahams. 



If not attracted, the insects settle on any projection, 

 by preference a bough, and "hanging bee by bee, Make 

 a long sort of rope below the tree" (King), a "pensile 

 cluster," and clinging together, with their queen in the 

 centre, form a ball : 



1 ' Not closer, orb in orb, conglobed are seen 

 The buzzing bees about their dusky queen." Pope. 



The "calling" of bees by metallic sounds is often 

 referred to ; thus in Swift, Moore, Young, and Waller : 



s 



