Januarj- 3, 1865.] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICXTLTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



19 



and almost entire desertions take place. Moreover I have 

 noticed when the loss of a queen occurred during winter or 

 cold spring that the commotion indicating the loss did not 

 occur immediately after the event, but often weeks after it. 

 The fli'st fine mild day afterwards will generally be that on 

 which the commotion will show itself. Of course, when the 

 loss of a queen takes place in such circumstances, desertion 

 or a dwindling away necessarily foUows, and the hive perishes. 



But there remains to be considered another class of com- 

 motions differing essentially fi-om either of those described, 

 and to the consideration of which this article has chief 

 reference. 



From a very eai-ly period in my study of the history and 

 habits of the bee my attention was drawn, as I hare before 

 stated, to the theory of commotions. I had frequently ob- 

 served their occurrence in my apiary at certain seasons of 

 the year, in spring and autumn particularly, and no season 

 passed over without revealing to me some form or aspect of 

 these curious phenomena. 



The <;eneral characteristics of these commotions are some- 

 what identical to the second modified class already described ; 

 but, as in these, the agitation is not so widespread, but is 

 confined, frequently at least, to a comparatively small num- 

 ber, and among these the younger bees always appear the 

 most conspicuous. But what distinguishes this class of 

 commotions from all others is the peculiarly strange and 

 fluttering noise which may be distinctly heard in the inte- 

 rior — a noise so peculiar as unmistakeably to point out and 

 indicate to me the true nature of the case, and prove with- 

 ont any further evidence the real state of matters within. 

 On such occasions I have noticed the bees fly about as if 

 examining, or wishing to gain access to, other hives, and so 

 very agitated and excited do some of them become that I 

 have observed them recklessly dash out of the hive, even after 

 twilight, and lose themselves in the daa-kness of the night. 

 In such cases I have had to close the entrance to prevent 

 loss of bees tUl morning, when quiet was generally restored. 



The first opinion I entertained in my early experience 

 regarding these strange commotions was that they always 

 indicated the loss of the queen ; but this view I was obliged 

 to abandon, from the simple fact that the hives in which 

 they occurred did not often perish, as they would probably 

 do at certain seasons of the year in such an event, but 

 generally quieted down and recovered, though sometimes 

 slowly, strength and activity. 



In 1856 I began to investigate these commotions minutely, 

 and took notes in my joui-nal accordingly of all cases occur- 

 ring in my apiary with a view to a solution. 



The first recorded by me, therefore, is under the date of 

 the 7th of March, 1856. On this date I observed No. 5, 

 straw hive, one of the strongest in my apiary, in a state of 

 commotion. The bees, especially the younger ones, were 

 running about in a confused manner, taking wing, and ap- 

 parently deserting into other hives. I turned up the hives, 

 and found the bees in a turmoil searching all over the in- 

 terior. I could see, however, no trace of a dead queen. In 

 the evening, on listening at the entrance, a doleful fluttering 

 noise was heard within, and the bees, though quieting down 

 at intervals, yet again and again renewed the excitement 

 tiU late, when several rushed out, and lost themselves ^in 

 the dark. I accordingly shut the hive up tiU morning, when 

 I intended to give it the queen of a hive whose numbers 

 were now so reduced as to render its recovery very doubtful. 

 This I did on the supposition that the queen had been lost. 

 I introduced the queen first at the entrance for ten minutes ; 

 I turned up the hive to see how things were doing, when I 

 found the queen surrounded by two or three dozen bees, 

 which had hedged her in so closely that I feared she might 

 be suffocated. In endeavouring to disperse the cluster I 

 found the queen was held a complete prisoner. The bees 

 stuck to her like leeches all round, holding her by the legs, 

 tvings, &c., and attempting apparently to sting her. I suc- 

 ceeded in extricating her, and shortly afterwards introduced 

 her at the opening at the top of the hive. Here her presence 

 acted like^ magic, the bees became perfectly furious, attack- 

 ing her with the greatest ferocity, while others pursued her 

 as she descended among the combs, apparently with the 

 most hostUe intentions. Next day the hive quieted down, 

 and some days after I found a dead queen extruded. Al- 

 though I could not determine .whether this queen was the 



one I had introduced to the hive or not, this is of Httle 

 moment as the future histoiy of the hive demonstrated that 

 a queen was retained, proving that the commotion arose not 

 from the want of a queen, as I at first supposed, but from 

 some other cause not yet determined. The age of this queen 

 was unknown, but she had been in my possessionfor two years. 



The next case I noticed occurred on the 8th of December, 

 1856. I observed hive No. 3 in great commotion, the bees 

 running to and fro in great excitement, and several flying 

 off even after dark, and losing themselves. I shut the hive 

 up to prevent loss of bees, and quiet was restored by the 

 following morning. On the 29th of AprU, 1857, I find the 

 following remarks in my journal in reference to this hive : — 

 "Notwithstanding the commotion in No. 3 on the 8th of 

 December last, and my fears as to the loss of its queen, this 

 hive shows numbers of young bees, and works as actively as 

 any in my apiary." This queen was reared in 1854, and, 

 consequently, was between two and three years old. 



Cases of a simOar character ocoui'red in my apiary on the 

 7th of April and 8th of December, 1857. The commotions 

 exhibited were of the same character, and though no bad 

 results immediately followed these, yet the after-history of 

 both the hives in which they occurred was far from being 

 satisfactory. Neither became populous in season, and I 

 now began to view commotions in general as omens of pre- 

 sent or impending evil, and, consequently, as unwelcome 

 phenomena in the apiary. 



On a commotion occurring in a hive on the 13th of Octo- 

 ber, 1858, I took a queen out of a unicomb hive, and intro- 

 duced her to the bees to see how they would receive her. 

 They immediately attacked and encased her. On my releas- 

 ing the queen I think a bee had stung her. I then restored 

 the hapless queen to her own hive again; but now her own 

 subjects became excited, and surrounded her, from what 

 motives it were diificult to say, whether on account of her 

 having undergone some appai'ent change by virtue of the 

 encasement itself, or, more probably, from the fact of her 

 being wounded. Certainly I have noticed on several occa- 

 sions injured bees — such, for instance, as had their wings 

 singed off by a lighted candle — become the objects of a 

 reckless attack by their comrades, and fall victims to their 

 fury. I ascribed this, however, to what I would call an 

 irritable inadvertence. Mr. "Woodbury, I think, narrated a 

 similar instance to the above in his experience, where a 

 queen, after having been encased in a strange hive, and 

 evidently, I think, wounded, was, on again being restored to 

 her own bees, surrounded, and next morning extruded dead. 



Having satisfied myself, therefore, that these strange 

 phenomena which maidfested themselves from time to time 

 in the apiary had generally nothing to do with the queen, 

 another view of the matter presented itself to my mind, 

 and which might, I thought, lead to a solution of this curious 

 problem, I had observed that in the course of some opera- 

 tions which I was in the habit sometimes of performing in 

 my apiary — such as driving the bees for experimental pur- 

 poses, changing the site of a hive, or such like — a number of 

 the bees in such circumstances generally found their way 

 into neighbouring or contiguous hives, and created by their 

 entry some confusion and disorder; and it maybe remarked 

 that in cases of this kind the bees so entering are not always 

 treated withhostilityas are robber bees or entrants under other 

 circumstances, but, on the contrary, their accession is often 

 received joyfully, and a complete fraternisation takes place. 

 Still the bees so entering naturally find themselves, to use 

 a common but applicable phrase, "in the wrong box/' and 

 before they are reconciled to the change they will exhibit a 

 restless and agitated appearance, which, however, disappears 

 on the bees faUing to discover the whereabouts of their former 

 comrades. This view seemed at fii'st sight plausible enough, 

 and the following incident which occurred in my apiary 

 seemed rather to strengthen it. 



It so happened that after performing an operation on one 

 of my hives a commotion on a small scale took place in a 

 Huber-hive adjacent. The circumstance of the commotion 

 occurring in such a hive was fortunate. A favourable oppor- 

 tunity was here presented to me of ascertaining how matters 

 really stood in the interior. I immediately opened up every 

 leaf or division of the hive, and examined each sariatim. I 

 found the bees running over the combs in an agitated state, 

 but could see no queen. My first impression was that the 



