HYMENOPTERA. 337 
observed,” says Francis Huber, “in a hive all the signs which are 
the forerunners of a cast for a swarm—disorder and agitation ; 
but a cloud passed before the sun, and quiet was restored to the 
hive ; the bees thought no more of swarming. An hour after, the 
sun having shown itself again, the tumult recommenced, increased. 
very rapidly, and the swarm set out on its journey.” * 
At the moment which precedes their exit, the buzzing increases 
in the hive. Some of the workers go out first, as if to ascertain 
the state of the atmosphere. The moment the queen has passed 
the threshold, the emigrants follow in a cloud behind her; in 
an instant the air is darkened with bees, which crowd together 
and form a thick cloud. The swarm rises whirling round about 
in the air; it poises itself for a few minutes over the hive, to allow 
time to reconnoitre, and for the laggards to join, and then goes 
off at full speed. 
The queen does not make choice of the place where the company 
shall find shelter. When a branch of a tree has been selected by 
a certain number, they fix themselves on it. Many others follow 
them. When a great many have collected the queen joins 
the throng, and brings in her train the rest of the troop. The 
group already formed becomes larger and larger every instant. 
Those which are still scattered about in the air hasten to join the 
majority, and very soon all together compose one solid mass or 
clump of bees clinging to each other by their legs. This cluster 
(Fig. 322) is sometimes spherical, sometimes pyramidal, and 
occasionally attains a weight of nine pounds, and may contain as 
many as forty thousand bees. From this moment, although they 
are uncovered, they remain still. In a quarter of an hour every- 
thing becomes quiet, and the bees cease to hover about the cluster 
more than round an ordinary hive. Now is the moment to take 
possession of the swarm in a hive prepared beforehand to receive 
it. If delayed too long, the troop flies off, and establishes itself 
in some natural cavity, as the hollow of a tree, &c. The bees 
then return to their wild state. 
* Tn general, bees very much dislike bad weather; when they are foraging in the 
country, the appearance of a single cloud before the sun causes them to return home 
precipitately. However, if the sky is uniformly dark and cloudy, and if there are not 
any sudden alternations of darkness and light, they are not easily alarmed, and the 
first drops of a gentle rain hardly drive them away from their hunting-ground. 
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