Swarming. 5 1 



hate a bustle ; and there's enough of that, I'm sure, 

 without your helping to make it worse." 



" I'll be quiet as a grub," said Buz, speaking in a 

 low voice and standing quite still, though she felt 

 that she was becoming more restless every moment. 



The drone looked at her for some time without 

 saying a word ; and at last, in a provokingly indif- 

 ferent manner, asked if she had been fanning 

 lately. 



" Yes," said Buz, " it was my turn yesterday, and 

 it was a very hot day, and so I fanned a great deal ; 

 and stupid work it was." 



" Did you observe that there were often great 

 clusters of bees hanging together, just by the board 

 outside the hive? " 



" Of course I did," repHed Buz ; " they were there 

 till the evening." 



" Did you wonder why? " 



" No ; I heard lots of them say that it was dread- 

 fully hot inside, so I suppose they hung out to cool." 



" Exactly ; do you know why it was so hot in the 

 hive ? I can tell you : partly because the day was 

 so warm, and partly because there are such a lot of 

 bees — too many bees, that's the fact. Well, the 

 weather can't be made cooler, but some of the bees 

 can go, and they will go too." 



