A ROMANCE OF ANATOMY 165 
mediately, and the hue-and-cry begins at once. 
But one of the most curious facts in bee-life is the 
variation in intelligence, and alertness of percep- 
tion; between the different hives. A steady-going, 
dull race may be a considerable time before it 
perceives the absence of its queen. The com- 
mon note of work goes on unchanged until the fact 
dawns on it. And then the peculiar shrill out- 
cry commences, overpowering all other sounds 
until reason again asserts itself in the colony, and 
the bees set about the work of raising another 
queen. 
The voice of the drone is deeper and hoarser 
than that of the worker-bee, by reason of his larger 
body » and his noisier buzzing is explained by his 
greater length and breadth of wing. The queer 
also has a deeper, more husky voice during flight ; 
but she has, in addition, a peculiar cry of her own, 
an old familiar sound to bee-keepers all the world 
over. It is heard principally just before the 
swarming of the hive. Certain old skeppists pro- 
fess to be able to foretell the date on which a 
swarm will issue by studying the cry of the queen. 
On quiet nights, just before the swarming-season 
commences, it may frequently be heard above the 
general murmur of the hive by bending the ear 
down to the entrance. It is ashrill piping sound, 
repeated over and over again, and often answered 
by other and fainter notes. How it is produced 
is not certainly known, but probably it is caused 
