THE SWARM 



There where the queen has alighted 

 the swarm will remain ; and had she de- 

 scended alone into the hive, the bees 

 would have followed, in long black files, 

 as soon as intelligence had reached them 

 of the maternal retreat. The majority 

 will hasten to her, with utmost eager- 

 ness; but large numbers will pause for 

 an instant on the threshold of the un- 

 known abode, and there will describe the 

 circles of solemn rejoicing with which it 

 is their habit to celebrate happy events. 

 " They are beating to arms," say the 

 French peasants. And then the strange 

 home will at once be accepted, and its 

 remotest corners explored ; its position in 

 the apiar}', its form, its colour, are grasped 

 and retained in these thousands of pru- 



[110] 



