82 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE- 



Bees swarm because it is one of Nature's ways of distributing 

 and perpetuating their species. All species of bees do not swarm 

 — that is, go away in a multitude — only social bees; and not these 

 in all cases. 



What queer notions, past and present, have been given why 

 apis mellifica swarm. A evry commonly accepted opinion is the 

 want of room. I knew a swarm of bees to enter the gable end of 

 a house and build on the ridge-pole, and therefore had all the 

 space between the roof and the ceiling— room enough to build 

 yards of comb and store tons of honey. They occupied this space 

 for years and regularly swarmed ; but on one occasion, making my 

 way under the roof to have a look at the supposed great mass of 

 comb and honey, there was to be seen only a very medium quantity 

 of comb, but a fair supply of honey. In too much space the con- 

 ditions are not good for wax secretion. 



What strange statements are published by entomologists in 

 referring to the swarming of bees — I mean those men who go in 

 fo7 the study, or perhaps I had better say the reading, of general 

 insect life, and not confining their research to a special class. In 

 Insect Miscellanies I read: "Bees being confined within a limited 

 space, they cannot there increase and multiply beyond a certain 

 point, and consequently, when the hive becomes too crowded for 

 the population, it is expedient to thin their numbers by emigra- 

 tion (swarming). De Reaumur, the naturalist, says he frequently 

 possessed hives so full of bees that a portion of them were com- 

 pelled to remain on the outside, conglomerated in a mass, and 

 yet no swarm was sent off to thin their numbers. In other hives, 

 on the contrary, where there was so much spare room, more than 

 one swarm was thrown off." Again, the writer in Insect Mis- 

 cellanies says: "The researches of naturalists, indeed, have dis- 

 covered many curious facts relative to the proceedings of bees in 

 such cases ; but still many things, like the immediate cause of their 

 swarming, remain doubtful and obscure." In the latest work on 

 natural history published, there are some romantic statements 

 given as to the reason the cells in honeycomb are six-sided (hex- 

 agonal). 



What is the incentive amongst bees that causes the swarming 

 impulse ? Chiefly, season or climatic circumstances. But not 

 always these. There are exceptions. A friend of mine in the 

 Old Country informed me that he once found a swarm of bees on 

 a gate post in the depth of winter, when the ground was covered 



