114 AUSTEALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE- 



was no break in the continuity of her duties till the bees prepare 

 for swarming. From then until the virgin queen that was left 

 behind becomes fertile and becomes a mother, there is a break in 

 the succession to the daily numerical increase to the inmates of 

 the old hive. 



All the conditions, too, of Nature are in sympathy with the 

 new swarm. The weather is warm and genial. The gardens, 

 fields, and forests are aglow with blossoms. The air is filled with 

 the odour from the fruit trees, and in the evenings when you stand 

 near the hive the perfume from the stored honey is almost over- 

 powering. 



Take a look into the hive the day before the swarm vacates, 

 and you will see the bees densely packed between the brood combs, 

 each comb a perfect slab of sealed brood or otherwise developing, 

 and also eggs. Probably not much honey, but an abundance of 

 bee-bread, and queen-cells containing inmates. If you search for 

 the old queen, the mother of all this immense concourse of bees, 

 this mass of animated insects, you may find her, but it is almost 

 like the proverbial "looking for a needle in a bundle of hay." 

 Take another look a Hay or so after the swarm has left. How the 

 appearance has changed. Not nearly so many adult bees, but 

 plenty of little, woolly fellows to take the place of those that left. 

 The slabs of sealed brood are gone, and there are plenty of empty 

 cells. There are no eggs. Their place have been taken by little, 

 pearly white bee-grubs, that are seen curling at the base of the 

 cells, where you saw the eggs a few days before. Looking for the 

 queen-cells in which were embryo queens, those you will find to be 

 empty. The "cups" are there, with their edges much frayed. 

 Other of these "cups" may be torn open at the side; but all are 

 tenantless. You look for the queen that has emerged from one 

 of them. Now, you think, I can find the queen, because there 

 are not so many bees to contend with ; but if you have had little 

 or no experience in looking for these hidden mysteries, it is more 

 than likely to be a search in vain. Still, she is there somewhere 

 She is a virgin queen. Here we cannot call her the mother-bee. 

 Virgin queens are not easily distinguished. You must not look 

 for a big bee, like the one you saw before they swarmed, but a bee 

 not much larger than an ordinary worker. In form she will be 

 much like her mother, but not in size. All this is Nature's way 

 of propagating her species, distributing them far afield. 



What has all the foregoing to do with artificial swarming? 



