NATURAL SWARMING. 



173 



they rush to the entrance, from which they excitedly 

 pour by hundreds and thousands. Among them is 

 their proper sovereign ; for, as we have already 

 hinted, it is always, except in the rarest cases, that 

 the old queen heads, or rather accompanies, the 

 swarm. Dzierzon records one case in which the old 

 queen refused to quit the hive, and three strong 

 swarms were led forth, within a few days of each other, 

 by her royal daughters. 



Fig. 60. — ^A Swarm. 



And now, when the main body of the emigrants 

 has issued from their quarters, the whole air seems 

 alive with the excited, flitting, buzzing insects. The 

 noise of their humming can be heard for many yards 

 away, and a novice may well wonder what is to be the 

 end of the commotion. Ordinarily, however, within a 

 few minutes, after their exodus, it will be observed that 

 a gathering of a thicker crowd is taking place at some 

 particular spot — most frequently on some low tree or 

 bush. There her majesty has settled, and at once 



