XXIV 



INSECT A : HYMENOPTERA 



369 



Th Lif ■ "^^^ ^^^^ '" *^® ^vf^ can perhaps best be 



the Hive, followed in the history of a swarm which, during 

 the summer, has left the old hive or nest to start 

 a new colony. 

 This swarm, if 

 the first of the 

 season, will con- 

 sist of the old 

 queen and some 

 thousands of 

 workers. On 

 leaving the hive 

 on some still, 

 sunny morning, 

 the swarm will 

 fly straight to a 

 convenient tree, 

 or other object, 

 where the queen 

 alights, all the 

 workers cluster- 

 ing round her in 

 a dense mass, 

 the lower bees 

 clinging on by 

 their front legs 

 to the back legs 

 of those above them (Fig. 294). Thus they remain motion- 

 less for a time, and it is now that the bee-keeper hastens to 

 catch the swarm in an inverted straw "skep," and to convey 

 it to the hive in which it is desired that it shall permanently 

 live ; otherwise, certain of the bees leave the swarm and go 

 out to find a suitable hollow tree or other cavity where a 

 nest could be made. They come back and apparently com- 

 municate their find, for suddenly the whole swarm, with its 

 queen, will detach itself, and fly ofi' to take up its abode in 

 the spot chosen. At the time of swarming, so absorbed are 

 the bees in the ecstasy of the moment, that they may be 

 freely handled without fear of a sting. 



Forming the When the new home has been taken possession 

 New Home, of, at once some of the workers begin to fill up 

 VOL. I 2 b 



Fig. 294. — A festoon of Worker Bees, showing how 

 they cling together. 



