THK QUICKN. 49 



115. Like some human beings who cannot have their own 

 wa_\, she is highly otTended when thus repulsed, and utters, 

 in a quick succession of notes, a shrill, angry sound, not 

 unlike the rapid utterance of the words, " pcc[), peep." If 

 held in thi' closed hand, she will make a similar noise. To 

 this angry note, one or more of the unhatched queens, im- 

 prisoned and nursed in their cells by the bees, answer by 

 the sound " kooa, kooa " ; the difference in their voices, 

 being due to the confinement of the latter in the cell. 



These sounds, so entirely unlike the usual steady hum of 

 the bees, are almost infallible indications that a swarm will 

 soon issue. They are occasionally so loud as to be heard at 

 some distance from the hive. 



The reader will understand that all these facts relate to a 

 hive of bees, from which the old queen has been previously 

 and suddenly removed, either by the Apiarist for some pur- 

 pose, or by swarming, or accident. 



116. Sometimes two queens hatch at the same time. We 

 give below a translation of Huber's account in such event: 



" On the loth of May, 1790, two queens emerged from their cells, 

 at about the same time, in one of our observing hives. They 

 rushed quickly upon one another, apparently In great anger, and 

 grasped one another's antenna, so that the head, corselet and 

 abdomen of the one, were touching the head, corselet and ab- 

 domen of the other. Had they curved the posterior extremity 

 of their bodies, they could have stung each other, and both 

 would have perished. But it seems that Nature has not wished 

 that their duels should result in the death of both combatants, 

 and that it is prescribed to queens, while in this position, to 

 flee instantly with the greatest haste. As soon as both rivals 

 understood that they were in danger from one another, they dis- 

 entangled themselves and fled apart A few minutes after, 



their fears ceased and they attacked one another again, with the 

 same result. The worker bees were much disturbed, all this 

 time, and more so while the combatants were separated. Each 

 time, the bees stopped the queens in their flight, keeping them 

 prisoners for a minute." "At last, in a third attack, the 

 stronger, or more savage, of the queens, ran to her unsuspecting 

 4 



