210 NATUaAL SWAKMIUG. 



always to the hive ; and they occasionally fly in and out, 

 as though impatient for the important event to take place. 

 At length, a violent agitation commences in the hive ; the 

 bees appear almost frantic, whirling around in circles con- 

 tinually enlarging, lilie those made by a stone thrown into 

 still water, until, at last, the whole hive is in a state of the 

 greatest ferment, and the bees, rushing impetuously to the 

 entrance, pour forth in one steady stream. Not a bee looks 

 behind, but each pushes straight aliead, as though flying 

 " for dear life," or urged on by some invisible power, in 

 its headlong career. 



412. Often, the queen does not come out until many 

 have left ; and she is sometimes so heavy, from the number 

 of eggs in her ovaries, that she falls to the ground, incapa- 

 ble of rising with her colony into the air (40). The bees 

 soon miss her, and a very interesting scene may now be 

 witnessed. Diligent search is at once made for their lost 

 mother; the swarm scattering in all directions, so that the 

 leaves of the adjoining trees and bushes are often covered 

 almost as quickly with anxious exjDlorers, as with drops of 

 rain after a copious shower. If she cannot be found, they 

 commonly return to the old hive, in from five to fifteen min- 

 utes. 



413. The ringing of bells and beating of kettles and 

 frying-pans to cause swarms to settle, is probably not 

 a whit more efficacious, than the hideous noises of some 

 savage tribes, who, imagining that the sun, in an eclipse, 

 has been swallowed by an enormous dragon, resort to such 

 means to compel his snakeship to disgorge their favorite 

 luminary. 



Many who have never practiced "tanging," have never 

 had a swarm leave without settling. Still, as one of the 

 "country sounds," and as a relic of the olden-times, even 

 the most matter-of-fact bee-man can readily excuse the 

 enthusiasm of that pleasant writer in the London Quarterly 

 Beview, who discourses as follows : 



