PRIMARY SWARM.' 211 



" Some fine, warm morning in May or June, the whole atmos- 

 phere seems alive with thousands of bees, whirling and buzzing, 

 passing and repassing, wheeling about in rapid circles, like a 

 group of maddened bacchanals. Out runs the good housewife, 

 with frying-pan and key— the orthodox Instruments fov ringing— 

 and never ceases her rouifh music, till th^ bees have settled. 

 This custom, as old as the birth of Jupiter, is one of the most 

 pleasing and exciting of the countryman's life ; and there is an 

 old colored print of bee-ringing still occasionally met with on 

 the walls of a country-inn, that has charms for us, and makes us 

 think of bright, sunny weather In the dreariest November day. 

 Whether, as Aristotle says, it affects them through pleasure or 

 fear, or whether, indeed, they hear it at all, is still as uncertain as 

 that philosopher left it ; but we can wish no better luck to every 

 bee-master that neglects the tradition, than that he may lose 

 every swarm for which he omits to raise this time-honored con- 

 cert." 



414. The queen sometimes alights first, and sometimes 

 joins the cluster after it has begun to form. The bees do 

 not usuallj- settle, unless she is with them ; and when they 

 do, and then disperse, it is frequently the case that, after 

 first rising with them, she has fallen, from weakness, into 

 some spot where she is unnoticed by the bees. 



Perceiving a hive in the act of swarming, the writer on 

 two occasions, contracted the entrance, to secure the queen 

 when she should make her appearance. In each case, at 

 least one-third of the bees came out before she joined them. 

 As soon as the swarm ceased searching for her, and were 

 returning to the parent-hive, he placed her, with her wings 

 clipped, on a limb of a small evergreen tree, when she 

 crawled to the very top of the limb, as if for the express 

 purpose of making herself as conspicuous as possible. The 

 few bees, that first noticed her, instead of alighting, darted 

 rapidly to their companions ; in a few seconds, the whole 

 colony was apprised of her presence, and flying in a dense 

 cloud, began quietly to cluster around her. Bees, when on 

 the wing, intercommunicate with such surprising rapidity, 

 that telegraphic signals are scarcely more instantaneous. 



