i86 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



disappear, and after a variable time, from a few 

 minutes to a few hours, or even days, a whole 

 army of bees suddenly descends from the sky and 

 takes possession of the new home. When the 

 interval between the appearance of the scouts and 

 the arrival of the main body, is only a short one, 

 the reconnoitring bees have been manifestly sent 

 out by the clustered swarm ; but in the case of 

 long periods elapsing, the scouts must have been 

 sent in search of the new location before the 

 swarm issued. Probably, although the bulk of 

 the party is imbued with this reckless spirit alone, 

 thinking and caring for nothing else but the escape 

 and the frolic, many of the older and wiser bees 

 undertake the matter in a temperate, businesslike 

 way, as they would go about any other important 

 hive-operation. In one sense, therefore, the old 

 notion of there being " subordinate lieutenants, 

 captains, and governours" in a hive may not be so 

 very far from the truth. That these scouts are 

 actually sent out to find a suitable site for the new 

 colony, either before the swarm leaves or while 

 it is clustered in the open, is a well-established 

 fact, so that some of the bees at least must keep 

 their wits about them throughout the general chaos. 

 And with these wiser virgins must be reckoned 

 the queen, in spite of the fact that she joins in the 

 public excitement and restlessness. For some 

 days before the great emigration her work of egg- 

 laying is largely arrested, and this retentive action 



