CONTENTS. XV11 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 



PAGE 



Difference of the time in which bees throw off their swarms 

 - — Period of Swarming in England, France, Italy, and 

 Sicily — Programme of a swarm — Difference between the 

 bees of a swarm and those of an old hive — Quantity of 

 honey which a hive carries along with it — Weight of 

 swarms — Signs preceding the departure of a swarm — Im- 

 plicit confidence not to be placed in them — The clustering 

 of bees arises from different causes, exemplified in a case 

 at Wimbledon — Joy, the cause of the vibration of the 

 wings of the bees — Question relative to the noise made by 

 a queen preparatory to the departure of a swarm — Reason 

 assigned for it by the German apiarians — Romantic state- 

 ments of Huber — The birth of a queen bee an important 

 event in the monarchy of bees — Deportment of the bees 

 on the birth of a queen — The bees, according to Huber, 

 imprison the queen — The queen maltreated by the bees — 

 The queen possessed of the power of emitting a piping 

 sound— The power of Huber to witness the motions of the 

 bees described by him, denied — Natural timidity of the 

 queen — The young queen proceeds to murder the remain- 

 ing queens — Prevented by the common bees- — A national 

 guard formed by the bees — Ludicrous description of their 

 treatment of the queen — Extraordinary power vested in 

 the queen of placing herself in such an attitude as to strike 

 the bees motionless, described by Huber — Strictures on 

 Kirby and Rennie — Huber's description of a swarm — The 

 queen seized with an ague fit — Caused by an increase in 

 the number of royal cells — The bees also seized with the 

 ague — They rush out of the hive — The swarm formed ac- 

 cording to Huber — The swarm not attended by the queen 

 — The queen taken prisoner by the bees — No swarm will 

 settle without a queen — The swarm produced by the in- 

 creased temperature of the hive — Causes of the piping of 

 the queen — The queens liberated according to their re- 

 spective ages — Difference of sound in old and young 

 queens — The departure of a swarm a gratifying sight — 

 Question discussed relative to the bees sending out an 

 advanced guard — Verified by Mr. Knight and St. Jean de 

 Crevecceur, by Duchet and Ducarne — Remarks of Dubost 

 — Laws relative to the placing of an empty hive in a 

 garden (note) — New swarms, new hives — Culpable neglect 

 in not providing proper hives — New hives to be cleared of 

 all projecting straws — Directions for hiving a swarm — 

 Plans adopted by the cottagers to make a swarm settle — 

 The garden engine recommended by Martin — Covering to 

 be used by the person on hiving a swarm — Frying-pans 



