186 PIPING OF THE YOUNG QUEENS. 



two royal cells, she was not only subject to every species 

 of insolence from the guards, but they actually arrested her, 

 and took her prisoner, and she was kept in durance vile, 

 exposed to all the taunts and rebuffs of the vulgar and re- 

 bellious commonalty. And all this is the immediate effect 

 of ocular observation, and deemed worthy to be circulated as 

 veritable facts in the history of the bee, by a society profess- 

 ing to be established for the diffusion of useful know- 

 ledge! ! 



Whilst these proceedings were carried on in the hive, the 

 bees of the swarm were quietly clustered in the garden, 

 which, en passant be it mentioned, is not only at variance with 

 all experience, but also with the fixed and natural habit of the 

 bee, for no swarm will ever settle, unless it be accompanied 

 by a queen, nor will a swarm even leave a hive, if a queen 

 benot amongst them. The bees, according to Huber, waited 

 a considerable time in the garden, in expectation of the 

 arrival of the queen, little suspecting that she was suffering 

 the degradation of imprisonment, at last, however, their 

 patience became completely exhausted, and they returned 

 very dejectedly to the hive. 



It must however be observed that Mr. Huber, in treating 

 of the ague or agitation of the bees, completely reverses the 

 system which has been laid down by all preceding apiarians, 

 and which is acquiesced in at the present day, namely, that it 

 is the overpowering temperature of the hive, which is one 

 of the inducements of the bees to swarm ; but Mr. Huber, 

 actuated, no doubt, by a spirit of originality, says, that it is 

 the excessive agitation of the bees which increases the 

 temperature of the hive, and that it is not the temperature, 

 which, as in all other cases, occasions the agitation; thus 

 adducing that as a cause, which is an effect, and that as an 

 effect, which is in reality a cause. 



The piping or humming of the young queens has been 

 acknowledged by Huber to be a direct puzzler to him; 



