i6o The Honey-Makers 



veldt overran Erabden. The bees did their best, however, 

 to re-imburse him, becoming the parents and grandparents 

 of thirty famih'es within the following year. 



When the swarm is preparing to depart there is an un- 

 wonted state of excitement expressed by a peculiar noise 

 which PHny thus comments upon : — 



" The king never quits the hive excepting when the 

 swarm is about to depart ; a thing which may be known a 

 long time beforehand, as for days a peculiar buzzing noise 

 is to be heard within, which denotes that the bees are wait- 

 ing for a favorable day, and making all due preparations for 

 their departure. On such occasions if care is taken to 

 deprive the king of one of his wings, the swarm will not fly 

 away." 



Where the bee-keeper does not wish the number of bees 

 in a hive lessened by swarming he still prevents it by clip- 

 ping the queen's wings, for it is as Pliny said, — 



" When their leader is withheld from them the swarm 

 can always be detained." 



"For they cannot possible live," says Moffett, '^without 

 a king, against whom, none is so hardy as to lift up his 

 finger to offer him any violence, much less to conspire his 

 destruction, unless he (after the fashion of tyrants ) do over- 

 throw and turn all things upside down, after his own will and 

 lust, or neglecting carelessly the Weal publique, setteth all 

 upon six and seven. Yea, if he accustom himself to go 

 often abroad, (which he cannot do witliout the great hurt 

 and prejudice of his Citizens) they do not. by and by kill 

 him, but they take from him his wings, and if he then 

 amend his life and look better to his office, they singularly 

 affect and honor him." A statement of the case which 

 does more credit to the imagination than to the observation 

 of those days. 



As a rule bees do not sting when swarming, and Thorley 



