MANAGEMENT OF HONEY BEES. 101 
by degrees, and provided their queen has 
alighted there, all, or at least the greater 
part, crowd around, and form a dense group, 
sometimes round like a ball, sometimes clus- 
tered like a bunch of grapes, according to 
the nature of the resting-place they have 
fixed on. 
The queen is not always foremost; it is 
frequently, or rather generally, not till after 
the departure of a considerable number of 
workers that she makes her appearance, and 
when she does come, it is with a timid irre- 
solute air, as if she were borne along almost 
against her will, by the torrent that streams 
out of the hive, for she often turns on the 
threshold, as if about to re-enter, and in fact 
frequently does so, but cannot long resist the 
opposing crowd. 'The first swarm is inva- 
riably led offby the old queen. This I have 
ascertained by actual observation. The 
queen leading off a first swarm in ona year, 
has been marked, and has been found at the 
head of a first swarm in the following year. 
I saw aswarm that left the hive with the 
9* 
