ir.(i 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS JOURNAL. 
antenna 1 , the small hollows on them evidently 
being of necessity passed over parts of other bees 
before recognition is completed. If you remem- 
ber, in his experiment the queen had to per- | 
sonally answer every inquiry, whereas, if they 
used a language, or code of signals, the informa- 
tion would have been passed on from one to 
another. If bees had such a correct method of 
exchanging ideas as we are led to suppose, we 
should have little trouble in queen introduction, 
and only have such a number of queen and drone- 
cells as might be required. The supposed signal 
io swarm seems to be only an unbearable tumoil, 1 
which reaches such a pitch that the bees begin a 
stampede ; the supposed signal to kill drones is 
perhaps contagious, the result of jealous greed, 
stores cease come coming in, and a dog-in-the- 
manger policy gets abroard ; the supposed signal 
to ventilate may be but an individual effort to 
get rid of individually surrounding foul air. for 
l ees, in my district at least, do not invariably fan 
at the porch and on the floor of the hive, with 
their heads pointed so accurately that a current 
of fresh air is increasingly forced in, and vitiated 
air being expelled over their backs. Again, it is 
open to serious doubt whether the bees do use 
their antennae as compasses, callipers, or measur- 
ing instruments, in any way. I will admit their 
power of hearing, smelling, and touching, but 
not that they have in them a means of conveying 
ideas as a language. A blind man is noticed to 
tap and touch with his iingers-ends objects he 
requires to indentify. and in extremely delicate 
cases he has to apply the finer touch of the lips 
and tongue to the object. How wrong, then, we 
should be if we were to say he was signalling with 
his fingers, or tasting with his tongue. 
In a paper previously read by me on ‘ The 
Vocal Organs of Bees,’ I endeavoured to draw 
greater attention to the vocal apparatus corres- 
ponding to the hearing hollows on the antennal. 
In my observations to-night I desire to lessen the 
importance attached to the antennae as tactile 
conversing media. I am willing to admit the 
possession by bees of a beautiful system of inter- 
communicaton, by voice and hearing, the sounds 
of the voice being as much used and compre- 
hended by them as is the case with any animal 
in creation, excepting man, who by art has 
arranged his voice tones into a language. At 
some future period we may be able to record more 
bee-tones than to-day, but to comprehend them 
we should require what there is little chance of 
acquiring. i.e.. the keen intuition possessed by 
many of the brute creation. 
I feel some diffidence, and must apoligise to 
you for placing my opinions in some contradic- 
tory shape to those held and enlarged upon by 
certain authorities on the stndy of insects. My 
excuse must be that in bee-keeping some of the 
greatest lights have propagated the greatest 
errors ; it therefore remains for the careful and 
candid to prove all things for himself as far as 
possible. In such a search even his glimmering 
lamp may shed a ray in a dark place, and in 
laying his crude opinions before his fraternity 
thus draw attention to points of interesting future 
exploration . — British Bee Journal. 
MODERN BEE KEEPING. 
A HANDBOOK FOB COTTAGERS. 
(Continued from Page IIS.') 
V.— Natural Swarming. 
As the spring advances, and food begins to be 
carried into the hive in abundance, the queen 
deposits eggs in daily increasing numbers, and 
soon the population so grows as to make it 
desirable for the bees to break up into two 
communities, or, in other words, to swarm. 
Usually, but by no means invariably, as much 
as seven or eight days before the swarm leaves, 
the bees make preparation for it by beginning 
to raise new queens, as described under the 
head “ Natural History of Bees." When the 
queen-grubs have been sufficiently fed they are 
sealed over, and then the swarm prepares to 
depart, if time and weatheT are favourable. 
The bees gorge themselves to their utmost, and 
then pour out by the hive-door in a constant 
stream, and circling round in the air fill it with 
their merry hum. Generally they quickly settle, 
gathering together in a cluster, which may be 
seen to rapidly grow as loiterers join it. As 
soon as they have fairly taken up their quarters 
we may proceed to hive them. 
It' the branch of a tree or bush has been 
selected, lay a cloth or sack on the ground as 
close under it as possible, and the skep should 
be he'd, bottom upwards, beneath the swarm, 
while the part of the branch immediately above 
is smartly shaken, when the bees, holding on to 
each other, will fall in a mass. The skep should 
now be very gently turned over and placed 
upon the cloth with a bit of wood or stone 
under its edge, so as to let the bees run under 
the hive. We must always secure as many bees 
as possible in order to increase our chance of 
getting in the queen. If we have succeeded in 
this, the bees within will soon suspend them- 
selves from the roof, while the remainder, 
discovering that the mother is gone, will scatter 
in search of her and join those in the skep, 
which may then be placed in its permanent 
position. The few bees that do not find the 
queen will return to the parent stock. 
If we fail in getting the queen, the bees, even 
after entering the new hive, will become quickly 
restless, soon desert, and return to the cluster, 
when the operation will have to be repeated. 
The hiving can often be made easy if the 
branch on which the swarm has gathered can 
be spared ; let it then be out off so gently that 
the bees do not know of the operation. The 
hive should previously have been placed at 
hand on some large board or spread sheet, and 
propped up in front, so that there may be 
j abundant room by which the crowd may pass 
I in. The separated limb with its living load is 
brought to the hive, when a sharp shake drops 
every beo at the door of it ; they do not take 
I wing, hut their momentary surprise is followed 
j by a cheerful hum, and all face towards and 
| commence to enter their new home. When 
frame-hives are used it is best to hive into skeps 
