THE HONEY-EEE. 
207 
time, and as I did not observe that she came out, I 
conceived an expectation of seeing the whole body 
quickly abandon their settlement ; but instead of 
that, I soon observed them gathering closer together, 
without the least signal for departing. Upon this, I 
immediately reflected that either there must be an- 
other sovereign, or that the same was returned, I 
directly commenced a second search, and in a short 
time, with a most agreeable surprise, found a second, 
or the same. She strove, by entering farther into 
the crowd, to escape me ; but I re-conducted her, 
with a great number of the populace, into the hive. 
And novv the melancholy scene began to change to 
one infinitely more agreeable and pleasant. The 
bees, missing their Queen, began to dislodge and re- 
pair to the hive, crowding into it in multitudes, and 
in the greatest hurry imaginable; and in the space 
of two or three minutes, the maid had not a single 
bee about her, neither had she so much as one sting 
• — a small number of which would have quickly stop- 
ped her breath.” 
The following table of the average number, mea- 
sure, and weight of Bees, is taken from Key’s Trea- 
tise — 
23,000 Bees, constituting a good swarm, 
lbs. 
oz. 
dr. 
will weigh .... 
5 
0 
0 
100 Drones weigh 
0 
1 
0 
290 Workers 
0 
1 
0 
4,640 Ditto, 
1 
0 
0 
1,830 Ditto — a pint in measure. 
0 
6 
5 
3,660 Ditto — a quart, 
0 
12 
10 
