168 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
was then, as in the case of the bees now, a clearly beneficial 
instinct. 
For some days before swarming begins, there is a 
great excitement and buzzing in the hive, the temperature 
of which rises from 92° to 104°. Scouts having been pre- 
viously sent out to explore for suitable quarters wherein 
to plant the new colony, these now act as guides. The 
swarm leaves the hive with their queen. The bees which 
remain behind busy themselves in rearing out the pupae, 
which soon arriving at maturity, also quit the hive in 
successive swarms. According to Buchner, 6 secondary 
swarms with young queens send out no scouts, but fly at 
random through the air. They clearly lack the experience 
and prudence of the older bees. 5 And, regarding the 
behaviour of the scouts sent out by primary swarms, this 
author says : — 
M. de Fraviere had the opportunity of observing the manner 
in which such an examination is carried on, and with what pru- 
dence and accuracy. He placed an empty beehive, made in a new 
style, in front of his house, so that he could exactly watch from 
his own window what went on inside and out without disturb- 
ance to himself or to the bees. A single bee came and examined 
the building, flying all round it and touching it. It then let 
itself down on the board, and walked carefully and thoroughly 
over the interior, touching it continually with its antennae so as 
to subject it on all sides to a thorough investigation. The 
result of its examination must have been satisfactory, for after 
it had gone away it returned accompanied by a crowd of some 
fifty friends, which now together went through the same pro- 
cess as their guide. This new trial must also have had a good 
result, for soon a whole swarm came, evidently from a distant 
spot, and took possession. Still more remarkable is the 
behaviour of the scouts when they take possession of a satis- 
factory hive or box for an imminent or approaching swarm. 
Although it is not yet inhabited they regard it as their property, 
watch it and guard it against stranger bees or other assailants, 
and busy themselves earnestly in the most careful cleansing of 
it, so far as this cleansing is impossible to the setter up of 
the hive. Such a taking possession sometimes occurs eight days 
before the entrance of the swarm. 
Wars . — As with ants, so with bees, the great cause of 
