independently of the loss of time to the bees, a constant system of watchfulness must be kept up by the proprietor, during the whole period of the bees clustering out, otherwise a swarm may be lost.

Storifying, though generally, is not invariably successful in causing the clustered bees to reenter the boxes: where it fails to do so, if a young queen were ready to assume the sovereignty of the colony, the clustered bees would swarm and seek a new habitation with the old one. M. Reaumur drowned several hives thus circumstanced, and examined all their inmates most minutely, but could never find more than a single queen, and this the old one; in none of these hives did he find royal larvæ.

KEYS says that he has failed to make the clustered bees rejoin the family, if he has put the empty hive or box over the colony; but that by placing the box under it, the bees soon re-entered and worked vigorously. I have myself, in several instances, noticed the reluctance of bees to ascend; this reluctance will however generally give way in a day or two, if no room be allowed them in any other direction. This is proved by the successful use of small glasses upon flat-topped hives or boxes, for obtaining fresh honey occasionally. THORLEY constantly practised super-hiving, and was very successful with it. So likewise is my

friend MR. WALOND, who finds it afford him a supply of purer honey than nadir-hiving; for as the queen is generally found more disposed to descend than to ascend, by placing the box over the stock it will seldom be stored with any other combs than those which contain honey. MR. GEORGE HUBBARD, however, of Bury St. Edmunds, in a paper contained in the Transactions of the Society of Arts, vol. ix. (for which they awarded him ten guineas), says that he has known instances in which the bees have swarmed rather than submit to super-hiving.

Bees have been known to construct combs under the floors of the hives, when restricted for room within. Here their natural activity surmounted the impediments thrown in their way, by the want of inclosed space. The storifying or colonizing plan has been much applauded for its saving the lives of the bees: though this preservation be well worthy of attention, yet it is an advantage very inferior to that which is derived from the economical division of labour, the consequent increase of wax and honey, and the facility afforded for extracting them. I trust that this remark will not expose me to the imputation of inhumanity, for I am fully sensible of the value of life to all creatures that exist, and have often felt strongly the force of Thomson's pathetic description of the sulphurous death of bees.

"Ah! see where robb'd and murder'd in that pit
Lies the still heaving hive! at evening snatch'd,
Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night,
And fix'd o'er sulphur......

"Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends,
And, us'd to milder scents, the tender race
By thousands tumble from their honey'd dome,
Convuls'd and agonizing in the dust."

The bee is generally allowed to be a short-lived insect. (Vide Longevity of Bees.) Whatever advantage can be derived however, from preserving the lives of the bees, at the period of taking their honey, those, who keep them upon the storifying plan, will have the full benefit of it, and be spared that torture of feeling, which the sensitive always experience, when destroying life in any way.

"True benevolence extends itself through the whole compass of existence, and sympathizes with the distress of every creature capable of sensation. Little minds may be apt to consider a compassion of this inferior kind, as an instance of weakness, but I consider it as affording undoubted evidence of a noble nature."-Melmoth.

CHAPTER XV.

SYMPTOMS WHICH PRECEDE SWARMING.

"See where with hurry'd step, th' impassion'd throng
Pace o'er the hive, and seem with plaintive song
T'invite their loitering queen; now range the floor,
And hang in cluster'd columns from the door;
Or now in restless rings around they fly,
Nor spoil they sip, nor load the hollow'd thigh:
E'en the dull drone his wonted ease gives o'er,
Flaps the unwieldy wing, and longs to soar.

EVANS.

NOTWITHSTANDING what I have said in the last chapter on the subject of clustering, it is too important a circumstance to be omitted in the following enumeration of the signs of swarming.

1. Clustering or hanging out, if taken singly, may be regarded as a fallacious symptom, but when conjoined with other indications, it may be considered as a sign of swarming, particularly if accompanied by the signs enumerated at the my motto.

commencement of

2. The drones being visible in greater numbers than usual, and in great commotion, especially in the afternoon.

3. The inactivity of the working bees, who

neither gather honey nor farina, though the morning be sunny and the weather altogether inviting. Reaumur regarded this as the most indubitable sign of preparation for swarming.

suppose

4. A singular humming noise, for two or three nights previous, which has been variously described and accounted for. It cannot always be distinguished, unless the ear be placed near the mouth of the hive; the sounds, which are sharp and clear, seem to proceed from a single bee. Some the noise to be made by the young queen, and to resemble chip chip peep peep or the toot toot of a child's penny trumpet, but not so loud; Mr. Hunter compares it to the lower a in the treble of the piano-forte. It is readily distinguishable by those who have been accustomed to hear it. DR. EVANS inquires, is it the sound emitted by perfect queens, on emerging from their cells, as described by M. Huber? The noise is sometimes in a shrill, at other times in a deeper key; this difference in the intensity of the tones may arise from the distance whence the sound proceeds, or may be intended to intimate to the bees the respective ripeness of their queens. BUTLER and WOOLRIDGE ascribe it to a parley between the old and young queens, the latter at the bottom of the hive requesting leave to emigrate, and the former answering in