Swarm

“ Some such period of deep despondency as has come to the silent swarm in the hedgerow can be imagined as inevitably falling on such a race of men. But if the conquerors were to follow the absconding tribe into the lean wilderness and bring them home again repentant, restoring them to their old shelter and plenty once more, probably they would vent their satisfaction in a chorus of joyful approval. And it is just this which seems to be happening when the swarm is shaken down in front of a new, well-furnished hive. ”

“ They have—they have—and they press the besieged hard upon the outer wall; some plant ladders, some swarm like bees, and endeavor to ascend upon the shoulders of each other; down go stones, beams, and trunks of trees upon their heads, and as fast as they bear the wounded to the rear, fresh men supply their places in the assault. ”

“ In a second or two, some workers present themselves again at the door, turn round, re-enter, and return instantaneously in additional numbers, smartly vibrating their wings, as if sounding the march; and at this signal the whole swarm rushes to the entrance in an overwhelming crowd, streaming forth with astonishing rapidity, and filling the air in an instant, like a dark cloud overhanging their late habitation. There they hover for a moment, reeling backwards and forwards, while some of the body search in the vicinity for a tree or bush which may serve as a rallying-point for the emigrants. ”

“ Its hum can be heard half a mile, and the great white swarm counts its tens of thousands. They pretend to call it a planing-mill, but if it is not a bee-hive it is so like one that if a hundred people have not said so before me, it is very singular that they have not. ”

“ Thirdly, “After the old queen has conducted the first swarm from the hive, the remaining bees take particular care of the royal cells, and prevent the young queens, successively hatched, from leaving them, unless at an interval of several days between each.” Under this head he introduces a number of general remarks, some of which may prove useful. “A swarm (he observes) is never seen unless in a fine day, or, to speak more correctly, at a time of the day when the sun shines, and the air is calm. ”

“ A swarm of distinguished moths from every country has followed the princely light, and a crowd of parvenus, like a swarm of insects of the night, has followed the moths, who pass their time in Marienbad bandying strangely unselfish compliments. ”

“ A wondrous swarm, that o'er the carcase crawls,
Of shapeless, rude, unfinished animals.
No legs at first the insect's weight sustain,
At length it moves its new-made limbs with pain;
Now strikes the air with quivering wings, and tries
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To lift its body up, and learns to rise;
Now bending thighs and gilded wings it wears
Full grown, and all the bee at length appears;
From every side the fruitful carcase pours
Its swarming brood, as thick as summer showers,
Or flights of arrows from the Parthian bows,
When twanging strings first shoot them on the foes. ”

“ In vain do you put your horse to his full speed: the swarm, congregated into a ball like the Macedonian phalanx, accompany your flight, and disperse themselves over their prey the moment you stop; nor will anything but their complete destruction deliver you from them. ”

“ Irritated by such opposition, and annoyed at the sight of so many royal cells in every quarter, the young Queen becomes extremely agitated, and at last rushes, together with the bees to whom she has imparted her agitation, through the outlets of the hive, and thus forms the second swarm. ”

“ Spiders in offices, banks, above the swarm, yet seeking only what the swarm sought; spinning their webs, enmeshing material things beyond their utmost need, themselves becoming enmeshed and destroyed—their souls if not their bodies—in their own web. ”

“ The swarm that is thus attacked, at once ranges itself in battle array, and if the bee-keeper should happen to be present, that side which perceives itself favoured by him will refrain from attacking him. They often fight, too, for other reasons as well, and the two generals are to be seen drawing up their ranks in battle array against their opponents. ”

“ A swarm, especially a first one, never departs but in fine weather, and at the warmest time of the day. The passing of a cloud over the face of the sun, causing a sudden diminution of the light, is sufficient to stop the emigration for a time, although all is in perfect readiness. ”

“ They continue to emerge for many days, so that when yesterday’s swarm is dead, to-day a new swarm is seen emerging from the water towards the evening.’ ‘They not only drop their eggs in the water, but wherever they may happen to be,—on trees, bushes, or the earth. ”

“ A swarm is a wonderful sight, for the bees are almost perfectly still, and hang in a glistening mass, clinging to one another by their tiny hooked claws. Sometimes the leading bees of a swarm choose queer places in which to cluster: one lot, for instance, swarmed on to the beard of a gardener, whilst another found a resting-place on the neck of a horse which was standing under some trees! ”

“ And what's more wonderful, when big loads foil
One ant or two to carry, quickly then
A swarm flock round to help their fellow-men. ”

“ Perhaps nearly one third of all the runaway swarms leave when no one is about, and hence are unseen and unheard, save, perchance, by some distant laborers in the field, or by some youth ploughing on the side of the mountain, who hears an unusual humming noise, and sees the swarm dimly whirling by overhead, and, may be, gives chase ”

“ There is unmistakably an element of caprice about it—a kicking over the traces—which would be natural enough in creatures possessed of reason, but totally inconceivable from any other point of view. And the farther we look into the whole problem the more perplexing it seems. If we grant that the issue of a swarm, from a hive overcrowded and headed by a queen past her prime, is a necessity, why is it that the same hive will often swarm a second and even a third time until the stock is practically extinguished and the original object of swarming wholly defeated? ”

“ On the other hand, when the weather is fine—and this, too, they have the power of foreknowing—the swarm issues forth, and at once applies itself to its work, some loading their legs from the flowers, while others fill their mouths with water, and charge the downy surface of their bodies with drops of liquid. ”

“ The swarm is a unit. The members act in concert without direction or rule. If anything happens to the queen, if she is lost or killed, every bee in the hive seems to know it at the same instant, and the whole swarm becomes greatly agitated. The division of labor in the hive is spontaneous: the bees function and coöperate as do the organs in our own bodies, each playing its part without scheme or direction. ”

“ If the swarm should rise in the full heat of the day, and the sun shine hot upon them, they will not continue long in their first situation; for when they find they have all got their company together, they will soon uncluster, rise again, fly to some particular spot which has been fixed upon for that purpose by detached parties of bees, who return and acquaint the swarm; therefore I would advise to hive them as soon as possible, and remove them in the evening to the place where they are to remain. ”

“ It might be that the bees had already selected some hollow tree for their new home, and had gone straight to it without clustering. This sometimes happens, but very rarely; a swarm almost always settles and hangs for some time, probably as a means of getting its force together, ready for the final journey, and Bob felt sure that this swarm would sooner or later settle on a branch. ”

“ Suppose a man who was surrounded by a swarm of bees, extending, as they sometimes do, so high in the air as to render some of the individual bees almost invisible, were to declare that a certain spot on the horizon was a swarm of bees ”

“ A swarm of bees in search of a new home—or perhaps the pioneers who are sent, a day or two before the actual swarming, to seek out a dwelling-place—would be attracted by such an ‘open door,’ and the family, or army, ten, twenty, or thirty thousand strong, would at once take possession. ”

“ Some sugared beer is given to the bees at these times.
The various flights of bees are named as follows: A swarm. 2. A cast. 3. A colt or second cast, and should there be a fourth, which is very rare, it is called a spem—a swarm from a swarm is called a virgin swarm.
The different values of the swarms are described in this rhyme:
A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly.
Bees flying far from their hives and coming home late foretells fine weather. ”

“ These preparations must be made prior to 'the bees being hived, so that when a hive is so prepared, a swarm may begin to adapt whatever advantages they find ready for them; and it is truly marvellous what a swarm will do when thus furnished with combs in their new habitation. ”

“ In about ten days the young queens hatch and lead out after-swarms—second, third, etc. - 21 - When swarming is over, the strongest queen destroys the others, and reigns over the old swarm till another swarming season. ”

“ The “first” or “prime” swarm is the first swarm of the season that issues out of the hive; it is headed by the old queen. Second swarms or casts, which come off about eight days after the first swarm has left the hive, are headed by young newly-emerged queens. They are not so valuable as the first swarm. ”

“ If the swarm settle on the branch of a high tree, let a ladder be got and fastened to the trunk by ropes, and let the operator ascend it, carrying up with him a small bag, distended within by a slender hoop in which he will inclose the swarm. ”

“ When he goes forth, the whole swarm attends him, throngs about him, surrounds him, protects him, and will not allow him to be seen. At other times, when the swarm is at work within, the king is seen to visit the works, and appears 243 to be giving his encouragement, being himself the only one that is exempt from work: around him are certain other bees which act as body-guards and lictors, the careful guardians of his authority. ”

“ The population of the hive increased, and there was not room enough for all. So the most adventurous, under the guidance of a queen, expatriated themselves to found a colony elsewhere. The emigrating troop is called a swarm. ”

“ It is doubtless true that association without differentiations of classes may pre-exist for co-operative purposes, as among wolves, and as among various insects which swarm under certain circumstances. Hence we may suppose that there arise in some cases permanent swarms—that survival of the fittest will establish these constant swarms where they are advantageous. ”

“ These, like locusts, falling in great swarms, destroy all green things, and all dyes they bite on, by the venome of them. This swarm lives so long as they feed on new grass. Also they come together in troops like swallows that are ready to fly away ”

“ Large numbers of wolves, foxes, weasels, stoats, hawks, and owls soon discover the swarm, and kill off the animals in thousands; but still the great army moves steadily on, leaving the country perfectly bare behind it, until it reaches the sea. ”

“ How much honey did you get from this swarm? phang cōi cū kuah cōi, phang cíe cū kuah cíe; if the swarm is large you get more, and if it is small you get less. phang hío kun-chîn; the swarm knows its ruler. cêk ē chut sin phang-ûang cū tîeh pun tû; as soon as a new queen is developed, the swarm must be divided. ”

“ Have you heard people speak of swarms of flies? By a swarm of flies we mean a great number of flies rather near together. By a swarm of bees we mean a number of bees that live and work in one place. A swarm of bees divides the work of its hive. ”

“ A swarm [Pg 77] of the most gigantic and persevering musquitoes that ever gathered tribute from human kind, lighted on us and demanded blood. Not in the least scrupulous as to the manner in which they urged their claims, they fixed themselves boldly and without ceremony upon our organs of sight, smell, and whipping, {51} in such numbers, that in consequence of the employment they gave us in keeping them at the distance, and the pain which they inflicted upon our restive animals, we lost the trail. ”

“ The swarm seems to be guided by a line of couriers, which may be seen (at least at the outset) constantly going and coming. As they take a direct course, there is always some chance of following them to the tree, unless they go a long distance, and some obstruction, like a wood, or a swamp, or a high hill, intervenes—enough chance, at any rate, to stimulate the lookers-on to give vigorous chase as long as their wind holds out. ”

“ Sometimes the inhabitants have had the idea to burn the forests, and even the standing crops, in order to arrest the progress of these insects; but the first ranks plunging into the flames would extinguish them beneath their mass, and the rest of the swarm would then pass irresistibly onward. ”

“ The extent of swarms and the number of individuals in a swarm cannot be accurately ascertained. They come sometimes in such numbers as to completely obscure the sun, when the noise made by the rustling of the wings is deafening. ”

“ In certain seasons, swarms of bees are apt to fly off to a great distance, and the owners, in order to identify their property when they find them on other people's ground, sometimes throw handfuls of flour at the swarm. ”

“ Like to bees they were, when, the summer being newly come, the young swarms go forth, or when they labour filling the cells with honey, and some receive the burdens of those that return from the fields, and others keep off the drones from the hive. ”

“ Immediately upon issuing from their dark retreat, and after a short swarming, they assemble in masses at the foot of their hill and proceed to divest themselves of their wings, leaving their heavy bodies helpless on the ground. ”