ather, one of the combs in my
bee-house became loosened at the top through melting of the wax. The
weight on the comb dragged it down, and suddenly it broke from its
supports and sagged over against a neighboring comb. It was perfectly
apparent to me that if something were not done at once, the comb would
continue to sag until it broke away from all its connections, and would
then be precipitated to the floor of the hive. The bees likewise
recognized this impending calamity, and clearly showed that they did by
the noise and tumult which arose among them as soon as they discovered
the precarious situation of the endangered comb.[48]

[48] Compare Huber, Vol. II. p. 280.

The loud buzzing which they immediately set up clearly indicated their
dismay and consternation. It seemed to me very much like the noisy
vociferation of conflicting counsels, which would undoubtedly arise
among the people in some orderly town were they suddenly threatened by
some unforeseen and unheard-of catastrophe.

The tumult among the bees continued for four or five minutes, when,
suddenly, order was evolved out of chaos, and they set to work to
prevent the fall of the comb, showing almost, if not altogether, as much
intelligence as human beings would evince under like circumstances.

They shored up the endangered comb by building a thick pillar of wax
between it and a neighboring comb, thus effectually fixing it so that it
could sag no further. When this had been done, they re-affixed the top
of the comb to the ceiling of the hive by a broad, thick bar of wax; the
pillar used in propping up the comb was afterwards removed and the wax
used elsewhere.

In this instance, these little creatures at first clearly evinced the
emotions of fear, dismay, consternation, and grief; afterwards, they
just as clearly showed fortitude and joy; for, after the supporting
pillar had been built, I saw the queen, surrounded by a crowd of
courtier-bees, on the comb near it, and am fully convinced that she had
been brought out by her rejoicing subjects to view the results of their
brave struggle against an utterly unforeseen but now happily averted
calamity.

On another occasion I witnessed the terrible grief of a community of
bees at the death of their queen, which was seized with illness (a
sudden and overwhelming diarrhoea, to which bees, at times, are very
subject) while making a progression through her domains, and fell to the
floor of the hive and died be