e treatment of the bees, when they came near the royal
cells. Their agitation quickly communicated to the rest of the bees, and
at mid-day they departed impetuously with the two females. This was the
fifth swarm that had left the hive between the thirtieth of May and
fifteenth of June. On the sixteenth, a sixth swarm cast, which I shall
give you no account of, as it shewed nothing new.

Unfortunately we lost this, which was a very strong swarm; the bees flew
out of sight, and could never be found. The hive was now very thinly
inhabited. Only the few bees that had not participated in the general
agitation remained, and those that returned from the fields after the
swarm had departed. The cells were, therefore, slenderly guarded; the
queens escaped from them, and engaged in several combats, until the
throne remained with the most successful.

Notwithstanding the victories of this queen, she was treated with great
indifference from the sixteenth to the nineteenth, that is, the three
days that she preserved her virginity. At length, having gone to seek
the males, she returned with all the external signs of fecundation, and
was henceforth received with every mark of respect; she laid her first
eggs forty-six hours after fecundation.

Behold, Sir, a simple and faithful account of my observations on the
formation of swarms. That the narrative might be the more connected, I
have avoided interrupting it by the detail of several particular
experiments which I made at the same time for elucidating various
obscure points of their history. These shall be the subject of future
letters. For, although I have said so much, I hope still to interest
you.

_PREGNY, 6. September 1791._

_P. S._--In revising this letter, I find I have neglected taking notice
of an objection that may embarrass my readers, and which ought to be
answered.

After the first five swarms had thrown, I had always returned the bees
to the hive: it is not surprising, therefore, that it was continually so
sufficiently stocked that each colony was numerous. But things are
otherwise in the natural state: the bees composing a swarm do not return
to the hive; and it will undoubtedly be asked, What resource enables a
common hive to swarm three or four times without being too much
weakened?

I cannot lessen the difficulty. I have observed that the agitation,
which precedes the swarming, is often so considerable, that most of the
bees quit the hive, and in that cas