cells containing an egg
or a very young worm; but only when the worm is ready for transforming
to a nymph, or when it has undergone its last metamorphosis.

The presence of royal cells with nymphs or worms near their change, also
inspires old queens with the utmost horror or aversion; but here it
would be necessary to explain why the queen does not always destroy them
though it is in her power. On this point, I am limited to conjectures.
Perhaps the great number of royal cells in a hive at once, and the
labour of opening the whole, creates insuperable alarm in the old queen.
She commences indeed with attacking her rivals; but, incapable of
immediate success, her inquietude during this work becomes a terrible
agitation. If the weather continues favourable, while she remains in
this condition, she is naturally disposed to depart.

It may easily be understood, that the workers accustomed to respect
their queen, whose presence is a real necessity to them, crowd after
her; and the formation of the first swarm creates no difficulty in this
respect. But you will undoubtedly ask, Sir, What motive can induce the
workers to follow their queen from the hive, while they treat the young
queens very ill, and, even in their most amicable moments, testify
perfect indifference towards them. Probably it is to escape the heat to
which the hive is then exposed. The extreme agitation of the females
leads them to traverse the combs in all directions. They pass through
groupes of bees, injure and derange them; they communicate a kind of
delirium, and these tumultuous motions raise the temperature to an
insupportable degree. We have frequently proved it by the thermometer.
In a populous hive it commonly stands between 92 deg. and 97 deg., in a
fine day of spring; but during the tumult which precedes swarming, it
rises above 104 deg. And this is heat intolerable to bees. When exposed
to it, they rush impetuously towards the outlets of the hive and depart.
In general they cannot endure the sudden augmentation of heat, and in
that case quit their dwelling; neither do those returning from the
fields enter when the temperature is extraordinary.

I am certain, from direct experiments, that the impetuous courses of the
queen over the combs, actually throws the workers into agitation; and I
was able to ascertain it in the following manner. I wished to avoid a
complication of causes. It was particularly important to learn, whether
the queen would imp