Swarm or Colony ? I have been taken to task
by a bee-keeper for writing of "swarm" wheq,I meant "colonies." Now bee-keepers are very particular about word: They won't allow us to speak of the honey of flowers. Hon.:c is a substance made by bees out of the raw material of nectar, and bc:, possess the exclusive right of manufacture. In old days a bee-keeper was said to have so many swarms ; but at some date (what date ?) colony was substituted, and swarm reserved for an external assembly of rebels. Now colony for the stay-at-home bees has always seemed la me an ill-chosen word. A colony, to quote the small Oxford dictionary, is "an independent city founded by emigrants," exactly what we mean by a swarm in the more technical sense. However, it has become lb:: correct word for a hive-full, though I would maintain that swarm (which. after all, means a large number) is allowable, just as we may speak of flock of finches in lieu of a "charm."
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