102 BEES AND WASPS [CH. 



through the severe weather ; on milder days they will 

 rouse themselves, feed on the accumulated stores, 

 and even take short flights during which they rid 

 themselves of their evacuations. 



The hive from which a swarm has gone forth con- 

 tains the residue of the stock of workers, and, as a 

 rule, several "sealed" queen-cells containing queen- 

 larvae or queen-pupae. For a time therefore this 

 hive is without a functional queen. It is not until the 

 eighth day after swarming that the most advanced of 

 these young queens hatches out. Usually, but not 

 invariably, she, with the assistance of the workers, 

 slays her younger rivals who have not yet emerged 

 from their cocoons. The successful queen is as yet 

 an uumated virgin. So soon as she is strong enough 

 she leaves the hive on her " nuptial flight " and pairs 

 in mid air with a drone whose life is sacrificed in the 

 act of mating. The now fertilised "queen," if no 

 accident befall her, returns to the hive and assumes 

 her duties of egg-laying. One act of mating is suffi- 

 cient, the store of semen lasting for several years. 

 Among domesticated bees, second and third swarms 

 "casts" as they are called may be sent out from the 

 same hive ; but it is doubtful if this ever occurs in 

 the wild condition. 



It will be appropriate here to call attention to the 

 difference between honey stored by bees and nectar 

 produced by flowers : the two terms are often used as 



