1908] Life History of the Honey Bee. 211 



or are prevented by the worker bees. The sound made by these 

 imprisoned queens is much deeper in tone owing probably to 

 their being covered up in the cells. When the second swarm 

 has left the hive it may be followed within two or three days 

 by a third or even a fourth. These after-swarms are small and 

 worthless, and are frequently accompanied bv two or even three 

 virgin queens. Practical bee-keepers of the present day do not 

 consider it advisable to allow even second swarms to issue, 

 because in doing so the parent hive is depleted of bees to such 

 an extent that it is practically useless as a surplus honey pro- 

 ducer for the remainder of the season. In order to prevent 

 second and after-swarms the queen cells must be carefully 

 removed three or four days after the first swarm issues, leaving 

 one promising looking cell to provide the necessary queen. 

 This cell must be carefully watched until the royal inmate 

 is safelv hatched, otherwise the hive might remain queenless. 

 If the queen cells are all but one removed as early as the third 

 or fourth day, 'the bees may, and probably will begin others, 

 so careful are they not to trust the fate of the hive to one cell 

 which may or may not produce a perfect queen. In order to 

 do this they have to turn worker cells, containing larvae not 

 more than two or three days old. into queen cells and provide 

 the inmates with "royal jelly" to feed on, instead of the ordinary 

 liquid food necessary for the worker larvae, in order that they 

 may now become fully developed females. If this second 

 supply of queen cells is started they must be destroyed 

 as soon as there is a queen in the hive, otherwise all the pre- 

 caution taken may be of no avail and a second swarm will issue 

 when least expected. 



When the season is unfavourable the bees themselves decide 

 that there will be no second or after-swarms and when this 

 is the case they allow the first young queen which hatches to 

 destroy all other queen cells. This she soon does by tearing out 

 the sides of each one with her powerful mandibles and stinging 

 the inmates to death. If several queens have already hatched 

 there is a battle royal and the "survival of the fittest." The 

 young queen leaves the hive to mate with the drone about the 

 fifth or sixth day after hatching, but several days frequently 

 elapse before this takes place. After mating she returns to the 

 hive and does not leaA^e it again until she issues with a swarm, 

 probably the following spring. 



A newly mated queen usually begins laying within a day 

 or two, and rapidly fills the now almost empty combs with eggs. 

 If no second swarm has issued the parent hive will, if the season 

 is favorable, give a considerable yield of surplus honey, and by 



