338 THE INSECT WORLD. 



then that a hive can furnish a second swarm after the interval of ajjl 

 few days, without being too much weakened. But the old queen, in 

 quitting her domain, leaves behind her a considerable quantity of 

 brood. These larvcC are not long in re-peopling the hive, so as ta 

 furnish a second swarm. The third and the fourth casts weaken the 

 population more perceptibly ; but there remain still enough v/orkers : 

 to continue operations. In some cases the agitation of the cast is 

 so great as to cause all the bees to quit the hive together, leaving it 

 deserted ; but this desertion only lasts an instant, one part of the 

 swarm wisely returning to their home. 



All those which start away become members of the new colony. 

 When the general delirium we have spoken of has taken possession 

 of them, they precipitate themselves together, they pile themselves 

 up all at the same time by the door of the hive, and get so hot as tc 

 perspire freely. Those which are in the midst of the melee bear the 

 weight of the whole crowd, and seem bathed in sweat. Their wing;* 

 become damp, and they are no longer able to fly, and even if the] 

 manage to escape, they get no further than the stand, and are not loni 

 in re-entering the hive, instead of following the main body of th( 

 emigrants. AVe must not forget that a part of the population i 

 always out at those hours of the day when the swaniis take place 

 engaged in collecting provisions ; and having collected the spoil, thes 

 workers return to the hive abandoned by the greater part of thei 

 companions, and betake themselves to their usual occupations, as 

 nothing had happened. They form the nucleus of the new populatioi 

 which is soon enlarged by the hatching of the pupse. We hav 

 already said that the first swarm is always led by the old queen c 

 mother, and that it starts before the hatching of the young femaler 

 If she had not gone out before their birth she would have destroyed 

 them, and the new hive would have been unable to re-organise itse 

 for the want of a chief. 



The first swarm having set out, those bees which remain in tl 

 hive pay particular attention to the royal cells. If the young queei 

 make eftbrts to escape from them, their guardians watch them narrowl 

 and as the prisoners destroy their covers of wax the guards resto 

 them ; but as they do not desire the death of the inmates, they pa 

 in some honey through the opening before they close it, so as 

 amehorate their captivity. At the appointed moment, the issue 

 the first egg laid quits her cradle. Very soon she yields to t 

 murderous instinct \v'hich impels her to destroy her rivals, so that s 

 may reign with individual sway over the community. She search 

 for the cells in which these are shut up, but the moment s 



