The Young Queens 



The question they have to consider is 

 not whether a second or third swarm 

 shall be immediately launched, — for in 

 arriving at such a decision they would 

 merely be blindly and thoughtlessly 

 yielding to the caprice or temptation of a 

 favourable moment, — but the instanta- 

 neous, unanimous adoption of measures 

 that shall enable them to issue a second 

 swarm or "cast" three or four days after 

 the birth of the first queen, and a third 

 swarm three days after the departure of 

 the second, with this first queen at their 

 head. It must be admitted, therefore, 

 that we discover here a perfectly reasoned 

 system, and a mature combination of plans 

 extending over a period considerable in- 

 deed when compared with the brevity of 

 the bee's existence. 



251 



