28 lìiìlUlin de hi Sociclc Entonìoloijiqnc d Egypte 



noticed Ix'iiii^ an inclination on their part to settle im- 

 mediately, at a distance of only a lew yards from the 

 original nest. 



IF the community IVom which the swarni procee(ied 

 is a strong one, and has succeeded in raising several 

 (jueens, it will soon send olT further swarms. These are 

 known as alterswarms and contain virgin queens. They 

 behave in every way like true swarms. However as soon 

 as the community has settled ina new nest, the queen Hies 

 out and copulates with a drone. 



In other species ol" bees an al'terswarm normally 

 contains only one (|ueen. In alterswarms olthe Egyptian 

 bee one finds very frequently many (jueens, np to 40 

 being observed. IT hived without further precautions 

 these (pieens woidd swarm again repeatedly, until the 

 bees were divided u[) into very small communities. 



This brings us to a new notable dilTerence of habit. 

 European bees very rarely raise more than six to twelve 

 (|ueens at a time, usually less. The I^gyptian l)ee on the 

 other hand usnally raises huge numbers of cjueens sim- 

 ultaneously. I know of one case where over 3G8 queens 

 were reared by one community. In another case a 

 weak community reared in midwinter over 70 (jueens. 



Examining a hive which is re(|ueening itself, one 

 often linds huge numbers of queens, running even into 

 hundreds. Such a slate of things never occurs in Euro- 

 pean breeds. However when more than one ([ueen is 

 present, one can be certain that they are all virgins. 

 Egyptian ([ueen bees that have been fertilised are ((uite 

 as intolerant of rivals as the (jucens of other breeds. 



It must not, however, be supposed that the queens 

 alone lake over the function of ridding the hive of sur^ 



