338 THE INSECT WORLD. 



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

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

 quitting her domain, leaves behind her a considerable quantity of 

 brood. These larvae are not long in re-peopling the hive, so as to 

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

 population more perceptibly ; but there remain still enough workers 

 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 to 

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

 weight of the whole crowd, and seem bathed in sweat. Their wings 

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

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

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

 emigrants. We must not forget that a part of the population is 

 always out at those hours of the day when the swarms take place, 

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

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

 companions, and betake themselves to their usual occupations, as if 

 nothing had happened. They form the nucleus of the new population, 

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

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

 mother, and that it starts before the hatching of the young females. 

 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 itself 

 for the want of a chief. 



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

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

 make efforts to escape from them, their guardians watch them narrowly, 

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

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

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

 ameliorate their captivity. At the appointed moment, the issue of 

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

 murderous instinct which impels her to destroy her rivals, so that she 

 may reign with individual sway over the community. She searches 

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



