232 NATURAL SWARM I KG. 



when the bees are still, if the queens are "piping," he will 

 readily recognize their peculiar sounds (115). The young 

 queens are all mature, at the latest, in sixteen days from the 

 departure of the first swarm, even if it left as soon as the 

 royal cells were begun. 



The second swarm usually issues on the first or second day 

 after piping is heard ; though the bees sometimes delay coming 

 out until the fifth day, in consequence of an unfavorable state 

 of the weather. Occasionally, the weather is so very unfavor- 

 able that they permit the oldest queen to kill the others, and 

 refuse to swarm again. This is a rare occurrence, as young 

 queens are not so particular about the weather as old ones, 

 and sometimes venture out, not merely when it is cloudy, but 

 when rain is falling. On this account, if a very close watch 

 is not kept, they are often lost. As piping ordinarily com- 

 mences about a week after first-swarming, the second swarm 

 usually issues eight or nine days after the first; although it 

 has been known to issue as early as the third, and as late as 

 the seventeenth; but such cases are veiy rare. 



447. It frequently happens, in the agitation of swarm- 

 ing, that the usual guard over the queen-cells is withdrawn, 

 and several hatch at the same time, and accompany the col- 

 ony; in which case the bees often alight in two or more sepa- 

 rate clusters. In our observing-hives, we have repeatedly 

 seen yomig queens thrust out their tongues from a hole in 

 their cell, to be fed by the bees. If allowed to issue at will, 

 they are pale and weak, like other young bees, and for some 

 time unable to fly; but if confined the usual time, they come 

 forth fully colored, and ready for all emergencies. We have 

 seen them issue in this state, while the excitement caused by 

 I'emoving the combs from a hive has driven the guard from 

 their cells. 



The following remarkable instance came under our obser- 

 vation, in Matamoras, Mexico : A second swarm deserting 

 its abode the second day after being hived, settled upon a 

 tree. On examining the abandoned hive, fii^e young queens 



