PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 147 



cell. On this account they never suffer her to come 

 forth till she is perfectly fit to take her flight. When at 

 length she is permitted to do this, if she approaches the 

 other royal cells, the workers on guard seem greatly ir- 

 ritated against her, and pull and bite and chase her 

 away ; and she enjoys tranquillity only while she keeps 

 at a distance from them. As her instinct is constantly 

 urging her to attack them, this proceeding is frequently 

 repeated. Sometimes standing in a particular and com- 

 manding attitude, she utters that authoritative sound 

 which so much affects the bees ; they then all hang down 

 their heads and remain motionless ; but as soon as it 

 ceases, they resume their opposition. At last she be- 

 comes violently agitated, and communicating her agita- 

 tion to others, the confusion more and more increases, 

 till a swarm leaves the hive, which she either precedes 

 or follows. In the same manner the other young queens 

 are treated while there are swarms to go forth; but when 

 the hive is sufficiently thinned, and it becomes trouble- 

 some to guard them in the manner here described, they 

 come forth unnoticed, and fight unimpeded till one alone 

 remains to fill the deserted throne of the parent hive. 

 You see here the reason why the eggs that produce these 

 queens are not laid at the same time, but after some in- 

 terval, that they may come forth successively. For did 

 they all make their appearance together, it would be a 

 much more laborious and difficult task to keep them 

 from destroying each other. 



When the bees thus delay the entrance of the young 

 queens into their world, they invariably let out the old- 

 est first ; and they probably know their progress to ma- 

 turity by the emission of the sound lately mentioned. 



L 2 



