20 AN EASr METHOD OF 



have a Queen. Now as the eggs are laid in about 

 three litters per week, the bees, to be still more 

 sure of succeeding intheirenterprize, take mag- 

 gots, differing in age, so that if more than one 

 Queen is hatched, one will be older than the 

 others. This fact accounts for hearing more 

 than one Queen at the same time, because one 

 comes out a perfect fly, while the other is a 

 nymph, or little younger, and has not yet made 

 her escape from the cell where she was raised ; 

 and yet both answer the alarm of the other, 

 the youngest more feebly than the elder. 



Bees will never swarm but once the same 

 season unless they make more than one Queen, 

 immediately after the departure of the first 

 swarm ; and not then, if the bees permit the 

 oldest Queen to come in contact with the cell 

 where the young ones are growing. Queens 

 entertain the most deadly animosity towards 

 each other, and will commence an attack up- 

 on each other the first moment opportunity 

 offers. The old Queen will even tear all the 

 cradles or cells to pieces where young ones are 

 growing, and destroy all the chrysalis Queens 

 in the hive. 



