338 THE INSECT WORLD. 
Under a warm climate where flowers abound, the hives may cast 
several times in succession. The first swarm, however, is always the 
best. It is more numerous, and has before it more time to provision 
itself. If the weather remains favourable, it is not rare to see 

Fig. 322.—Cluster of Bees hanging to a branch. 
it send out a swarm itself three weeks after leaving the old hive. 
The old queen then leads the emigration of the second swarm, 
abandoning the colony she had lately founded. If the original 
hive sends forth several swarms, the interval between the first and 
the second is from seven to ten days; the third and the fourth 
follow at shorter intervals. But these late casts have rarely 
vitality enough to exist long. 
A swarm never returns to a hive it has once left. It is sur- 
prising then that a hive can furnish a second swarm after the 
*nterval 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 larve are not long in 
repeopling the hive, so as to furnish a second swarm. The third 
and the fourth casts weaken the population more perceptibly ; 
