HYMENOPTERA. : 33 
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 deser- 
tion 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 deliriuni 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 mélée 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 farther 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 col-- 
lected 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 pupz. 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 reorganise 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 undivided sway over 
the community. She searches for the cells in which these are 
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