218 THE BEE NATION. 



royal brood has been killed on account of the impossibility 

 of swarming. Her endeavors to render impossible the 

 emergence of the young queens who threaten her rule, by 

 hurrying to the cells in which the royal larvae lie, tearing 

 them out and killing them, are generally frustrated by the 

 care of the working bees watching the brood, so that at 

 length nothing remains to her but to leave her ungrateful 

 subjects, accompanied by her dependents, and to found a new 

 hive. Sometimes the working bees let the old queen carry 

 out her murderous intentions, when, as the bee-masters say, 

 there is no " inclination to swarm," or when the hive will not 

 be overfull with the newly emerged bees, and there is there- 

 fore no need to divide. In other cases the killing of the 

 young bees would render swarming impossible, and must 

 therefore be prevented. The younger bees are most interested 

 herein, as they long for " room for the flight of free souls," 

 so they protect their future rulers or worship the rising sun, 

 while the older bees hold rather to the old queen, and leave 

 the hive with her and a few drones. This is not surprising, 

 as the older bees are accustomed to their old and beloved 

 queen and prefer her to a new and strange one. Yet they 

 often take different sides, the exact peculiarities and reasons 

 of which are until now as dim and mysterious as the mani- 

 fold and often puzzling parties among men. Whether pride, 

 vanity, self-interest and place-hunting have any part therein, 

 as among men, is not yet revealed to the naturalist. But in 

 any case this is certain, that jealousy and love of dominion, 

 the burning desire to rule alone, is the motive which impels 

 the queen, and leads her to deeds which exactly reproduce 

 those which fill many sad pages of human rule with deeds 

 that make the hair stand on end. Thence comes it that 

 after the flight of the old queen concord is not re-established 

 within the hive for some time, although the marvellously 

 sensible working bees, as we shall immediately see, take no 

 part in the strife, and even try to curb it by force. They 

 feed the larvae of the future queens in the royal cells in 

 different ways, with the object of preventing their simulta- 

 neous emergence. They also retain an emerged queen in her 

 cell until the time for swarming arrives. If the working 

 bees fail in their object, and two or more young queens emerge 

 simultaneously or close together, they then fight bitterly 

 until one or other is victor. As already said, the working 



