THE BEE NATION. 235 



royal cells. Several young queens then break out simulta- 

 neously, seek each other out and fight ; the queen coming 

 victorious out of the strife takes possession of the throne 

 without opposition. The imprisonment of the young queens 

 lasts longest in bad weather, which hinders the swarming. 



Except at the swarming season the above described protec- 

 tion afforded by the bees to the royal cells is less careful, and 

 indeed generally scarcely exists : this is clearly because the 

 young queens are no longer needed to lead secondary swarms, 

 and therefore their assassination in the larval or pupal state 

 is seen without regret. It is less evident why, as F. Huber 

 assures us, similar behavior is often seen in the primary 

 swarm led by the old queen, and the latter is not, like the 

 young queens, forbidden or prevented from approaching and 

 even destroying the royal cells. Huber thinks that the 

 respect felt by the bees to be due to a fruitful queen, once 

 enfranchised by them, here comes into play, and is also 

 clearly to be seen in other circumstances. Fortunately the 

 old queens, for reasons yet unknown to us, do not make too 

 frequent use of this prerogative, or the keeping and multipli- 

 cation of bee colonies so long as the old queen lived would 

 be impossible. Perhaps also it is again only the older bees 

 which manifest their respect and leave their queen free, 

 partly because of this, and partly from egoistic motives or 

 conservative leanings, while the younger, like youth in 

 general, follow revolutionary principles, and expecting 

 reforms from the new sovereign, guard her from unnatural 

 maternal attacks. All the proceedings here described, how- 

 ever, vary so much in different places and at different times, 

 and the desire to swarm is so strong in the bees in some 

 specially favorable places (as in the forest of Luneberg) that 

 several swarming seasons take place instead of one, an.fi 

 swarm after swarm is thrown off, both from the old hires 

 and the newly-formed colonies. With this increased desire- 

 to swarm are naturally united corresponding inclinations, 

 relative to protecting the queens. 



The second great event in the bee state is the wedding 

 flight, which in the secondary swarms takes place, as a rule, 

 very soon after the foundation of the new colony, and often 

 on the same day, and which is absolutely necessary for 

 producing a fruitful posterity. The queen performs it when 

 the weather is favorable that is, warm, windless, and 



