The Young Queens 



After the second swarm the bees, as a 

 rule, will renounce further division, owing 

 either to their having observed the exces- 

 sive feebleness of their own stock, or to 

 the prudence urged upon them by threaten- 

 ing skies. In that case they will allow 

 the third queen to slaughter the captives ; 

 ordinary life will at once be resumed, and 

 pursued with the more ardour for the 

 reason that the workers are all very young, 

 that the hive is depopulated and impover- 

 ished, and that there are great voids to 

 fill before the arrival of winter. 



[73] 

 The departure of the second and third 

 swarms resembles that of the first, and the 

 conditions are identical, with the exception 

 that the bees are fewer in number, less 

 circumspect, and lacking in scouts ; and 

 also that the young and virgin queen, 

 being unencumbered and ardent, will fly 

 263 



