AFTER-SWARMING. 1 3 



number of them keep guard over the cells and resist the 

 virgin queen. Finding herself foiled, she gives vent to her 

 anger by uttering a shrill cry like "zeep, zeep," to which 

 the princesses reply by repeating the cry in a hoarser tone. 

 When this cry is heard, an after-swarm or cast is almost 

 certain to issue next day, the unmated queen going with it. 

 These after-swarms come off at all hours of the day and in 

 all states of the weather, and generally take long flights 

 before settling. The fact of the queen being unmated 

 reduces their -value considerably, but as the bees are all 

 young, and have a long life of usefulness before them, they 

 are by no means to be despised. In the case of strong 

 stocks, other after-swarms, to the number of half-a-dozen or 

 more, may come off during the next fortnight or so, but after 

 that, further after-swarming is unlikely. When the bees do 

 not wish to send off a cast, the first queen to emerge is 

 allowed to destroy the others, which she does by tearing 

 open the side of the cell and stinging the hapless inmate to 

 death. About the eighth or ninth day from her leaving the 

 cell, she plays about the hive entrance and takes short flights 

 now and again, as if to try her wings and familiarise herself 

 with the hive exterior so that she may know it on her return. 

 Soon after this she takes a lofty flight to meet the drone, and 

 remains away about twenty minutes. If she is unsuccessful 

 she flies again and again, but if she does not mate within 

 three weeks she makes no further attempts, and contents 

 herself with laying eggs which produce drones only. A stock 

 having such a queen very soon gets weak, and becomes a 

 prey to robber bees and wasps, and finally it dies out. As a 

 rule, the queen gets mated on her first flight, the union 

 (which is fatal to the drone) taking place far beyond human 

 vision. When she returns, the bees receive her with every 

 demonstration of pleasure, and three days after she begins to 

 lay, and never afterwards leaves the hive, except with a 

 swarm. Occasionally queens, while on their wedding flights, 

 get killed by birds, or other accidents happen them, in which 

 case the stock speedily dies out, unless another queen is 

 given to them, or they are united to another stock, having a 

 queen. 



Healthy queens live for about four years. The life of a- 



