ARTIFICIAL SWARMINCl. 235 



" The first business the bees attended to, was to commence 

 cells for a queen, and they prosecuted it with energy for two 

 days. At the end of that time, a queen was taken from 

 another colony and placed with them, upon which they 

 pulled down the cells they had made, in less than half the 

 time it had required to construct them, and then began to 

 piece out and repair the comb, which needed a corner. The 

 queen at once commenced laying, and soon filled the unoc- 

 cupied cells, when she was again removed, and the bees 

 once more began the construction of queen cells. 



" The young bees now began to hatch forth, and in two 

 weeks the family increased so fast as to make it necessary 

 for them to prepare to emigrate. They had built six queen 

 cells, and in about twelve days, the first queen was hatched. 

 As soon as she was fairly born, she marched rapidly, and in 

 the most energetic manner, over the comb, and visited the 

 other cells in which were the embryo queens, seeming at 

 times furious to destroy them. The workers, however, 

 surrounded her, and prevented such wholesale murder. But 

 for two days she was intent upon her fell purpose, and kept 

 in almost continuous motion to effect it. On the fourteenth 

 day the second queen was ready to come out, piping and 

 making various noises to attract attention". 



"A part of the colony then seemed to conclude that it was 

 time to take the first queen and go, but by some mistake she 

 remained in the hive after the swarm had left. The second 

 queen came out as soon as possible after the others had gone, 

 and then there were now two hatched queens in the hive ! they 

 ran about on the comb, which was now nearly empty, so that 

 they could be distinctly seen. But they had not apparently, 

 noticed each other, while the workers were in a state of 

 great uneasiness and commotion, seeming impatient for the 



