The Young Queens 
the births should be nicely gradationed and 
take place at regular intervals, in accordance 
with their possible desire for a second swarm, 
a third, or even a fourth. The workers 
have for some hours now been actively 
thinning the walls of the ripest cell, while 
the young queen, from within, has been 
simultaneously gnawing the rounded lid of 
her prison. And at last her head appears; 
she thrusts herself forward, and, with the 
help of the guardians who hasten eagerly 
to her, who brush her, caress her, and clean 
her, she extricates herself altogether and 
takes her first steps on the comb. At the 
moment of birth she, too, like the workers, 
is trembling and pale; but after ten minutes 
or so her legs become stronger, and a strange 
restlessness seizes her; she feels that.she 
is not alone, that her kingdom has yet to 
be conquered, that close by pretenders are 
hiding; and she eagerly paces the waxen 
walls in search of her rivals. But there 
intervene here the mysterious decisions and 
wisdom of instinct, of the spirit of the hive, 
or the assembly of workers. The most 
surprising feature of all, as we watch these 
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