The Life of the Bee 
temptation. of a favourable moment—but 
the instantaneous, unanimous adoption of 
measures that shall enable them to issue a 
second swarm, or “cast,” three or four days 
after the birth of the first queen, and a third 
swarm three days after the departure of the 
second, with this first queen at their head. 
It must be admitted, therefore, that we 
discover here a perfectly reasoned system 
and mature combination of plans, which 
extend over a period considerable indeed 
when compared with the brevity of the 
bee’s existence. 
72 
These measures concern the care of the 
youthful queens who still lie immured in 
their waxen prisons. Let us assume that the 
‘spirit of the hive” has pronounced against 
the despatch of a second swarm. Two 
courses still remain open. The bees may 
permit the first-born of the royal virgins, 
the one whose birth we have witnessed, to 
destroy her sister-enemies; or they may 
elect to wait till she have performed the 
204 
