The Young Queens 
perilous ceremony known as the “nuptial 
flight,” whereon the nation’s future depends. 
The immediate massacre will be authorised 
often, and often denied ; but in the latter 
case it is of course not easy for us to pro- 
nounce whether their decision be due to a 
desire for a second swarm, or to their recog- 
nition of the danger attending the “ nuptial 
flight”; for it will happen at times that, 
on account of the weather unexpectedly 
becoming less favourable, or for some other 
reason we cannot divine, they will suddenly 
change their mind, renounce the cast that 
they had decreed, and destroy the royal 
progeny they had so carefully preserved. 
But at present we will suppose that they 
have determined to dispense with a second 
swarm, and that they accept the risks of the 
nuptial flight. Our young queen hastens 
towards the large cradles, urged on by her 
great desire, and the guard make way before 
her. Listening only to her furious jealousy, 
she will fling herself on to the first cell she 
comes across, madly strip off the wax with 
her teeth and claws, tear away the cocoon 
that carpets the cell, and divest the sleeping 
205 
