The Young Queens 
coming births —is sufficiently constant 
to point to an actual and mysterious 
reckoning on the part of the genius of 
the hive. 
[75] 
We will not follow these swarms on 
their numerous, and often most compli- 
cated, adventures. Two swarms, at times, 
will join forces; at others, two or three 
of the imprisoned queens will profit by 
the confusion attending the moment of 
departure to elude the watchfulness of 
their guardians and join the groups that 
are forming. Occasionally, too, one of 
the young queens, finding herself sur- 
rounded by males, will cause herself to 
be impregnated in the swarming flight, 
and will then drag all her people to an 
extraordinary height and distance. In 
the practice of apiculture these secondary 
and tertiary swarms are always returned 
267 
