60 miner's ameeican 



In order to arrive at the point, that I had in view, viz : 

 to illustrate the fact of the old queen going off with the 

 first swarm, as briefly as possible, and not run into a 

 chapter on swarming at this place, I will simply state, 

 why the old queen does thus leave the hive with a pri- 

 mary swarm. 



As soon as the young queens' cells are sealed, or a 

 few days thereafter, say about eight or nine days before 

 the development of the oldest among them, the natural 

 hatred of the rivals, that she has produced, or at least, 

 deposited the eggs in the royal cells for their production, 

 is so great, that sooner than remain to encounter them, 

 she quits the hive, and in her exit, takes a portion of the 

 family with her. If she were to remain in the hive un- 

 til one or more of the young queens should emerge from 

 the cells, she would, from her superior strength and com- 

 mand over the workers, fall upon such queens, in despite 

 of the efforts of the workers to prevent it, and slay them, 

 without the least compunction or mercy. Nor would 

 she stop there — if any queens yet remained in the em- 

 bryo state, she would, in her rage, tear off the seals of 

 their cells, and drag them out, as if they were the dead- 

 liest enemies to her race. Thus would there be no 

 swarming, since the old queen would not go off, and 

 leave the family without a sovereign, and she will spare 

 none, when once her appetite for slaughter has been 

 whetted. There is much of interest that may be said 

 on the general circumstances of swarming, which I shall 

 endeavor to lay before my readers hereafter. 



