260 miner's AMERICAN 



ment, being the oldest and strongest, rushes upon all the 

 young queens that may be ready to emerge, as well as 

 upon those in the embryo state, and destroys them also; 

 consequently, no more swarms can possibly take place 

 That season. 



-If, on the other hand, it be decided that other swarms 

 shall issue, then all other young queens are kept con- 

 fined as long as possible ; and the same causes that drove 

 off the old queen, may also force her successor to de- 

 part ; but it sometimes happens, that half a dozen young 

 queens will mature about the same time, which are dif- 

 ficult to be kept in confinement, in which case, they 

 are guarded by the workers, and at the proper time, 

 some one of them gives the notice to swarm, and seve- 

 ral queens rush out in the general melee. This ac- 

 counts for more than one queen being sometimes found 

 in a swarm. 



A permanent stop to swarming may be occasioned by 

 a few days of rainy weather, occurring just at the time 

 when a family ought to issue. It happens thus ; — as the 

 young sovereigns increase in age and strength, the work- 

 ers find the greatest difficulty to restrain them in their 

 attempts to destroy each other, and they often become 

 wearied out by the delay in issuing, when the weather 

 is long unfavorable, and giving up their royal charge to 

 their own wrath and hatred, it is not long before all are 

 killed save one. Here I would remark, that nature has 

 so wonderfully ordered the attacks that queens make on 

 each other, that in no case are both killed in the same 



