80 
soon as she leaves the cell and surveys the comb, she 
rushes towaads the next queen-cell, and if not pre- 
vented by the workers, bites open the cell from the 
side and kills the inmate with her sting ; in like man- 
ner she rushes to the next queen-cell, and if the work- 
ers present do not resist her, opens the cell and kills 
the young queen in its “cradle of innocence,” often 
before she herself has been out of her cell longer than 
a minute. If she is successful in destroying her rivals, 
no second or after-swarms will issue. This young 
queen, to become competent to lay both drones and 
worker-bees-producing eggs, must meet the drones, 
which usually occurs on the third day, if the weather 
is pleasant. According to Huber she must meet the 
drones before she is twenty days old, or she cannot be 
impregnated. On the third day after impregnation, 
she begins to lay eggs, and the workers now treat her 
as their queen and mother, the hive having been with- 
out a fertile queen since swarming ; the workers being 
well aware that on this young queen depends the fur- 
ther existence of the colony. 
AFTER-SWARMS OR CASTS. 
If, after swarming the first time for that season, the 
weather is favorable, forage in abundance, and the bees 
remaining after first swarming are of sufficient strength 
or inclination to resist the first hatched queen in the 
