FORMATION OF SWARMS. S3 
those bad days, there would be a plu¬ 
rality of queens in the hive: Nature 
has inspired them with a mortal aver¬ 
sion to each other: consequently, there 
would be combats, and victims would 
fall, and if the bad weather lasted 
long, no more swarms would come off., 
The workers assiduously guard the 
cells when the young queens are ready 
to undergo their last metamorphosis* 
At length, the female hatched from 
the first egg laid by the old queen 
leaves her cell, and immediately yield¬ 
ing to the instinct which urges her 
to destroy her rivals, she seeks the 
cells where they are inclosed: yet* 
