BEES IN THE HIVE. 2O? 
are still shut in. But the workers will not let her 
touch them, and at last she stands still and begins to 
beat the air with her wings and to tremble all over, 
moving more and^more quickly, till she makes quite a 
loud, piping noise. 
Hark ! What is that note answering her ? It is a 
low, hoarse sound, and it comes from the cell of the 
next eldest princess. Now we see why the young 
queen has been so restless. She knows her sister will 
soon come out, and the louder and stronger the sound 
becomes within the cell, the sooner she knows the 
fight will have to begin. And so she makes up her 
mind to follow her mother's example and to lead off 
a second swarm. But she cannot always stop to 
choose a fine day, for her sister is growing very strong 
and may come out of her cell before she is off. And 
so the second, or after swarm, gets ready and goes 
away. And this explains why princesses' eggs are 
laid a few days apart, for if they were laid all on the 
same day, there would be no time for one princess to 
go off with a swarm before the other came out of her 
cell. Sometimes, when the workers are not watchful 
enough, two queens do meet, and then they fight till 
one is killed ; or sometimes they both go off with the 
same swarm without finding each other out. But this 
only delays the fight till they get into the new hive ; 
sooner or later one must be killed. 
And now a third queen begins to reign in the old 
hive, and she is just as restless as the preceding ones, 
for there are still more princesses to be born. But 
this time, if no new swarm wants to start, the workers 
do not try to protect the royal cells. The young 
