BEES IN THE HIVE. 213 
queen becomes very uneasy, and wanders about dis- 
tractedly. The reason of this is, that there can never 
be two queen-bees in one hive, and the queen knows 
that her daughter will soon be coming out of her 
cradle and will try to turn her off her throne. So, 
not wishing to have to fight for her kingdom, she 
makes up her mind to seek a new home and take a 
number of her subjects with her. If you watch the 
hive about this time you will notice many of the bees 
clustering together after they have brought in their 
honey, and hanging patiently, in order to have plenty 
of wax ready to use when they start, while the queen 
keeps a sharp look-out for a bright, sunny day, on 
which they can swarm : for bees will never swarm on 
a wet or doubtful day if they can possibly help it, and 
w r e can easily understand why, when we consider how 
the rain would clog their wings and spoil the wax 
under their bodies. 
Meanwhile the young princess grows very impa- 
tient, and tries to get out of her cell, but the worker- 
bees drive her back, for they know there would be a 
terrible fight if the two queens met. So they close 
up the hole she has made with fresh wax after having 
put in some food for her to live upon till she is re- 
leased. 
At last a suitable day arrives, and about ten or 
eleven o'clock in the morning the old queen leaves the 
hive, taking with her about 2000 drones and from 
12,000 to 20,000 worker-bees, which fly a little way 
clustering round her till she alights on the bough of 
some tree, and then they form a compact swarm ready 
for a new hive or to find a home of their own. 
