es out a perfect fly, while the other is a nymph, or little
younger, and has not yet made her escape from the cell where she was
raised; and yet both answer the alarm of the other, the youngest more
feebly than the elder.

Bees will never swarm but once the same season unless they make more than
one Queen, immediately after the departure of the first swarm; and not
then, if the bees permit the oldest Queen to come in contact with the cell
where the young ones are growing. Queens entertain the most deadly
animosity towards each other, and will commence an attack upon each other
the first moment opportunity offers. The old Queen will even tear all the
cradles or cells to pieces where young ones are growing, and destroy all
the chrysalis Queens in the hive.

If the weather becomes unfavorable to swarming, the next day after the
alarm of the Queen is heard, and continues so for several days, the oldest
Queen may come in contact with the others, or gain access to their cells;
in either case the life of one of them is destroyed by the other, and the
colony will not be likely to send forth another swarm the same season. If
the old Queen succeeds in taking the life of the younger, or _vice versa_,
the remaining nymphs will be likely to share the same fate of their
martyred sisters, by the hand of the reigning Queen, who considers all
others in the same hive as her competitors.

Second swarms would be as large and numerous as any others, if it was not
the fact that they come forth to avoid the battle of the Queens. Bees are
very tenacious to preserve the lives of their sovereigns, particularly
those of their own raising; and when they find they have more than one in
the hive, they will guard each so strong as to prevent, if possible, their
coming within reach of each other. They being thus strongly guarded to
prevent the fight, is unquestionably the cause of their giving the alarm,
as described in the foregoing article. The knowledge of the existence of
another Queen in the same hive inspires them with the greatest uneasiness
and rage; and when the oldest one finds herself defeated in gaining access
to her competitor, she sallies forth with as many as see fit to follow
her, and seeks a new habitation.

Bees will not swarm but once in a season, if the second one does not come
forth within seventeen days from the departure of the first, unless they
swarm for want of room, in which case no Queen will be heard before
swarming.