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diff --git a/4511.txt b/4511.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db20410 --- /dev/null +++ b/4511.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6389 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of the Bee, by Maurice Maeterlinck + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Life of the Bee + +Author: Maurice Maeterlinck + +Release Date: October, 2003 [EBook #4511] +Last Updated: August 7, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF THE BEE *** + + + + +Produced by Steve Solomon + + + + + +THE LIFE OF THE BEE + +By Maurice Maeterlinck + +Translated By Alfred Sutro + + + + +NEW YORK + +1914 + + + +_Published May, 1901_ + + + + + + +Contents + + + + + +I. ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE HIVE + +II. THE SWARM + +III. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CITY + +IV. THE LIFE OF THE BEE + +V. THE YOUNG QUEENS + +VI. THE NUPTIAL FLIGHT + +VII. THE MASSACRE OF THE MALES + +VIII. THE PROGRESS OF THE RACE + +APPENDIX + + + + + + +I -- ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE HIVE + +{1} + +IT is not my intention to write a treatise on apiculture, or on +practical bee-keeping. Excellent works of the kind abound in all +civilised countries, and it were useless to attempt another. France +has those of Dadant, Georges de Layens and Bonnier, Bertrand, Hamet, +Weber, Clement, the Abbe Collin, etc. English-speaking countries +have Langstroth, Bevan, Cook, Cheshire, Cowan, Root, etc. Germany +has Dzierzon, Van Berlespoch, Pollmann, Vogel, and many others. + +Nor is this book to be a scientific monograph on Apis Mellifica, +Ligustica, Fasciata, Dorsata, etc., or a collection of new +observations and studies. I shall say scarcely anything that those +will not know who are somewhat familiar with bees. The notes and +experiments I have made during my twenty years of beekeeping I shall +reserve for a more technical work; for their interest is necessarily +of a special and limited nature, and I am anxious not to over-burden +this essay. I wish to speak of the bees very simply, as one speaks +of a subject one knows and loves to those who know it not. I do not +intend to adorn the truth, or merit the just reproach Reaumur +addressed to his predecessors in the study of our honey-flies, whom +he accused of substituting for the marvellous reality marvels that +were imaginary and merely plausible. The fact that the hive contains +so much that is wonderful does not warrant our seeking to add to its +wonders. Besides, I myself have now for a long time ceased to look +for anything more beautiful in this world, or more interesting, than +the truth; or at least than the effort one is able to make towards +the truth. I shall state nothing, therefore, that I have not +verified myself, or that is not so fully accepted in the text-books +as to render further verification superfluous. My facts shall be as +accurate as though they appeared in a practical manual or scientific +monograph, but I shall relate them in a somewhat livelier fashion +than such works would allow, shall group them more harmoniously +together, and blend them with freer and more mature reflections. The +reader of this book will not learn therefrom how to manage a hive; +but he will know more or less all that can with any certainty be +known of the curious, profound, and intimate side of its +inhabitants. Nor will this be at the cost of what still remains to +be learned. I shall pass over in silence the hoary traditions that, +in the country and many a book, still constitute the legend of the +hive. Whenever there be doubt, disagreement, hypothesis, when I +arrive at the unknown, I shall declare it loyally; you will find +that we often shall halt before the unknown. Beyond the appreciable +facts of their life we know but little of the bees. And the closer +our acquaintance becomes, the nearer is our ignorance brought to us +of the depths of their real existence; but such ignorance is better +than the other kind, which is unconscious, and satisfied. + +Does an analogous work on the bee exist? I believe I have read +almost all that has been written on bees; but of kindred matter I +know only Michelet's chapter at the end of his book "The Insect," +and Ludwig Buchner's essay in his "Mind in Animals." Michelet merely +hovers on the fringe of his subject; Buchner's treatise is +comprehensive enough, but contains so many hazardous statements, so +much long-discarded gossip and hearsay, that I suspect him of never +having left his library, never having set forth himself to question +his heroines, or opened one of the many hundreds of rustling, +wing-lit hives which we must profane before our instinct can be +attuned to their secret, before we can perceive the spirit and +atmosphere, perfume and mystery, of these virgin daughters of toil. +The book smells not of the bee, or its honey; and has the defects of +many a learned work, whose conclusions often are preconceived, and +whose scientific attainment is composed of a vast array of doubtful +anecdotes collected on every side. But in this essay of mine we +rarely shall meet each other; for our starting-point, our aim, and +our point of view are all very different. + +{2} + +The bibliography of the bee (we will begin with the books so as to +get rid of them as soon as we can and go to the source of the books) +is very extensive. From the beginning this strange little creature, +that lived in a society under complicated laws and executed +prodigious labours in the darkness, attracted the notice of men. +Aristotle, Cato, Varro, Pliny, Columella, Palladius all studied the +bees; to say nothing of Aristomachus, who, according to Cicero, +watched them for fifty-eight years, and of Phyliscus, whose writings +are lost. But these dealt rather with the legend of the bee; and all +that we can gather therefrom--which indeed is exceedingly little--we +may find condensed in the fourth book of Virgil's Georgics. + +The real history of the bee begins in the seventeenth century, with +the discoveries of the great Dutch savant Swammerdam. It is well, +however, to add this detail, but little known: before Swammerdam a +Flemish naturalist named Clutius had arrived at certain important +truths, such as the sole maternity of the queen and her possession +of the attributes of both sexes, but he had left these unproved. +Swammerdam founded the true methods of scientific investigation; he +invented the microscope, contrived injections to ward off decay, was +the first to dissect the bees, and by the discovery of the ovaries +and the oviduct definitely fixed the sex of the queen, hitherto +looked upon as a king, and threw the whole political scheme of the +hive into most unexpected light by basing it upon maternity. Finally +he produced woodcuts and engravings so perfect that to this day they +serve to illustrate many books on apiculture. He lived in the +turbulent, restless Amsterdam of those days, regretting "Het Zoete +Buiten Leve "--The Sweet Life of the Country--and died, worn-out +with work, at the age of forty-three. He wrote in a pious, formal +style, with beautiful, simple outbursts of a faith that, fearful of +falling away, ascribed all things to the glory of the Creator; and +embodied his observations and studies in his great work "Bybel der +Natuure," which the doctor Boerhave, a century later, caused to be +translated from the Dutch into Latin under the title of "Biblia +Naturae." (Leyden, 1737.) + +Then came Reaumur, who, pursuing similar methods, made a vast number +of curious experiments and researches in his gardens at Charenton, +and devoted to the bees an entire volume of his "Notes to Serve for +a History of Insects." One may read it with profit to-day, and +without fatigue. It is clear, direct, and sincere, and possessed of +a certain hard, arid charm of its own. He sought especially the +destruction of ancient errors; he himself was responsible for +several new ones; he partially understood the formation of swarms +and the political establishment of queens; in a word, he discovered +many difficult truths, and paved the way for the discovery of more. +He fully appreciated the marvellous architecture of the hive; and +what he said on the subject has never been better said. It is to +him, too, that we owe the idea of the glass hives, which, having +since been perfected, enable us to follow the entire private life of +these fierce insects, whose work, begun in the dazzling sunshine, +receives its crown in the darkness. To be comprehensive, one should +mention also the somewhat subsequent works and investigations of +Charles Bonnet and Schirach (who solved the enigma of the royal +egg); but I will keep to the broad lines, and pass at once to +Francois Huber, the master and classic of contemporary apiarian +science. + +Huber was born in Geneva in 1750, and fell blind in his earliest +youth. The experiments of Reaumur interested him; he sought to +verify them, and soon becoming passionately absorbed in these +researches, eventually, with the assistance of an intelligent and +faithful servant, Francois Burnens, devoted his entire life to the +study of the bee. In the annals of human suffering and human triumph +there is nothing more touching, no lesson more admirable, than the +story of this patient collaboration, wherein the one who saw only +with immaterial light guided with his spirit the eyes and hands of +the other who had the real earthly vision; where he who, as we are +assured, had never with his own eyes beheld a comb of honey, was yet +able, notwithstanding the veil on his dead eyes that rendered double +the veil in which nature enwraps all things, to penetrate the +profound secrets of the genius that had made this invisible comb; as +though to teach us that no condition in life can warrant our +abandoning our desire and search for the truth. I will not enumerate +all that apiarian science owes to Huber; to state what it does not +owe were the briefer task. His "New Observations on Bees," of which +the first volume was written in 1789, in the form of letters to +Charles Bonnet, the second not appearing till twenty years later, +have remained the unfailing, abundant treasure into which every +subsequent writer has dipped. And though a few mistakes may be found +therein, a few incomplete truths; though since his time considerable +additions have been made to the micrography and practical culture of +bees, the handling of queens, etc., there is not a single one of his +principal statements that has been disproved, or discovered in +error; and in our actual experience they stand untouched, and indeed +at its very foundation. + +{3} + +Some years of silence followed these revelations; but soon a German +clergyman, Dzierzon, discovered parthenogenesis, _i. e._ the +virginal parturition of queens, and contrived the first hive with +movable combs, thereby enabling the bee-keeper henceforth to take +his share of the harvest of honey, without being forced to destroy +his best colonies and in one instant annihilate the work of an +entire year. This hive, still very imperfect, received masterly +improvement at the hands of Langstroth, who invented the movable +frame properly so called, which has been adopted in America with +extraordinary success. Root, Quinby, Dadant, Cheshire, De Layens, +Cowan, Heddon, Howard, etc., added still further and precious +improvement. Then it occurred to Mehring that if bees were supplied +with combs that had an artificial waxen foundation, they would be +spared the labour of fashioning the wax and constructing the cells, +which costs them much honey and the best part of their time; he +found that the bees accepted these combs most readily, and adapted +them to their requirements. + +Major de Hruschka invented the Honey-Extractor, which enables the +honey to be withdrawn by centrifugal force without breaking the +combs, etc. And thus, in a few years, the methods of apiculture +underwent a radical change. The capacity and fruitfulness of the +hives were trebled. Great and productive apiaries arose on every +side. An end was put to the useless destruction of the most +industrious cities, and to the odious selection of the least fit +which was its result. Man truly became the master of the bees, +although furtively, and without their knowledge; directing all +things without giving an order, receiving obedience but not +recognition. For the destiny once imposed by the seasons he has +substituted his will. He repairs the injustice of the year, unites +hostile republics, and equalises wealth. He restricts or augments +the births, regulates the fecundity of the queen, dethrones her and +instals another in her place, after dexterously obtaining the +reluctant consent of a people who would be maddened at the mere +suspicion of an inconceivable intervention. When he thinks fit, he +will peacefully violate the secret of the sacred chambers, and the +elaborate, tortuous policy of the palace. He will five or six times +in succession deprive the bees of the fruit of their labour, without +harming them, without their becoming discouraged or even +impoverished. He proportions the store-houses and granaries of their +dwellings to the harvest of flowers that the spring is spreading +over the dip of the hills. He compels them to reduce the extravagant +number of lovers who await the birth of the royal princesses. In a +word he does with them what he will, he obtains what he will, +provided always that what he seeks be in accordance with their laws +and their virtues; for beyond all the desires of this strange god +who has taken possession of them, who is too vast to be seen and too +alien to be understood, their eyes see further than the eyes of the +god himself; and their one thought is the accomplishment, with +untiring sacrifice, of the mysterious duty of their race. + +{4} + +Let us now, having learned from books all that they had to teach us +of a very ancient history, leave the science others have acquired +and look at the bees with our own eyes. An hour spent in the midst +of the apiary will be less instructive, perhaps; but the things we +shall see will be infinitely more stimulating and more actual. + +I have not yet forgotten the first apiary I saw, where I learned to +love the bees. It was many years ago, in a large village of Dutch +Flanders, the sweet and pleasant country whose love for brilliant +colour rivals that of Zealand even, the concave mirror of Holland; a +country that gladly spreads out before us, as so many pretty, +thoughtful toys, her illuminated gables, and waggons, and towers; +her cupboards and clocks that gleam at the end of the passage; her +little trees marshalled in line along quays and canal-banks, +waiting, one almost might think, for some quiet, beneficent +ceremony; her boats and her barges with sculptured poops, her +flower-like doors and windows, immaculate dams, and elaborate, +many-coloured drawbridges; and her little varnished houses, bright +as new pottery, from which bell-shaped dames come forth, all +a-glitter with silver and gold, to milk the cows in the white-hedged +fields, or spread the linen on flowery lawns, cut into patterns of +oval and lozenge, and most astoundingly green. + +To this spot, where life would seem more restricted than +elsewhere--if it be possible for life indeed to become restricted--a +sort of aged philosopher had retired; an old man somewhat akin to +Virgil's-- + + "Man equal to kings, and approaching the gods;" + +whereto Lafontaine might have added,-- + + "And, like the gods, content and at rest." + +Here had he built his refuge, being a little weary; not disgusted, +for the large aversions are unknown to the sage; but a little weary +of interrogating men, whose answers to the only interesting +questions one can put concerning nature and her veritable laws are +far less simple than those that are given by animals and plants. His +happiness, like the Scythian philosopher's, lay all in the beauties +of his garden; and best-loved and visited most often, was the +apiary, composed of twelve domes of straw, some of which he had +painted a bright pink, and some a clear yellow, but most of all a +tender blue; having noticed, long before Sir John Lubbock's +demonstrations, the bees' fondness for this colour. + +These hives stood against the wall of the house, in the angle formed +by one of those pleasant and graceful Dutch kitchens whose +earthenware dresser, all bright with copper and tin, reflected +itself through the open door on to the peaceful canal. And the +water, burdened with these familiar images beneath its curtain of +poplars, led one's eyes to a calm horizon of mills and of meadows. + +Here, as in all places, the hives lent a new meaning to the flowers +and the silence, the balm of the air and the rays of the sun. One +seemed to have drawn very near to the festival spirit of nature. One +was content to rest at this radiant crossroad, where the aerial ways +converge and divide that the busy and tuneful bearers of all country +perfumes unceasingly travel from dawn unto dusk. One heard the +musical voice of the garden, whose loveliest hours revealed their +rejoicing soul and sang of their gladness. One came hither, to the +school of the bees, to be taught the preoccupations of all-powerful +nature, the harmonious concord of the three kingdoms, the +indefatigable organisation of life, and the lesson of ardent and +disinterested work; and another lesson too, with a moral as good, +that the heroic workers taught there, and emphasised, as it were, +with the fiery darts of their myriad wings, was to appreciate the +somewhat vague savour of leisure, to enjoy the almost unspeakable +delights of those immaculate days that revolved on themselves in the +fields of space, forming merely a transparent globe, as void of +memory as the happiness without alloy. + +{5} + +In order to follow, as simply as possible, the life of the bees +through the year, we will take a hive that awakes in the spring and +duly starts on its labours; and then we shall meet, in their natural +order, all the great episodes, viz.: the formation and departure of +the swarm, the foundation of the new city, the birth, combat and +nuptial flight of the young queens, the massacre of the males, and +finally, the return of the sleep of winter. With each of these +episodes there will go the necessary explanations as to the laws, +habits, peculiarities and events that produce and accompany it; so +that, when arrived at the end of the bee's short year, which extends +only from April to the last days of September, we shall have gazed +upon all the mysteries of the palace of honey. Before we open it, +therefore, and throw a general glance around, we only need say that +the hive is composed of a queen, the mother of all her people; of +thousands of workers or neuters who are incomplete and sterile +females; and lastly of some hundreds of males, from whom one shall +be chosen as the sole and unfortunate consort of the queen that the +workers will elect in the future, after the more or less voluntary +departure of the reigning mother. + +{6} + +The first time that we open a hive there comes over us an emotion +akin to that we might feel at profaning some unknown object, charged +perhaps with dreadful surprise, as a tomb. A legend of menace and +peril still clings to the bees. There is the distressful +recollection of her sting, which produces a pain so characteristic +that one knows not wherewith to compare it; a kind of destroying +dryness, a flame of the desert rushing over the wounded limb, as +though these daughters of the sun had distilled a dazzling poison +from their father's angry rays, in order more effectively to defend +the treasure they gather from his beneficent hours. + +It is true that were some one who neither knows nor respects the +customs and character of the bee suddenly to fling open the hive, it +would turn at once into a burning bush of heroism and anger; but the +slight amount of skill needed to handle it with impunity can be most +readily acquired. Let but a little smoke be deftly applied, much +coolness and gentleness be shown, and our well-armed workers will +suffer themselves to be despoiled without dreaming of drawing their +sting. It is not the fact, as some have maintained, that the bees +recognise their master; nor have they any fear of man; but at the +smell of the smoke, at the large slow gestures that traverse their +dwellings without threatening them, they imagine that this is not +the attack of an enemy against whom defence is possible, but that it +is a force or a natural catastrophe whereto they do well to submit. + +Instead of vainly struggling, therefore, they do what they can to +safeguard the future; and, obeying a foresight that for once is in +error, they fly to their reserves of honey, into which they eagerly +dip in order to possess within themselves the wherewithal to start a +new city, immediately and no matter where, should the ancient one be +destroyed or they be compelled to forsake it. + +{7} + +The first impression of the novice before whom an observation-hive* +is opened will be one of some disappointment. He had been told that +this little glass case contained an unparalleled activity, an +infinite number of wise laws, and a startling amalgam of mystery, +experience, genius, calculation, science, of various industries, of +certitude and prescience, of intelligent habits and curious feelings +and virtues. All that he sees is a confused mass of little reddish +groups, somewhat resembling roasted coffee-berries, or bunches of +raisins piled against the glass. They look more dead than alive; +their movements are slow, incoherent, and incomprehensible. Can +these be the wonderful drops of light he had seen but a moment ago, +unceasingly flashing and sparkling, as they darted among the pearls +and the gold of a thousand wide-open calyces? + +By observation-hive is meant a hive of glass, furnished with black +curtains or shutters. The best kind have only one comb, thus +permitting both faces to be studied. These hives can be placed in a +drawing-room, library, etc., without inconvenience or danger. The +bees that inhabit the one I have in my study in Paris are able even +in the stony desert of that great city, to find the wherewithal to +nourish themselves and to prosper. + +They appear to be shivering in the darkness, to be numbed, +suffocated, so closely are they huddled together; one might fancy +they were ailing captives, or queens dethroned, who have had their +one moment of glory in the midst of their radiant garden, and are +now compelled to return to the shameful squalor of their poor +overcrowded home. + +It is with them as with all that is deeply real; they must be +studied, and one must learn how to study them. The inhabitant of +another planet who should see men and women coming and going almost +imperceptibly through our streets, crowding at certain times around +certain buildings, or waiting for one knows not what, without +apparent movement, in the depths of their dwellings, might conclude +therefrom that they, too, were miserable and inert. It takes time to +distinguish the manifold activity contained in this inertia. + +And indeed every one of the little almost motionless groups in the +hive is incessantly working, each at a different trade. Repose is +unknown to any; and such, for instance, as seem the most torpid, as +they hang in dead clusters against the glass, are intrusted with the +most mysterious and fatiguing task of all: it is they who secrete +and form the wax. But the details of this universal activity will be +given in their place. For the moment we need only call attention to +the essential trait in the nature of the bee which accounts for the +extraordinary agglomeration of the various workers. The bee is above +all, and even to a greater extent than the ant, a creature of the +crowd. She can live only in the midst of a multitude. When she +leaves the hive, which is so densely packed that she has to force +her way with blows of her head through the living walls that enclose +her, she departs from her proper element. She will dive for an +instant into flower-filled space, as the swimmer will dive into the +sea that is filled with pearls, but under pain of death it behoves +her at regular intervals to return and breathe the crowd as the +swimmer must return and breathe the air. Isolate her, and however +abundant the food or favourable the temperature, she will expire in +a few days not of hunger or cold, but of loneliness. From the crowd, +from the city, she derives an invisible aliment that is as necessary +to her as honey. This craving will help to explain the spirit of the +laws of the hive. For in them the individual is nothing, her +existence conditional only, and herself, for one indifferent moment, +a winged organ of the race. Her whole life is an entire sacrifice to +the manifold, everlasting being whereof she forms part. It is +strange to note that it was not always so. We find even to-day, +among the melliferous hymenoptera, all the stages of progressive +civilisation of our own domestic bee. At the bottom of the scale we +find her working alone, in wretchedness, often not seeing her +offspring (the Prosopis, the Colletes, etc.); sometimes living in +the midst of the limited family that she produces annually (as in +the case of the humble-bee). Then she forms temporary associations (the +Panurgi, the Dasypodoe, the Hacliti, etc.) and at last we arrive, +through successive stages, at the almost perfect but pitiless society of +our hives, where the individual is entirely merged in the republic, and +the republic in its turn invariably sacrificed to the abstract and +immortal city of the future. + +{8} + +Let us not too hastily deduce from these facts conclusions that +apply to man. He possesses the power of withstanding certain of +nature's laws; and to know whether such resistance be right or wrong +is the gravest and obscurest point in his morality. But it is deeply +interesting to discover what the will of nature may be in a +different world; and this will is revealed with extraordinary +clearness in the evolution of the hymenoptera, which, of all the +inhabitants of this globe, possess the highest degree of intellect +after that of man. The aim of nature is manifestly the improvement +of the race; but no less manifest is her inability, or refusal, to +obtain such improvement except at the cost of the liberty, the +rights, and the happiness of the individual. In proportion as a +society organises itself, and rises in the scale, so does a +shrinkage enter the private life of each one of its members. Where +there is progress, it is the result only of a more and more complete +sacrifice of the individual to the general interest. Each one is +compelled, first of all, to renounce his vices, which are acts of +independence. For instance, at the last stage but one of apiarian +civilisation, we find the humble-bees, which are like our cannibals. +The adult workers are incessantly hovering around the eggs, which +they seek to devour, and the mother has to display the utmost +stubbornness in their defence. Then having freed himself from his +most dangerous vices, each individual has to acquire a certain +number of more and more painful virtues. Among the humble-bees, for +instance, the workers do not dream of renouncing love, whereas our +domestic bee lives in a state of perpetual chastity. And indeed we +soon shall show how much more she has to abandon, in exchange for +the comfort and security of the hive, for its architectural, +economic, and political perfection; and we shall return to the +evolution of the hymenoptera in the chapter devoted to the progress +of the species. + + + + +II -- THE SWARM + +{9} + +WE will now, so as to draw more closely to nature, consider the +different episodes of the swarm as they come to pass in an ordinary +hive, which is ten or twenty times more populous than an observation +one, and leaves the bees entirely free and untrammelled. + +Here, then, they have shaken off the torpor of winter. The queen +started laying again in the very first days of February, and the +workers have flocked to the willows and nut-trees, gorse and +violets, anemones and lungworts. Then spring invades the earth, and +cellar and stream with honey and pollen, while each day beholds the +birth of thousands of bees. The overgrown males now all sally forth +from their cells, and disport themselves on the combs; and so +crowded does the too prosperous city become that hundreds of belated +workers, coming back from the flowers towards evening, will vainly +seek shelter within, and will be forced to spend the night on the +threshold, where they will be decimated by the cold. Restlessness +seizes the people, and the old queen begins to stir. She feels that +a new destiny is being prepared. She has religiously fulfilled her +duty as a good creatress; and from this duty done there result only +tribulation and sorrow. An invincible power menaces her +tranquillity; she will soon be forced to quit this city of hers, +where she has reigned. But this city is her work, it is she, +herself. She is not its queen in the sense in which men use the +word. She issues no orders; she obeys, as meekly as the humblest of +her subjects, the masked power, sovereignly wise, that for the +present, and till we attempt to locate it, we will term the "spirit +of the hive." But she is the unique organ of love; she is the mother +of the city. She founded it amid uncertainty and poverty. She has +peopled it with her own substance; and all who move within its +walls--workers, males, larvae, nymphs, and the young princesses +whose approaching birth will hasten her own departure, one of them +being already designed as her successor by the "spirit of the +hive"--all these have issued from her flanks. + +{10} + +What is this "spirit of the hive"--where does it reside? It is not +like the special instinct that teaches the bird to construct its +well planned nest, and then seek other skies when the day for +migration returns. Nor is it a kind of mechanical habit of the race, +or blind craving for life, that will fling the bees upon any wild +hazard the moment an unforeseen event shall derange the accustomed +order of phenomena. On the contrary, be the event never so +masterful, the "spirit of the hive" still will follow it, step by +step, like an alert and quickwitted slave, who is able to derive +advantage even from his master's most dangerous orders. + +It disposes pitilessly of the wealth and the happiness, the liberty +and life, of all this winged people; and yet with discretion, as +though governed itself by some great duty. It regulates day by day +the number of births, and contrives that these shall strictly accord +with the number of flowers that brighten the country-side. It +decrees the queen's deposition or warns her that she must depart; it +compels her to bring her own rivals into the world, and rears them +royally, protecting them from their mother's political hatred. So, +too, in accordance with the generosity of the flowers, the age of +the spring, and the probable dangers of the nuptial flight, will it +permit or forbid the first-born of the virgin princesses to slay in +their cradles her younger sisters, who are singing the song of the +queens. At other times, when the season wanes, and flowery hours +grow shorter, it will command the workers themselves to slaughter +the whole imperial brood, that the era of revolutions may close, and +work become the sole object of all. The "spirit of the hive" is +prudent and thrifty, but by no means parsimonious. And thus, aware, +it would seem, that nature's laws are somewhat wild and extravagant +in all that pertains to love, it tolerates, during summer days of +abundance, the embarrassing presence in the hive of three or four +hundred males, from whose ranks the queen about to be born shall +select her lover; three or four hundred foolish, clumsy, useless, +noisy creatures, who are pretentious, gluttonous, dirty, coarse, +totally and scandalously idle, insatiable, and enormous. + +But after the queen's impregnation, when flowers begin to close +sooner, and open later, the spirit one morning will coldly decree +the simultaneous and general massacre of every male. It regulates +the workers' labours, with due regard to their age; it allots their +task to the nurses who tend the nymphs and the larvae, the ladies of +honour who wait on the queen and never allow her out of their sight; +the house-bees who air, refresh, or heat the hive by fanning their +wings, and hasten the evaporation of the honey that may be too +highly charged with water; the architects, masons, wax-workers, and +sculptors who form the chain and construct the combs; the foragers +who sally forth to the flowers in search of the nectar that turns +into honey, of the pollen that feeds the nymphs and the larvae, the +propolis that welds and strengthens the buildings of the city, or +the water and salt required by the youth of the nation. Its orders +have gone to the chemists who ensure the preservation of the honey +by letting a drop of formic acid fall in from the end of their +sting; to the capsule-makers who seal down the cells when the +treasure is ripe, to the sweepers who maintain public places and +streets most irreproachably clean, to the bearers whose duty it is +to remove the corpses; and to the amazons of the guard who keep +watch on the threshold by night and by day, question comers and +goers, recognise the novices who return from their very first +flight, scare away vagabonds, marauders and loiterers, expel all +intruders, attack redoubtable foes in a body, and, if need be, +barricade the entrance. + +Finally, it is the spirit of the hive that fixes the hour of the +great annual sacrifice to the genius of the race: the hour, that is, +of the swarm; when we find a whole people, who have attained the +topmost pinnacle of prosperity and power, suddenly abandoning to the +generation to come their wealth and their palaces, their homes and +the fruits of their labour; themselves content to encounter the +hardships and perils of a new and distant country. This act, be it +conscious or not, undoubtedly passes the limits of human morality. +Its result will sometimes be ruin, but poverty always; and the +thrice-happy city is scattered abroad in obedience to a law superior +to its own happiness. Where has this law been decreed, which, as we +soon shall find, is by no means as blind and inevitable as one might +believe? Where, in what assembly, what council, what intellectual +and moral sphere, does this spirit reside to whom all must submit, +itself being vassal to an heroic duty, to an intelligence whose eyes +are persistently fixed on the future? + +It comes to pass with the bees as with most of the things in this +world; we remark some few of their habits; we say they do this, they +work in such and such fashion, their queens are born thus, their +workers are virgin, they swarm at a certain time. And then we +imagine we know them, and ask nothing more. We watch them hasten +from flower to flower, we see the constant agitation within the +hive; their life seems very simple to us, and bounded, like every +life, by the instinctive cares of reproduction and nourishment. But +let the eye draw near, and endeavour to see; and at once the least +phenomenon of all becomes overpoweringly complex; we are confronted +by the enigma of intellect, of destiny, will, aim, means, causes; +the incomprehensible organisation of the most insignificant act of +life. + +{11} + +Our hive, then, is preparing to swarm; making ready for the great +immolation to the exacting gods of the race. In obedience to +the order of the spirit--an order that to us may well seem +incomprehensible, for it is entirely opposed to all our own +instincts and feelings--60,000 or 70,000 bees out of the 80,000 or +90,000 that form the whole population, will abandon the maternal +city at the prescribed hour. They will not leave at a moment of +despair; or desert, with sudden and wild resolve, a home laid waste +by famine, disease, or war. No, the exile has long been planned, and +the favourable hour patiently awaited. Were the hive poor, had it +suffered from pillage or storm, had misfortune befallen the royal +family, the bees would not forsake it. They leave it only when it +has attained the apogee of its prosperity; at a time when, after the +arduous labours of the spring, the immense palace of wax has its +120,000 well-arranged cells overflowing with new honey, and with the +many-coloured flour, known as "bees' bread," on which nymphs and +larvae are fed. + +Never is the hive more beautiful than on the eve of its heroic +renouncement, in its unrivalled hour of fullest abundance and joy; +serene for all its apparent excitement and feverishness. + +Let us endeavour to picture it to ourselves, not as it appears to +the bees,--for we cannot tell in what magical, formidable fashion +things may be reflected in the 6,000 or 7,000 facets of their +lateral eyes and the triple cyclopean eye on their brow,--but as it +would seem to us, were we of their stature. From the height of a +dome more colossal than that of St. Peter's at Rome waxen walls +descend to the ground, balanced in the void and the darkness; +gigantic and manifold, vertical and parallel geometric +constructions, to which, for relative precision, audacity, and +vastness, no human structure is comparable. Each of these walls, +whose substance still is immaculate and fragrant, of virginal, +silvery freshness, contains thousands of cells, that are stored with +provisions sufficient to feed the whole people for several weeks. +Here, lodged in transparent cells, are the pollens, love-ferment of +every flower of spring, making brilliant splashes of red and yellow, +of black and mauve. Close by, in twenty thousand reservoirs, sealed +with a seal that shall only be broken on days of supreme distress, +the honey of April is stored, most limpid and perfumed of all, +wrapped round with long and magnificent embroidery of gold, whose +borders hang stiff and rigid. Still lower the honey of May matures, +in great open vats, by whose side watchful cohorts maintain an +incessant current of air. In the centre, and far from the light +whose diamond rays steal in through the only opening, in the warmest +part of the hive, there stands the abode of the future; here does it +sleep, and wake. For this is the royal domain of the brood-cells, +set apart for the queen and her acolytes; about 10,000 cells wherein +the eggs repose, 15,000 or 16,000 chambers tenanted by larvae, +40,000 dwellings inhabited by white nymphs to whom thousands of +nurses minister.* And finally, in the holy of holies of these partss +are the three, four, six, or twelve sealed palaces, vast in size +compared with the others, where the adolescent princesses lie who +await their hour, wrapped in a kind of shroud, all of them +motionless and pale, and fed in the darkness. + + *The figures given here are scrupulously exact. They are + those of a well-filled hive in full prosperity. + +On the day, then, that the Spirit of the Hive has ordained, a +certain part of the population will go forth, selected in accordance +with sure and immovable laws, and make way for hopes that as yet are +formless. In the sleeping city there remain the males, from whose +ranks the royal lover shall come, the very young bees that tend the +brood-cells, and some thousands of workers who continue to forage +abroad, to guard the accumulated treasure, and preserve the moral +traditions of the hive. For each hive has its own code of morals. +There are some that are very virtuous and some that are very +perverse; and a careless bee-keeper will often corrupt his people, +destroy their respect for the property of others, incite them to +pillage, and induce in them habits of conquest and idleness which +will render them sources of danger to all the little republics +around. These things result from the bee's discovery that work among +distant flowers, whereof many hundreds must be visited to form one +drop of honey, is not the only or promptest method of acquiring +wealth, but that it is easier to enter ill-guarded cities by +stratagem, or force her way into others too weak for self-defence. +Nor is it easy to restore to the paths of duty a hive that has +become thus depraved. + +{13} + +All things go to prove that it is not the queen, but the spirit of +the hive, that decides on the swarm. With this queen of ours it +happens as with many a chief among men, who though he appear to give +orders, is himself obliged to obey commands far more mysterious, far +more inexplicable, than those he issues to his subordinates. The +hour once fixed, the spirit will probably let it be known at break +of dawn, or the previous night, if indeed not two nights before; for +scarcely has the sun drunk in the first drops of dew when a most +unaccustomed stir, whose meaning the bee-keeper rarely will fail to +grasp, is to be noticed within and around the buzzing city. At times +one would almost appear to detect a sign of dispute, hesitation, +recoil. It will happen even that for day after day a strange +emotion, apparently without cause, will appear and vanish in this +transparent, golden throng. Has a cloud that we cannot see crept +across the sky that the bees are watching; or is their intellect +battling with a new regret? Does a winged council debate the +necessity of the departure? Of this we know nothing; as we know +nothing of the manner in which the spirit conveys its resolution to +the crowd. Certain as it may seem that the bees communicate with +each other, we know not whether this be done in human fashion. It is +possible even that their own refrain may be inaudible to them: the +murmur that comes to us heavily laden with perfume of honey, the +ecstatic whisper of fairest summer days that the bee-keeper loves so +well, the festival song of labour that rises and falls around the +hive in the crystal of the hour, and might almost be the chant of +the eager flowers, hymn of their gladness and echo of their soft +fragrance, the voice of the white carnations, the marjoram, and the +thyme. They have, however, a whole gamut of sounds that we can +distinguish, ranging from profound delight to menace, distress, and +anger; they have the ode of the queen, the song of abundance, the +psalms of grief, and, lastly, the long and mysterious war-cries the +adolescent princesses send forth during the combats and massacres +that precede the nuptial flight. May this be a fortuitous music that +fails to attain their inward silence? In any event they seem not the +least disturbed at the noises we make near the hive; but they regard +these perhaps as not of their world, and possessed of no interest +for them. It is possible that we on our side hear only a fractional +part of the sounds that the bees produce, and that they have many +harmonies to which our ears are not attuned. We soon shall see with +what startling rapidity they are able to understand each other, and +adopt concerted measures, when, for instance, the great honey thief, +the huge sphinx atropos, the sinister butterfly that bears a death's +head on its back, penetrates into the hive, humming its own strange +note, which acts as a kind of irresistible incantation; the news +spreads quickly from group to group, and from the guards at the +threshold to the workers on the furthest combs, the whole population +quivers. + +{14} + +It was for a long time believed that when these wise bees, generally +so prudent, so far-sighted and economical, abandoned the treasures +of their kingdom and flung themselves upon the uncertainties of +life, they were yielding to a kind of irresistible folly, a +mechanical impulse, a law of the species, a decree of nature, or to +the force that for all creatures lies hidden in the revolution of +time. It is our habit, in the case of the bees no less than our own, +to regard as fatality all that we do not as yet understand. But now +that the hive has surrendered two or three of its material secrets, +we have discovered that this exodus is neither instinctive nor +inevitable. It is not a blind emigration, but apparently the +well-considered sacrifice of the present generation in favour of the +generation to come. The bee-keeper has only to destroy in their +cells the young queens that still are inert, and, at the same time, +if nymphs and larvae abound, to enlarge the store-houses and +dormitories of the nation, for this unprofitable tumult +instantaneously to subside, for work to be at once resumed, and the +flowers revisited; while the old queen, who now is essential again, +with no successor to hope for, or perhaps to fear, will renounce for +this year her desire for the light of the sun. Reassured as to the +future of the activity that will soon spring into life, she will +tranquilly resume her maternal labours, which consist in the laying +of two or three thousand eggs a day, as she passes, in a methodical +spiral, from cell to cell, omitting none, and never pausing to rest. + +Where is the fatality here, save in the love of the race of to-day +for the race of to-morrow? This fatality exists in the human species +also, but its extent and power seem infinitely less. Among men it +never gives rise to sacrifices as great, as unanimous, or as +complete. What far-seeing fatality, taking the place of this one, do +we ourselves obey? We know not; as we know not the being who watches +us as we watch the bees. + +But the hive that we have selected is disturbed in its history by no +interference of man; and as the beautiful day advances with radiant +and tranquil steps beneath the trees, its ardour, still bathed in +dew, makes the appointed hour seem laggard. Over the whole surface +of the golden corridors that divide the parallel walls the workers +are busily making preparation for the journey. And each one will +first of all burden herself with provision of honey sufficient for +five or six days. From this honey that they bear within them they +will distil, by a chemical process still unexplained, the wax +required for the immediate construction of buildings. They will +provide themselves also with a certain amount of propolis, a kind of +resin with which they will seal all the crevices in the new +dwelling, strengthen weak places, varnish the walls, and exclude the +light; for the bees love to work in almost total obscurity, guiding +themselves with their many-faceted eyes, or with their antennae +perhaps, the seat, it would seem, of an unknown sense that fathoms +and measures the darkness. + +{16} + +They are not without prescience, therefore, of what is to befall +them on this the most dangerous day of all their existence. Absorbed +by the cares, the prodigious perils of this mighty adventure, they +will have no time now to visit the gardens and meadows; and +to-morrow, and after tomorrow, it may happen that rain may fall, or +there may be wind; that their wings may be frozen or the flowers +refuse to open. Famine and death would await them were it not for +this foresight of theirs. None would come to their help, nor would +they seek help of any. For one city knows not the other, and +assistance never is given. And even though the bee-keeper deposit +the hive, in which he has gathered the old queen and her attendant +cluster of bees, by the side of the abode they have but this moment +quitted, they would seem, be the disaster never so great that shall +now have befallen them, to have wholly forgotten the peace and the +happy activity that once they had known there, the abundant wealth +and the safety that had then been their portion; and all, one by +one, and down to the last of them, will perish of hunger and cold +around their unfortunate queen rather than return to the home of +their birth, whose sweet odour of plenty, the fragrance, indeed, of +their own past assiduous labour, reaches them even in their +distress. + +{17} + +That is a thing, some will say, that men would not do,--a proof that +the bee, notwithstanding the marvels of its organisation, still is +lacking in intellect and veritable consciousness. Is this so +certain? Other beings, surely, may possess an intellect that differs +from ours, and produces different results, without therefore being +inferior. And besides, are we, even in this little human parish of +ours, such infallible judges of matters that pertain to the spirit? +Can we so readily divine the thoughts that may govern the two or +three people we may chance to see moving and talking behind a closed +window, when their words do not reach us? Or let us suppose that an +inhabitant of Venus or Mars were to contemplate us from the height +of a mountain, and watch the little black specks that we form in +space, as we come and go in the streets and squares of our towns. +Would the mere sight of our movements, our buildings, machines, and +canals, convey to him any precise idea of our morality, intellect, +our manner of thinking, and loving, and hoping,--in a word, of our +real and intimate self? All he could do, like ourselves when we gaze +at the hive, would be to take note of some facts that seem very +surprising; and from these facts to deduce conclusions probably no +less erroneous, no less uncertain, than those that we choose to form +concerning the bee. + +This much at least is certain; our "little black specks" would not +reveal the vast moral direction, the wonderful unity, that are so +apparent in the hive. "Whither do they tend, and what is it they do?" +he would ask, after years and centuries of patient watching. "What +is the aim of their life, or its pivot? Do they obey some God? I can +see nothing that governs their actions. The little things that one +day they appear to collect and build up, the next they destroy and +scatter. They come and they go, they meet and disperse, but one +knows not what it is they seek. In numberless cases the spectacle +they present is altogether inexplicable. There are some, for +instance, who, as it were, seem scarcely to stir from their place. +They are to be distinguished by their glossier coat, and often too +by their more considerable bulk. They occupy buildings ten or twenty +times larger than ordinary dwellings, and richer, and more +ingeniously fashioned. Every day they spend many hours at their +meals, which sometimes indeed are prolonged far into the night. They +appear to be held in extraordinary honour by those who approach +them; men come from the neighbouring houses, bringing provisions, +and even from the depths of the country, laden with presents. One +can only assume that these persons must be indispensable to the +race, to which they render essential service, although our means of +investigation have not yet enabled us to discover what the precise +nature of this service may be. There are others, again, who are +incessantly engaged in the most wearisome labour, whether it be in +great sheds full of wheels that forever turn round and round, or +close by the shipping, or in obscure hovels, or on small plots of +earth that from sunrise to sunset they are constantly delving and +digging. We are led to believe that this labour must be an offence, +and punishable. For the persons guilty of it are housed in filthy, +ruinous, squalid cabins. They are clothed in some colourless hide. +So great does their ardour appear for this noxious, or at any rate +useless activity, that they scarcely allow themselves time to eat or +to sleep. In numbers they are to the others as a thousand to one. It +is remarkable that the species should have been able to survive to +this day under conditions so unfavourable to its development. It +should be mentioned, however, that apart from this characteristic +devotion to their wearisome toil, they appear inoffensive and +docile; and satisfied with the leavings of those who evidently are +the guardians, if not the saviours, of the race." + +{18} + +Is it not strange that the hive, which we vaguely survey from the +height of another world, should provide our first questioning glance +with so sure and profound a reply? Must we not admire the manner in +which the thought or the god that the bees obey is at once revealed +by their edifices, wrought with such striking conviction, by their +customs and laws, their political and economical organisation, their +virtues, and even their cruelties? Nor is this god, though it be +perhaps the only one to which man has as yet never offered serious +worship, by any means the least reasonable or the least legitimate +that we can conceive. The god of the bees is the future. When we, in +our study of human history, endeavour to gauge the moral force or +greatness of a people or race, we have but one standard of +measurement--the dignity and permanence of their ideal, and the +abnegation wherewith they pursue it. Have we often encountered an +ideal more conformable to the desires of the universe, more widely +manifest, more disinterested or sublime; have we often discovered an +abnegation more complete and heroic? + +{19} + +Strange little republic, that, for all its logic and gravity, its +matured conviction and prudence, still falls victim to so vast and +precarious a dream! Who shall tell us, O little people that are so +profoundly in earnest, that have fed on the warmth and the light and +on nature's purest, the soul of the flowers, wherein matter for once +seems to smile, and put forth it? most wistful effort towards beauty +and happiness,--who shall tell us what problems you have resolved, +but we not yet, what certitudes you have acquired that we still have +to conquer? And if you have truly resolved these problems, and +acquired these certitudes, by the aid of some blind and primitive +impulse and not through the intellect, then to what enigma, more +insoluble still, are you not urging us on? Little city abounding in +faith and mystery and hope, why do your myriad virgins consent to a +task that no human slave has ever accepted? Another spring might be +theirs, another summer, were they only a little less wasteful of +strength, a little less self-forgetful in their ardour for toil; but +at the magnificent moment when the flowers all cry to them, they +seem to be stricken with the fatal ecstasy of work; and in less than +five weeks they almost all perish, their wings broken, their bodies +shrivelled and covered with wounds. + + "Tantus amor florum, et generandi gloria mellis!" + +cries Virgil in the fourth book of the Georgics, wherein he devotes +himself to the bees, and hands down to us the charming errors of the +ancients, who looked on nature with eyes still dazzled by the +presence of imaginary gods. + +{20} + +Why do they thus renounce sleep, the delights of honey and love, +and the exquisite leisure enjoyed, for instance, by their winged +brother, the butterfly? Why will they not live as he lives? It is +not hunger that urges them on. Two or three flowers suffice for +their nourishment, and in one hour they will visit two or three +hundred, to collect a treasure whose sweetness they never will +taste. Why all this toil and distress, and whence comes this mighty +assurance? Is it so certain, then, that the new generation whereunto +you offer your lives will merit the sacrifice; will be more +beautiful, happier, will do something you have not done? Your aim is +clear to us, clearer far than our own; you desire to live, as long +as the world itself, in those that come after; but what can the aim +be of this great aim; what the mission of this existence eternally +renewed? + +And yet may it not be that these questions are idle, and we who are +putting them to you mere childish dreamers, hedged round with error +and doubt? And, indeed, had successive evolutions installed you +all-powerful and supremely happy; had you gained the last heights, +whence at length you ruled over nature's laws; nay, were you +immortal goddesses, we still should be asking you what your desires +might be, your ideas of progress; still wondering where you imagined +that at last you would rest and declare your wishes fulfilled. We +are so made that nothing contents us; that we can regard no single +thing as having its aim self-contained, as simply existing, with no +thought beyond existence. Has there been, to this day, one god out +of all the multitude man has conceived, from the vulgarest to the +most thoughtful, of whom it has not been required that he shall be +active and stirring, that he shall create countless beings and +things, and have myriad aims outside himself? And will the time ever +come when we shall be resigned for a few hours tranquilly to +represent in this world an interesting form of material activity; +and then, our few hours over, to assume, without surprise and +without regret, that other form which is the unconscious, the +unknown, the slumbering, and the eternal? + +{21} + +But we are forgetting the hive wherein the swarming bees have begun +to lose patience, the hive whose black and vibrating waves are +bubbling and overflowing, like a brazen cup beneath an ardent sun. +It is noon; and the heat so great that the assembled trees would +seem almost to hold back their leaves, as a man holds his breath +before something very tender but very grave. The bees give their +honey and sweet-smelling wax to the man who attends them; but more +precious gift still is their summoning him to the gladness of June, +to the joy of the beautiful months; for events in which bees take +part happen only when skies are pure, at the winsome hours of the +year when flowers keep holiday. They are the soul of the summer, the +clock whose dial records the moments of plenty; they are the +untiring wing on which delicate perfumes float; the guide of the +quivering light-ray, the song of the slumberous, languid air; and +their flight is the token, the sure and melodious note, of all the +myriad fragile joys that are born in the heat and dwell in the +sunshine. They teach us to tune our ear to the softest, most +intimate whisper of these good, natural hours. To him who has known +them and loved them, a summer where there are no bees becomes as sad +and as empty as one without flowers or birds. + +{22} + +The man who never before has beheld the swarm of a populous hive +must regard this riotous, bewildering spectacle with some +apprehension and diffidence. He will be almost afraid to draw near; +he will wonder can these be the earnest, the peace-loving, +hard-working bees whose movements he has hitherto followed? It was +but a few moments before he had seen them troop in from all parts of +the country, as pre-occupied, seemingly, as little housewives might +be, with no thoughts beyond household cares. He had watched them +stream into the hive, imperceptibly almost, out of breath, eager, +exhausted, full of discreet agitation; and had seen the young +amazons stationed at the gate salute them, as they passed by, with +the slightest wave of antennae. And then, the inner court reached, +they had hurriedly given their harvest of honey to the adolescent +portresses always stationed within, exchanging with these at most +the three or four probably indispensable words; or perhaps they +would hasten themselves to the vast magazines that encircle the +brood-cells, and deposit the two heavy baskets of pollen that depend +from their thighs, thereupon at once going forth once more, without +giving a thought to what might be passing in the royal palace, the +work-rooms, or the dormitory where the nymphs lie asleep; without +for one instant joining in the babel of the public place in front of +the gate, where it is the wont of the cleaners, at time of great +heat, to congregate and to gossip. + +{23} + +To-day this is all changed. A certain number of workers, it is true, +will peacefully go to the fields, as though nothing were happening; +will come back, clean the hive, attend to the brood-cells, and hold +altogether aloof from the general ecstasy. These are the ones that +will not accompany the queen; they will remain to guard the old +home, feed the nine or ten thousand eggs, the eighteen thousand +larvae, the thirty-six thousand nymphs and seven or eight royal +princesses, that to-day shall all be abandoned. Why they have been +singled out for this austere duty, by what law, or by whom, it is +not in our power to divine. To this mission of theirs they remain +inflexibly, tranquilly faithful; and though I have many times tried +the experiment of sprinkling a colouring matter over one of these +resigned Cinderellas, that are moreover easily to be distinguished +in the midst of the rejoicing crowds by their serious and somewhat +ponderous gait, it is rarely indeed that I have found one of them in +the delirious throng of the swarm. + +And yet, the attraction must seem irresistible. It is the ecstasy of +the perhaps unconscious sacrifice the god has ordained; it is the +festival of honey, the triumph of the race, the victory of the +future: the one day of joy, of forgetfulness and folly; the only +Sunday known to the bees. It would appear to be also the solitary +day upon which all eat their fill, and revel, to heart's content, in +the delights of the treasure themselves have amassed. It is as +though they were prisoners to whom freedom at last had been given, +who had suddenly been led to a land of refreshment and plenty. They +exult, they cannot contain the joy that is in them. They come and go +aimlessly,--they whose every movement has always its precise and +useful purpose--they depart and return, sally forth once again to +see if the queen be ready, to excite their sisters, to beguile the +tedium of waiting. They fly much higher than is their wont, and the +leaves of the mighty trees round about all quiver responsive. They +have left trouble behind, and care. They no longer are meddling and +fierce, aggressive, suspicious, untamable, angry. Man--the unknown +master whose sway they never acknowledge, who can subdue them only +by conforming to their every law, to their habits of labour, and +following step by step the path that is traced in their life by an +intellect nothing can thwart or turn from its purpose, by a spirit +whose aim is always the good of the morrow--on this day man can +approach them, can divide the glittering curtain they form as they +fly round and round in songful circles; he can take them up in his +hand, and gather them as he would a bunch of grapes; for to-day, in +their gladness, possessing nothing, but full of faith in the future, +they will submit to everything and injure no one, provided only they +be not separated from the queen who bears that future within her. + +{25} + +But the veritable signal has not yet been given. In the hive there +is indescribable confusion; and a disorder whose meaning escapes us. +At ordinary times each bee, once returned to her home, would appear +to forget her possession of wings; and will pursue her active +labours, making scarcely a movement, on that particular spot in the +hive that her special duties assign. But to-day they all seem +bewitched; they fly in dense circles round and round the polished +walls like a living jelly stirred by an invisible hand. The +temperature within rises rapidly,--to such a degree, at times, that +the wax of the buildings will soften, and twist out of shape. The +queen, who ordinarily never will stir from the centre of the comb, +now rushes wildly, in breathless excitement, over the surface of the +vehement crowd that turn and turn on themselves. Is she hastening +their departure, or trying to delay it? Does she command, or haply +implore? Does this prodigious emotion issue from her, or is she its +victim? Such knowledge as we possess of the general psychology of +the bee warrants the belief that the swarming always takes place +against the old sovereign's will. For indeed the ascetic workers, +her daughters, regard the queen above all as the organ of love, +indispensable, certainly, and sacred, but in herself somewhat +unconscious, and often of feeble mind. They treat her like a mother +in her dotage. Their respect for her, their tenderness, is heroic +and boundless. The purest honey, specially distilled and almost +entirely assimilable, is reserved for her use alone. She has an +escort that watches over her by day and by night, that facilitates +her maternal duties and gets ready the cells wherein the eggs shall +be laid; she has loving attendants who pet and caress her, feed her +and clean her, and even absorb her excrement. Should the least +accident befall her the news will spread quickly from group to +group, and the whole population will rush to and fro in loud +lamentation. Seize her, imprison her, take her away from the hive at +a time when the bees shall have no hope of filling her place, owing, +it may be, to her having left no predestined descendants, or to +there being no larvae less than three days old (for a special +nourishment is capable of transforming these into royal nymphs, such +being the grand democratic principle of the hive, and a counterpoise +to the prerogatives of maternal predestination), and then, her loss +once known, after two or three hours, perhaps, for the city is vast; +work will cease in almost every direction. The young will no longer +be cared for; part of the inhabitants will wander in every +direction, seeking their mother, in quest of whom others will sally +forth from the hive; the workers engaged in constructing the comb +will fall asunder and scatter, the foragers no longer will visit the +flowers, the guard at the entrance will abandon their post; and +foreign marauders, all the parasites of honey, forever on the watch +for opportunities of plunder, will freely enter and leave without +any one giving a thought to the defence of the treasure that has +been so laboriously gathered. And poverty, little by little, will +steal into the city; the population will dwindle; and the wretched +inhabitants soon will perish of distress and despair, though every +flower of summer burst into bloom before them. + +But let the queen be restored before her loss has become an +accomplished, irremediable fact, before the bees have grown too +profoundly demoralised,--for in this they resemble men: a prolonged +regret, or misfortune, will impair their intellect and degrade their +character,--let her be restored but a few hours later, and they will +receive her with extraordinary, pathetic welcome. They will flock +eagerly round her; excited groups will climb over each other in +their anxiety to draw near; as she passes among them they will +caress her with the long antennae that contain so many organs as yet +unexplained; they will present her with honey, and escort her +tumultuously back to the royal chamber. And order at once is +restored, work resumed, from the central comb of the brood-cells to +the furthest annex where the surplus honey is stored; the foragers +go forth, in long black files, to return, in less than three minutes +sometimes, laden with nectar and pollen; streets are swept, +parasites and marauders killed or expelled; and the hive soon +resounds with the gentle, monotonous cadence of the strange hymn of +rejoicing, which is, it would seem, the hymn of the royal presence. + +{26} + +There are numberless instances of the absolute attachment and +devotion that the workers display towards their queen. Should +disaster befall the little republic; should the hive or the comb +collapse, should man prove ignorant, or brutal; should they suffer +from famine, from cold or disease, and perish by thousands, it will +still be almost invariably found that the queen will be safe and +alive, beneath the corpses of her faithful daughters. For they will +protect her, help her to escape; their bodies will provide both +rampart and shelter; for her will be the last drop of honey, the +wholesomest food. And be the disaster never so great, the city of +virgins will not lose heart so long as the queen be alive. Break +their comb twenty times in succession, take twenty times from them +their young and their food, you still shall never succeed in making +them doubt of the future; and though they be starving, and their +number so small that it scarcely suffices to shield their mother +from the enemy's gaze, they will set about to reorganize the laws of +the colony, and to provide for what is most pressing; they will +distribute the work in accordance with the new necessities of this +disastrous moment, and thereupon will immediately re-assume their +labours with an ardour, a patience, a tenacity and intelligence not +often to be found existing to such a degree in nature, true though +it be that most of its creatures display more confidence and courage +than man. + +But the presence of the queen is not even essential for their +discouragement to vanish and their love to endure. It is enough that +she should have left, at the moment of her death or departure, the +very slenderest hope of descendants. "We have seen a colony," says +Langstroth, one of the fathers of modern apiculture, "that had not +bees sufficient to cover a comb of three inches square, and yet +endeavoured to rear a queen. For two whole weeks did they cherish +this hope; finally, when their number was reduced by one-half, their +queen was born, but her wings were imperfect, and she was unable to +fly. Impotent as she was, her bees did not treat her with the less +respect. A week more, and there remained hardly a dozen bees; yet a +few days, and the queen had vanished, leaving a few wretched, +inconsolable insects upon the combs." + +There is another instance, and one that reveals most palpably the +ultimate gesture of filial love and devotion. It arises from one of +the extraordinary ordeals that our recent and tyrannical +intervention inflicts on these hapless, unflinching heroines. I, in +common with all amateur bee-keepers, have more than once had +impregnated queens sent me from Italy; for the Italian species is +more prolific, stronger, more active, and gentler than our own. It +is the custom to forward them in small, perforated boxes. In these +some food is placed, and the queen enclosed, together with a certain +number of workers, selected as far as possible from among the oldest +bees in the hive. (The age of the bee can be readily told by its +body, which gradually becomes more polished, thinner, and almost +bald; and more particularly by the wings, which hard work uses and +tears.) It is their mission to feed the queen during the journey, to +tend her and guard her. I would frequently find, when the box +arrived, that nearly every one of the workers was dead. On one +occasion, indeed, they had all perished of hunger; but in this +instance as in all others the queen was alive, unharmed, and full of +vigour; and the last of her companions had probably passed away in +the act of presenting the last drop of honey she held in her sac to +the queen, who was symbol of a life more precious, more vast than +her own. + +{28} + +This unwavering affection having come under the notice of man, he +was able to turn to his own advantage the qualities to which it +gives rise, or that it perhaps contains: the admirable political +sense, the passion for work, the perseverance, magnanimity, and +devotion to the future. It has allowed him, in the course of the +last few years, to a certain extent to domesticate these intractable +insects, though without their knowledge; for they yield to no +foreign strength, and in their unconscious servitude obey only the +laws of their own adoption. Man may believe, if he choose, that, +possessing the queen, he holds in his hand the destiny and soul of +the hive. In accordance with the manner in which he deals with +her--as it were, plays with her--he can increase and hasten the +swarm or restrict and retard it; he can unite or divide colonies, +and direct the emigration of kingdoms. And yet it is none the less +true that the queen is essentially merely a sort of living symbol, +standing, as all symbols must, for a vaster although less +perceptible principle; and this principle the apiarist will do well +to take into account, if he would not expose himself to more than +one unexpected reverse. For the bees are by no means deluded. The +presence of the queen does not blind them to the existence of their +veritable sovereign, immaterial and everlasting, which is no other +than their fixed idea. Why inquire as to whether this idea be +conscious or not? Such speculation can have value only if our +anxiety be to determine whether we should more rightly admire the +bees that have the idea, or nature that has planted it in them. +Wherever it lodge, in the vast unknowable body or in the tiny ones +that we see, it merits our deepest attention; nor may it be out of +place here to observe that it is the habit we have of subordinating +our wonder to accidents of origin or place, that so often causes us +to lose the chance of deep admiration; which of all things in the +world is the most helpful to us. + +{29} + +These conjectures may perhaps be regarded as exceedingly +venturesome, and possibly also as unduly human. It may be urged that +the bees, in all probability, have no idea of the kind; that their +care for the future, love of the race, and many other feelings we +choose to ascribe to them, are truly no more than forms assumed by +the necessities of life, the fear of suffering or death, and the +attraction of pleasure. Let it be so; look on it all as a figure of +speech; it is a matter to which I attach no importance. The one +thing certain here, as it is the one thing certain in all other +cases, is that, under special circumstances, the bees will treat +their queen in a special manner. The rest is all mystery, around +which we only can weave more or less ingenious and pleasant +conjecture. And yet, were we speaking of man in the manner wherein +it were wise perhaps to speak of the bee, is there very much more we +could say? He too yields only to necessity, the attraction of +pleasure, and the fear of suffering; and what we call our intellect +has the same origin and mission as what in animals we choose to term +instinct. We do certain things, whose results we conceive to be +known to us; other things happen, and we flatter ourselves that we +are better equipped than animals can be to divine their cause; but, +apart from the fact that this supposition rests on no very solid +foundation, events of this nature are rare and infinitesimal, +compared with the vast mass of others that elude comprehension; and +all, the pettiest and the most sublime, the best known and the most +inexplicable, the nearest and the most distant, come to pass in a +night so profound that our blindness may well be almost as great as +that we suppose in the bee. + +{30} + +"All must agree," remarks Buffon, who has a somewhat amusing +prejudice against the bee,--"all must agree that these flies, +individually considered, possess far less genius than the dog, the +monkey, or the majority of animals; that they display far less +docility, attachment, or sentiment; that they have, in a word, less +qualities that relate to our own; and from that we may conclude that +their apparent intelligence derives only from their assembled +multitude; nor does this union even argue intelligence, for it is +governed by no moral considerations, it being without their consent +that they find themselves gathered together. This society, +therefore, is no more than a physical assemblage ordained by nature, +and independent either of knowledge, or reason, or aim. The +mother-bee produces ten thousand individuals at a time, and in the +same place; these ten thousand individuals, were they a thousand +times stupider than I suppose them to be, would be compelled, for +the mere purpose of existence, to contrive some form of arrangement; +and, assuming that they had begun by injuring each other, they +would, as each one possesses the same strength as its fellow, soon +have ended by doing each other the least possible harm, or, in other +words, by rendering assistance. They have the appearance of +understanding each other, and of working for a common aim; and the +observer, therefore, is apt to endow them with reasons and intellect +that they truly are far from possessing. He will pretend to account +for each action, show a reason behind every movement; and from +thence the gradation is easy to proclaiming them marvels, or +monsters, of innumerable ideas. Whereas the truth is that these ten +thousand individuals, that have been produced simultaneously, that +have lived together, and undergone metamorphosis at more or less the +same time, cannot fail all to do the same thing, and are compelled, +however slight the sentiment within them, to adopt common habits, to +live in accord and union, to busy themselves with their dwelling, to +return to it after their journeys, etc., etc. And on this foundation +arise the architecture, the geometry, the order, the foresight, love +of country,--in a word, the republic; all springing, as we have +seen, from the admiration of the observer." There we have our bees +explained in a very different fashion. And if it seem more natural +at first, is it not for the very simple reason that it really +explains almost nothing? I will not allude to the material errors +this chapter contains; I will only ask whether the mere fact of the +bees accepting a common existence, while doing each other the least +possible harm, does not in itself argue a certain intelligence. And +does not this intelligence appear the more remarkable to us as we +more closely examine the fashion in which these "ten thousand +individuals" avoid hurting each other, and end by giving assistance? +And further, is this not the history of ourselves; and does not all +that the angry old naturalist says apply equally to every one of our +human societies? And yet once again: if the bee is indeed to be +credited with none of the feelings or ideas that we have ascribed to +it, shall we not very willingly shift the ground of our wonder? If +we must not admire the bee, we will then admire nature; the moment +must always come when admiration can be no longer denied us, nor +shall there be loss to us through our having retreated, or waited. + +However these things may be, and without abandoning this conjecture +of ours, that at least has the advantage of connecting in our mind +certain actions that have evident connection in fact, it is certain +that the bees have far less adoration for the queen herself than for +the infinite future of the race that she represents. They are not +sentimental; and should one of their number return from work so +severely wounded as to be held incapable of further service, they +will ruthlessly expel her from the hive. And yet it cannot be said +that they are altogether incapable of a kind of personal attachment +towards their mother. They will recognise her from among all. Even +when she is old, crippled, and wretched, the sentinels at the door +will never allow another queen to enter the hive, though she be +young and fruitful. It is true that this is one of the fundamental +principles of their polity, and never relaxed except at times of +abundant honey, in favour of some foreign worker who shall be well +laden with food. + +When the queen has become completely sterile, the bees will rear a +certain number of royal princesses to fill her place. But what +becomes of the old sovereign? As to this we have no precise +knowledge; but it has happened, at times, that apiarists have found +a magnificent queen, in the flower of her age, on the central comb +of the hive; and in some obscure corner, right at the back, the +gaunt, decrepit "old mistress," as they call her in Normandy. In +such cases it would seem that the bees have to exercise the greatest +care to protect her from the hatred of the vigorous rival who longs +for her death; for queen hates queen so fiercely that two who might +happen to be under the same roof would immediately fly at each +other. It would be pleasant to believe that the bees are thus +providing their ancient sovereign with a humble shelter in a remote +corner of the city, where she may end her days in peace. Here again +we touch one of the thousand enigmas of the waxen city; and it is +once more proved to us that the habits and the policy of the bees +are by no means narrow, or rigidly predetermined; and that their +actions have motives far more complex than we are inclined to +suppose. + +{32} + +But we are constantly tampering with what they must regard as +immovable laws of nature; constantly placing the bees in a position +that may be compared to that in which we should ourselves be placed +were the laws of space and gravity, of light and heat, to be +suddenly suppressed around us. What are the bees to do when we, by +force or by fraud, introduce a second queen into the city? It is +probable that, in a state of nature, thanks to the sentinels at the +gate, such an event has never occurred since they first came into +the world. But this prodigious conjuncture does not scatter their +wits; they still contrive to reconcile the two principles that they +appear to regard in the light of divine commands. The first is that +of unique maternity, never infringed except in the case of sterility +in the reigning queen, and even then only very exceptionally; the +second is more curious still, and, although never transgressed, +susceptible of what may almost be termed a Judaic evasion. It is the +law that invests the person of a queen, whoever she be, with a sort +of inviolability. It would be a simple matter for the bees to pierce +the intruder with their myriad envenomed stings; she would die on +the spot, and they would merely have to remove the corpse from the +hive. But though this sting is always held ready to strike, though +they make constant use of it in their fights among themselves,_ they +will never draw it against a queen;_ nor will a queen ever draw hers +on a man, an animal, or an ordinary bee. She will never unsheath her +royal weapon--curved, in scimeter fashion, instead of being +straight, like that of the ordinary bee--save only in the case of +her doing battle with an equal: in other words, with a sister queen. + +No bee, it would seem, dare take on herself the horror of direct and +bloody regicide. Whenever, therefore, the good order and prosperity +of the republic appear to demand that a queen shall die, they +endeavour to give to her death some semblance of natural decease, +and by infinite subdivision of the crime, to render it almost +anonymous. + +They will, therefore, to use the picturesque expression of the +apiarist, "ball" the queenly intruder; in other words, they will +entirely surround her with their innumerable interlaced bodies. They +will thus form a sort of living prison wherein the captive is unable +to move; and in this prison they will keep her for twenty-four +hours, if need be, till the victim die of suffocation or hunger. + +But if, at this moment, the legitimate queen draw near, and, +scenting a rival, appear disposed to attack her, the living walls of +the prison will at once fly open; and the bees, forming a circle +around the two enemies, will eagerly watch the strange duel that +will ensue, though remaining strictly impartial, and taking no share +in it. For it is written that against a mother the sting may be +drawn by a mother alone; only she who bears in her flanks close on +two million lives appears to possess the right with one blow to +inflict close on two million deaths. + +But if the combat last too long, without any result, if the circular +weapons glide harmlessly over the heavy cuirasses, if one of the +queens appear anxious to make her escape, then, be she the +legitimate sovereign or be she the stranger, she will at once be +seized and lodged in the living prison until such time as she +manifest once more the desire to attack her foe. It is right to add, +however, that the numerous experiments that have been made on this +subject have almost invariably resulted in the victory of the +reigning queen, owing perhaps to the extra courage and ardour she +derives from the knowledge that she is at home, with her subjects +around her, or to the fact that the bees, however impartial while +the fight is in progress, may possibly display some favouritism in +their manner of imprisoning the rivals; for their mother would seem +scarcely to suffer from the confinement, whereas the stranger almost +always emerges in an appreciably bruised and enfeebled condition. + +{33} + +There is one simple experiment which proves the readiness with which +the bees will recognise their queen, and the depth of the attachment +they bear her. Remove her from the hive, and there will soon be +manifest all the phenomena of anguish and distress that I have +described in a preceding chapter. Replace her, a few hours later, +and all her daughters will hasten towards her, offering honey. One +section will form a lane, for her to pass through; others, with head +bent low and abdomen high in the air, will describe before her great +semicircles throbbing with sound; hymning, doubtless, the chant of +welcome their rites dictate for moments of supreme happiness or +solemn respect. + +But let it not be imagined that a foreign queen may with impunity be +substituted for the legitimate mother. The bees will at once detect +the imposture; the intruder will be seized, and immediately enclosed +in the terrible, tumultuous prison, whose obstinate walls will be +relieved, as it were, till she dies; for in this particular instance +it hardly ever occurs that the stranger emerges alive. + +And here it is curious to note to what diplomacy and elaborate +stratagem man is compelled to resort in order to delude these little +sagacious insects, and bend them to his will. In their unswerving +loyalty, they will accept the most unexpected events with touching +courage, regarding them probably as some new and inevitable fatal +caprice of nature. And, indeed, all this diplomacy notwithstanding, +in the desperate confusion that may follow one of these hazardous +expedients, it is on the admirable good sense of the bee that man +always, and almost empirically, relies; on the inexhaustible +treasure of their marvellous laws and customs, on their love of +peace and order, their devotion to the public weal, and fidelity to +the future; on the adroit strength, the earnest disinterestedness, +of their character, and, above all, on the untiring devotion with +which they fulfil their duty. But the enumeration of such procedures +belongs rather to technical treatises on apiculture, and would take +us too far.* + + *The stranger queen is usually brought into the hive + enclosed in a little cage, with iron wires, which is hung + between two combs. The cage has a door made of wax and + honey, which the workers, their anger over, proceed to gnaw, + thus freeing the prisoner, whom they will often receive + without any ill-will. Mr. Simmins, manager of the great + apiary at Rottingdean, has recently discovered another + method of introducing a queen, which, being extremely simple + and almost invariably successful, bids fair to be generally + adopted by apiarists who value their art. It is the + behaviour of the queen that usually makes her introduction a + matter of so great difficulty. She is almost distracted, + flies to and fro, hides, and generally comports herself as + an intruder, thus arousing the suspicions of the bees, which + are soon confirmed by the workers' examination. Mr. Simmins + at first completely isolates the queen he intends to + introduce, and lets her fast for half an hour. He then lifts + a corner of the inner cover of the orphaned hive, and places + the strange queen on the top of one of the combs. Her former + isolation having terrified her, she is delighted to find + herself in the midst of the bees; and being famished she + eagerly accepts the food they offer her. The workers, + deceived by her assurance, do not examine her, but probably + imagine that their old queen has returned, and welcome her + joyfully. It would seem, therefore, that, contrary to the + opinion of Huber and all other investigators, the bees are + not capable of recognising their queen. In any event, the + two explanations, which are both equally plausible--though + the truth may lurk, perhaps, in a third, that is not yet + known to us--only prove once again how complex and obscure + is the psychology of the bee. And from this, as from all + questions that deal with life, we can draw one conclusion + only: that, till better obtain, curiosity still must rule in + our heart. + +{34} + +As regards this personal affection of which we have spoken, there is +one word more to be said. That such affection exists is certain, but +it is certain also that its memory is exceedingly short-lived. Dare +to replace in her kingdom a mother whose exile has lasted some days, +and her indignant daughters will receive her in such a fashion as to +compel you hastily to snatch her from the deadly imprisonment +reserved for unknown queens. For the bees have had time to transform +a dozen workers' habitations into royal cells, and the future of the +race is no longer in danger. Their affection will increase, or +dwindle, in the degree that the queen represents the future. Thus we +often find, when a virgin queen is performing the perilous ceremony +known as the "nuptial flight," of which I will speak later, that her +subjects are so fearful of losing her that they will all accompany +her on this tragic and distant quest of love. This they will never +do, however, if they be provided with a fragment of comb containing +brood-cells, whence they shall be able to rear other queens. Indeed, +their affection even may turn into fury and hatred should their +sovereign fail in her duty to that sort of abstract divinity that we +should call future society, which the bees would appear to regard +far more seriously than we. It happens, for instance, at times, that +apiarists for various reasons will prevent the queen from joining a +swarm by inserting a trellis into the hive; the nimble and slender +workers will flit through it, unperceiving, but to the poor slave of +love, heavier and more corpulent than her daughters, it offers an +impassable barrier. The bees, when they find that the queen has not +followed, will return to the hive, and scold the unfortunate +prisoner, hustle and ill-treat her, accusing her of laziness, +probably, or suspecting her of feeble mind. On their second +departure, when they find that she still has not followed, her +ill-faith becomes evident to them, and their attacks grow more +serious. And finally, when they shall have gone forth once more, and +still with the same result, they will almost always condemn her, as +being irremediably faithless to her destiny and to the future of the +race, and put her to death in the royal prison. + +{35} + +It is to the future, therefore, that the bees subordinate all +things; and with a foresight, a harmonious co-operation, a skill in +interpreting events and turning them to the best advantage, that +must compel our heartiest admiration, particularly when we remember +in how startling and supernatural a light our recent intervention +must present itself to them. It may be said, perhaps, that in the +last instance we have given, they place a very false construction +upon the queen's inability to follow them. But would our powers of +discernment be so very much subtler, if an intelligence of an order +entirely different from our own, and served by a body so colossal +that its movements were almost as imperceptible as those of a +natural phenomenon, were to divert itself by laying traps of this +kind for us? Has it not taken us thousands of years to invent a +sufficiently plausible explanation for the thunderbolt? There is a +certain feebleness that overwhelms every intellect the moment it +emerges from its own sphere, and is brought face to face with events +not of its own initiation. And, besides, it is quite possible that +if this ordeal of the trellis were to obtain more regularly and +generally among the bees, they would end by detecting the pitfall, +and by taking steps to elude it. They have mastered the intricacies +of the movable comb, of the sections that compel them to store their +surplus honey in little boxes symmetrically piled; and in the case +of the still more extraordinary innovation of foundation wax, where +the cells are indicated only by a slender circumference of wax, they +are able at once to grasp the advantages this new system presents; +they most carefully extend the wax, and thus, without loss of time +or labour, construct perfect cells. So long as the event that +confronts them appear not a snare devised by some cunning and +malicious god, the bees may be trusted always to discover the best, +nay, the only human, solution. Let me cite an instance; an event, +that, though occurring in nature, is still in itself wholly +abnormal. I refer to the manner in which the bees will dispose of a +mouse or a slug that may happen to have found its way into the hive. +The intruder killed, they have to deal with the body, which will +very soon poison their dwelling. If it be impossible for them to +expel or dismember it, they will proceed methodically and +hermetically to enclose it in a veritable sepulchre of propolis and +wax, which will tower fantastically above the ordinary monuments of +the city. In one of my hives last year I discovered three such tombs +side by side, erected with party-walls, like the cells of the comb, +so that no wax should be wasted. These tombs the prudent +grave-diggers had raised over the remains of three snails that a +child had introduced into the hive. As a rule, when dealing with +snails, they will be content to seal up with wax the orifice of the +shell. But in this case the shells were more or less cracked and +broken; and they had considered it simpler, therefore, to bury the +entire snail; and had further contrived, in order that circulation +in the entrance-hall might not be impeded, a number of galleries +exactly proportionate, not to their own girth, but to that of the +males, which are almost twice as large as themselves. Does not this +instance, and the one that follows, warrant our believing that they +would in time discover the cause of the queen's inability to follow +them through the trellis? They have a very nice sense of proportion, +and of the space required for the movement of bodies. In the regions +where the hideous death's-head sphinx, the acherontia atropos, +abounds, they construct little pillars of wax at the entrance of the +hive, so restricting the dimension as to prevent the passage of the +nocturnal marauder's enormous abdomen. + +{36} + +But enough on this point; were I to cite every instance I should +never have done. To return to the queen, whose position in the hive, +and the part that she plays therein, we shall most fitly describe by +declaring her to be the captive heart of the city, and the centre +around which its intelligence revolves. Unique sovereign though she +be, she is also the royal servant, the responsible delegate of love, +and its captive custodian. Her people serve her and venerate her; +but they never forget that it is not to her person that their homage +is given, but to the mission that she fulfils, and the destiny she +represents. It would not be easy for us to find a human republic +whose scheme comprised more of the desires of our planet; or a +democracy that offered an independence more perfect and rational, +combined with a submission more logical and more complete. And +nowhere, surely, should we discover more painful and absolute +sacrifice. Let it not be imagined that I admire this sacrifice to +the extent that I admire its results. It were evidently to be +desired that these results might be obtained at the cost of less +renouncement and suffering. But, the principle once accepted,--and +this is needful, perhaps, in the scheme of our globe,--its +organisation compels our wonder. Whatever the human truth on this +point may be, life, in the hive, is not looked on as a series of +more or less pleasant hours, whereof it is wise that those moments +only should be soured and embittered that are essential for +maintaining existence. The bees regard it as a great common duty, +impartially distributed amongst them all, and tending towards a +future that goes further and further back ever since the world +began. And, for the sake of this future, each one renounces more +than half of her rights and her joys. The queen bids farewell to +freedom, the light of day, and the calyx of flowers; the workers +give five or six years of their life, and shall never know love, or +the joys of maternity. The queen's brain turns to pulp, that the +reproductive organs may profit; in the workers these organs atrophy, +to the benefit of their intelligence. Nor would it be fair to allege +that the will plays no part in all these renouncements. We have seen +that each worker's larva can be transformed into a queen if lodged +and fed on the royal plan; and similarly could each royal larva be +turned into worker if her food were changed and her cell reduced. +These mysterious elections take place every day in the golden shade +of the hive. It is not chance that controls them, but a wisdom whose +deep loyalty, gravity, and unsleeping watchfulness man alone can +betray: a wisdom that makes and unmakes, and keeps careful watch +over all that happens within and without the city. If sudden flowers +abound, or the queen grow old, or less fruitful; if population +increase, and be pressed for room, you then shall find that the bees +will proceed to rear royal cells. But these cells may be destroyed +if the harvest fail, or the hive be enlarged. Often they will be +retained so long as the young queen have not accomplished, or +succeeded in, her marriage flight,--to be at once annihilated when +she returns, trailing behind her, trophy-wise, the infallible sign +of her impregnation. Who shall say where the wisdom resides that can +thus balance present and future, and prefer what is not yet visible +to that which already is seen? Where the anonymous prudence that +selects and abandons, raises and lowers; that of so many workers +makes so many queens, and of so many mothers can make a people of +virgins? We have said elsewhere that it lodged in the "Spirit of the +Hive," but where shall this spirit of the hive be looked for if not +in the assembly of workers? To be convinced of its residence there, +we need not perhaps have studied so closely the habits of this royal +republic. It was enough to place under the microscope, as Dujardin, +Brandt, Girard, Vogel, and other entomologists have done, the little +uncouth and careworn head of the virgin worker side by side with the +somewhat empty skull of the queen and the male's magnificent +cranium, glistening with its twenty-six thousand eyes. Within this +tiny head we should find the workings of the vastest and most +magnificent brain of the hive: the most beautiful and complex, the +most perfect, that, in another order and with a different +organisation, is to be found in nature after that of man. Here +again, as in every quarter where the scheme of the world is known to +us, there where the brain is, are authority and victory, veritable +strength and wisdom. And here again it is an almost invisible atom +of this mysterious substance that organises and subjugates matter, +and is able to create its own little triumphant and permanent place +in the midst of the stupendous, inert forces of nothingness and +death.* + + *The brain of the bee, according to the calculation of + Dujardin, constitutes the 1-174th part of the insect's + weight, and that of the ant the 1-296th. On the other hand + the peduncular parts, whose development usually keeps pace + with the triumphs the intellect achieves over instinct, are + somewhat less important in the bee than in the ant. It would + seem to result from these estimates--which are of course + hypothetical, and deal with a matter that is exceedingly + obscure--that the intellectual value of the bee and the ant + must be more or less equal. + +{37} + +And now to return to our swarming hive, where the bees have already +given the signal for departure, without waiting for these +reflections of ours to come to an end. At the moment this signal is +given, it is as though one sudden mad impulse had simultaneously +flung open wide every single gate in the city; and the black throng +issues, or rather pours forth in a double, or treble, or quadruple +jet, as the number of exits may be; in a tense, direct, vibrating, +uninterrupted stream that at once dissolves and melts into space, +where the myriad transparent, furious wings weave a tissue throbbing +with sound. And this for some moments will quiver right over the +hive, with prodigious rustle of gossamer silks that countless +electrified hands might be ceaselessly rending and stitching; it +floats undulating, it trembles and flutters like a veil of gladness +invisible fingers support in the sky, and wave to and fro, from the +flowers to the blue, expecting sublime advent or departure. And at +last one angle declines another is lifted; the radiant mantle unites +its four sunlit corners; and like the wonderful carpet the +fairy-tale speaks of, that flits across space to obey its master's +command, it steers its straight course, bending forward a little as +though to hide in its folds the sacred presence of the future, +towards the willow, the pear-tree, or lime whereon the queen has +alighted; and round her each rhythmical wave comes to rest, as +though on a nail of gold, and suspends its fabric of pearls and of +luminous wings. + +And then there is silence once more; and, in an instant, this mighty +tumult, this awful curtain apparently laden with unspeakable menace +and anger, this bewildering golden hail that streamed upon every +object near--all these become merely a great, inoffensive, peaceful +cluster of bees, composed of thousands of little motionless groups, +that patiently wait, as they hang from the branch of a tree, for the +scouts to return who have gone in search of a place of shelter. + +{38} + +This is the first stage of what is known as the "primary swarm" at +whose head the old queen is always to be found. They will settle as +a rule on the shrub or the tree that is nearest the hive; for the +queen, besides being weighed down by her eggs, has dwelt in constant +darkness ever since her marriage-flight, or the swarm of the +previous year; and is naturally reluctant to venture far into space, +having indeed almost forgotten the use of her wings. + +The bee-keeper waits till the mass be completely gathered together; +then, having covered his head with a large straw hat (for the most +inoffensive bee will conceive itself caught in a trap if entangled +in hair, and will infallibly use its sting), but, if he be +experienced, wearing neither mask nor veil; having taken the +precaution only of plunging his arms in cold water up to the elbow, +he proceeds to gather the swarm by vigorously shaking the bough from +which the bees depend over an inverted hive. Into this hive the +cluster will fall as heavily as an over-ripe fruit. Or, if the +branch be too stout, he can plunge a spoon into the mass; and +deposit where he will the living spoonfuls, as though he were +ladling out corn. He need have no fear of the bees that are buzzing +around him, settling on his face and hands. The air resounds with +their song of ecstasy, which is different far from their chant of +anger. He need have no fear that the swarm will divide, or grow +fierce, will scatter, or try to escape. This is a day, I repeat, +when a spirit of holiday would seem to animate these mysterious +workers, a spirit of confidence, that apparently nothing can +trouble. They have detached themselves from the wealth they had to +defend, and they no longer recognise their enemies. They become +inoffensive because of their happiness, though why they are happy we +know not, except it be because they are obeying their law. A moment +of such blind happiness is accorded by nature at times to every +living thing, when she seeks to accomplish her end. Nor need we feel +any surprise that here the bees are her dupes; we ourselves, who +have studied her movements these centuries past, and with a brain +more perfect than that of the bee, we too are her dupes, and know +not even yet whether she be benevolent or indifferent, or only +basely cruel. + +There where the queen has alighted the swarm will remain; and had +she descended alone into the hive, the bees would have followed, in +long black files, as soon as intelligence had reached them of the +maternal retreat. The majority will hasten to her, with utmost +eagerness; but large numbers will pause for an instant on the +threshold of the unknown abode, and there will describe the circles +of solemn rejoicing with which it is their habit to celebrate happy +events. "They are beating to arms," say the French peasants. And +then the strange home will at once be accepted, and its remotest +corners explored; its position in the apiary, its form, its colour, +are grasped and retained in these thousands of prudent and faithful +little memories. Careful note is taken of the neighbouring +landmarks, the new city is founded, and its place established in the +mind and the heart of all its inhabitants; the walls resound with +the love-hymn of the royal presence, and work begins. + +{39} + +But if the swarm be not gathered by man, its history will not end +here. It will remain suspended on the branch until the return of the +workers, who, acting as scouts, winged quartermasters, as it were, +have at the very first moment of swarming sallied forth in all +directions in search of a lodging. They return one by one, and +render account of their mission; and as it is manifestly impossible +for us to fathom the thought of the bees, we can only interpret in +human fashion the spectacle that they present. We may regard it as +probable, therefore, that most careful attention is given to the +reports of the various scouts. One of them it may be, dwells on the +advantage of some hollow tree it has seen; another is in favour of a +crevice in a ruinous wall, of a cavity in a grotto, or an abandoned +burrow. The assembly often will pause and deliberate until the +following morning. Then at last the choice is made, and approved by +all. At a given moment the entire mass stirs, disunites, sets in +motion, and then, in one sustained and impetuous flight, that this +time knows no obstacle, it will steer its straight course, over +hedges and cornfields, over haystack and lake, over river and +village, to its determined and always distant goal. It is rarely +indeed that this second stage can be followed by man. The swarm +returns to nature; and we lose the track of its destiny. + + + + +III -- THE FOUNDATION OF THE CITY + +{40} + +LET us rather consider the proceedings of the swarm the apiarist +shall have gathered into his hive. And first of all let us not be +forgetful of the sacrifice these fifty thousand virgins have made, +who, as Ronsard sings,-- + + "In a little body bear so true a heart,--" + +and let us, yet once again, admire the courage with which they begin +life anew in the desert whereon they have fallen. They have +forgotten the splendour and wealth of their native city, where +existence had been so admirably organised and certain, where the +essence of every flower reminiscent of sunshine had enabled them to +smile at the menace of winter. There, asleep in the depths of their +cradles, they have left thousands and thousands of daughters, whom +they never again will see. They have abandoned, not only the +enormous treasure of pollen and propolis they had gathered together, +but also more than 120 pounds of honey; a quantity representing more +than twelve times the entire weight of the population, and close on +600,000 times that of the individual bee. To man this would mean +42,000 tons of provisions, a vast fleet of mighty ships laden with +nourishment more precious than any known to us; for to the bee honey +is a kind of liquid life, a species of chyle that is at once +assimilated, with almost no waste whatever. + +Here, in the new abode, there is nothing; not a drop of honey, not a +morsel of wax; neither guiding-mark nor point of support. There is +only the dreary emptiness of an enormous monument that has nothing +but sides and roof. Within the smooth and rounded walls there only +is darkness; and the enormous arch above rears itself over +nothingness. But useless regrets are unknown to the bee; or in any +event it does not allow them to hinder its action. Far from being +cast down by an ordeal before which every other courage would +succumb, it displays greater ardour than ever. Scarcely has the hive +been set in its place, or the disorder allayed that ensued on the +bees' tumultuous fall, when we behold the clearest, most unexpected +division in that entangled mass. The greater portion, forming in +solid columns, like an army obeying a definite order, will proceed +to climb the vertical walls of the hive. The cupola reached, the +first to arrive will cling with the claws of their anterior legs, +those that follow hang on to the first, and so in succession, until +long chains have been formed that serve as a bridge to the crowd +that rises and rises. And, by slow degrees, these chains, as their +number increases, supporting each other and incessantly +interweaving, become garlands which, in their turn, the +uninterrupted and constant ascension transforms into a thick, +triangular curtain, or rather a kind of compact and inverted cone, +whose apex attains the summit of the cupola, while its widening base +descends to a half, or two-thirds, of the entire height of the hive. +And then, the last bee that an inward voice has impelled to form +part of this group having added itself to the curtain suspended in +darkness, the ascension ceases; all movement slowly dies away in the +dome; and, for long hours, this strange inverted cone will wait, in +a silence that almost seems awful, in a stillness one might regard +as religious, for the mystery of wax to appear. + +In the meantime the rest of the bees--those, that is, that remained +down below in the hive--have shown not the slightest desire to join +the others aloft, and pay no heed to the formation of the marvellous +curtain on whose folds a magical gift is soon to descend. They are +satisfied to examine the edifice and undertake the necessary +labours. They carefully sweep the floor, and remove, one by one, +twigs, grains of sand, and dead leaves; for the bees are almost +fanatically cleanly, and when, in the depths of winter, severe +frosts retard too long what apiarists term their "flight of +cleanliness," rather than sully the hive they will perish by +thousands of a terrible bowel-disease. The males alone are incurably +careless, and will impudently bestrew the surface of the comb with +their droppings, which the workers are obliged to sweep as they +hasten behind them. + +The cleaning over, the bees of the profane group that form no part +of the cone suspended in a sort of ecstasy, set to work minutely to +survey the lower circumference of the common dwelling. Every crevice +is passed in review, and filled, covered over with propolis; and the +varnishing of the walls is begun, from top to bottom. Guards are +appointed to take their stand at the gate; and very soon a certain +number of workers will go to the fields and return with their burden +of pollen. + +{41} + +Before raising the folds of the mysterious curtain beneath whose +shelter are laid the veritable foundations of the home, let us +endeavour to form some conception of the sureness of vision, the +accurate calculation and industry our little people of emigrants +will be called to display in order to adapt this new dwelling to +their requirements. In the void round about them they must lay the +plans for their city, and logically mark out the site of the +edifices that must be erected as economically and quickly as +possible, for the queen, eager to lay, already is scattering her +eggs on the ground. And in this labyrinth of complicated buildings, +so far existing only in imagination, laws of ventilation must be +considered, of stability, solidity; resistance of the wax must not +be lost sight of, or the nature of the food to be stored, or the +habits of the queen; ready access must be contrived to all parts, +and careful attention be given to the distribution of stores and +houses, passages and streets,--this however is in some measure +pre-established, the plan already arrived at being organically the +best,--and there are countless problems besides, whose enumeration +would take too long. + +Now, the form of the hive that man offers to the bee knows infinite +variety, from the hollow tree or earthenware vessel still obtaining +in Asia and Africa, and the familiar bell-shaped constructions of +straw which we find in our farmers' kitchen-gardens or beneath their +windows, lost beneath masses of sunflowers, phlox, and hollyhock, to +what may really be termed the factory of the model apiarist of +today. An edifice, this, that can contain more than three hundred +pounds of honey, in three or four stories of superposed combs +enclosed in a frame which permits of their being removed and +handled, of the harvest being extracted through centrifugal force by +means of a turbine, and of their being then restored to their place +like a book in a well-ordered library. + +And one fine day the industry or caprice of man will install a +docile swarm in one of these disconcerting abodes. And there the +little insect is expected to learn its bearings, to find its way, to +establish its home; to modify the seemingly unchangeable plans +dictated by the nature of things. In this unfamiliar place it is +required to determine the site of the winter storehouses, that must +not extend beyond the zone of heat that issues from the half-numbed +inhabitants; it must divine the exact point where the brood-cells +shall concentrate, under penalty of disaster should these be too +high or too low, too near to or far from the door. The swarm, it may +be, has just left the trunk of a fallen tree, containing one long, +narrow, depressed, horizontal gallery; and it finds itself now in a +tower-shaped edifice, whose roof is lost in gloom. Or, to take a +case that is more usual, perhaps, and one that will give some idea +of the surprise habitually in store for the bees: after having lived +for centuries past beneath the straw dome of our village hives, they +are suddenly transplanted to a species of mighty cupboard, or chest, +three or four times as large as the place of their birth; and +installed in the midst of a confused scaffolding of superposed +frames, some running parallel to the entrance and some +perpendicular; the whole forming a bewildering network that obscures +the surfaces of their dwelling. + +And yet, for all this, there exists not a single instance of a swarm +refusing its duty, or allowing itself to be baffled or discouraged +by the strangeness of its surroundings, except only in the case of +the new dwelling being absolutely uninhabitable, or impregnated with +evil odours. And even then the bees will not be disheartened or +bewildered; even then they will not abandon their mission. The swarm +will simply forsake the inhospitable abode, to seek better fortune +some little distance away. And similarly it can never be said of +them that they can be induced to undertake any illogical or foolish +task. Their common-sense has never been known to fail them; they +have never, at a loss for definite decision, erected at haphazard +structures of a wild or heterogeneous nature. Though you place the +swarm in a sphere, a cube, or a pyramid, in an oval or polygonal +basket, you will find, on visiting the bees a few days later, that +if this strange assembly of little independent intellects has +accepted the new abode, they will at once, and unhesitatingly and +unanimously have known how to select the most favourable, often +humanly speaking the only possible spot in this absurd habitation, +in pursuance of a method whose principles may appear inflexible, but +whose results are strikingly vivid. + +When installed in one of the huge factories, bristling with frames, +that we mentioned just now, these frames will interest them only to +the extent in which they provide them with a basis or point of +departure for their combs; and they very naturally pay not the +slightest heed to the desires or intentions of man. But if the +apiarist have taken the precaution of surrounding the upper lath of +some of these frames with a narrow fillet of wax, they will be quick +to perceive the advantage this tempting offer presents, and will +carefully extract the fillet, using their own wax as solder, and +will prolong the comb in accordance with the indicated plan. +Similarly--and the case is frequent in modern apiculture--if all the +frames of the hive into which the bees have been gathered be covered +from top to bottom with leaves of foundation-wax, they will not +waste time in erecting buildings across or beside these, or in +producing useless wax, but, finding that the work is already half +finished, they will be satisfied to deepen and lengthen each of the +cells designed in the leaf, carefully rectifying these where there +is the slightest deviation from the strictest vertical. Proceeding +in this fashion, therefore, they will possess in a week a city as +luxurious and well-constructed as the one they have quitted; +whereas, had they been thrown on their own resources, it would have +taken them two or three months to construct so great a profusion of +dwellings and storehouses of shining wax. + +{43} + +This power of appropriation may well be considered to overstep the +limit of instinct; and indeed there can be nothing more arbitrary +than the distinction we draw between instinct and intelligence +properly so-called. Sir John Lubbock, whose observations on ants, +bees, and wasps are so interesting and so personal, is reluctant to +credit the bee, from the moment it forsakes the routine of its +habitual labour, with any power of discernment or reasoning. This +attitude of his may be due in some measure to an unconscious bias in +favour of the ants, whose ways he has more specially noted; for the +entomologist is always inclined to regard that insect as the more +intelligent to which he has more particularly devoted himself, and +we have to be on our guard against this little personal +predilection. As a proof of his theory, Sir John cites as an +instance an experiment within the reach of all. If you place in a +bottle half a dozen bees and the same number of flies, and lay the +bottle down horizontally, with its base to the window, you will find +that the bees will persist, till they die of exhaustion or hunger, +in their endeavour to discover an issue through the glass; while the +flies, in less than two minutes, will all have sallied forth through +the neck on the opposite side. From this Sir John Lubbock concludes +that the intelligence of the bee is exceedingly limited, and that +the fly shows far greater skill in extricating itself from a +difficulty, and finding its way. This conclusion, however, would not +seem altogether flawless. Turn the transparent sphere twenty times, +if you will, holding now the base, now the neck, to the window, and +you will find that the bees will turn twenty times with it, so as +always to face the light. It is their love of the light, it is their +very intelligence, that is their undoing in this experiment of the +English savant. They evidently imagine that the issue from every +prison must be there where the light shines clearest; and they act +in accordance, and persist in too logical action. To them glass is a +supernatural mystery they never have met with in nature; they have +had no experience of this suddenly impenetrable atmosphere; and, the +greater their intelligence, the more inadmissible, more +incomprehensible, will the strange obstacle appear. Whereas the +featherbrained flies, careless of logic as of the enigma of crystal, +disregarding the call of the light, flutter wildly hither and +thither, and, meeting here the good fortune that often waits on the +simple, who find salvation there where the wiser will perish, +necessarily end by discovering the friendly opening that restores +their liberty to them. + +The same naturalist cites yet another proof of the bees' lack of +intelligence, and discovers it in the following quotation from the +great American apiarist, the venerable and paternal Langstroth:-- + +"As the fly was not intended to banquet on blossoms, but on +substances in which it might easily be drowned, it cautiously +alights on the edge of any vessel containing liquid food, and warily +helps itself; while the poor bee, plunging in headlong, speedily +perishes. The sad fate of their unfortunate companions does not in +the least deter others who approach the tempting lure from madly +alighting on the bodies of the dying and the dead, to share the same +miserable end. No one can understand the extent of their infatuation +until he has seen a confectioner's shop assailed by myriads of +hungry bees. I have seen thousands strained out from the syrups in +which they had perished; thousands more alighting even on the +boiling sweets; the floors covered and windows darkened with bees, +some crawling, others flying, and others still so completely +besmeared as to be able neither to crawl nor to fly--not one in ten +able to carry home its ill-gotten spoils, and yet the air filled +with new hosts of thoughtless comers." + +This, however, seems to me no more conclusive than might be the +spectacle of a battlefield, or of the ravages of alcoholism, to a +superhuman observer bent on establishing the limits of human +understanding. Indeed, less so, perhaps; for the situation of the +bee, when compared with our own, is strange in this world. It was +intended to live in the midst of an indifferent and unconscious +nature, and not by the side of an extraordinary being who is forever +disturbing the most constant laws, and producing grandiose, +inexplicable phenomena. In the natural order of things, in the +monotonous life of the forest, the madness Langstroth describes +would be possible only were some accident suddenly to destroy a hive +full of honey. But in this case, even, there would be no fatal +glass, no boiling sugar or cloying syrup; no death or danger, +therefore, other than that to which every animal is exposed while +seeking its prey. + +Should we be more successful than they in preserving our presence of +mind if some strange power were at every step to ensnare our reason? +Let us not be too hasty in condemning the bees for the folly whereof +we are the authors, or in deriding their intellect, which is as +poorly equipped to foil our artifices as our own would be to foil +those of some superior creature unknown to us to-day, but on that +account not impossible. None such being known at present, we +conclude that we stand on the topmost pinnacle of life on this +earth; but this belief, after all, is by no means infallible. I am +not assuming that when our actions are unreasonable, or +contemptible, we merely fall into the snares that such a creature +has laid; though it is not inconceivable that this should one day be +proved true. On the other hand, it cannot be wise to deny +intelligence to the bee because it has not yet succeeded in +distinguishing us from the great ape or the bear. It is certain that +there are, in us and about us, influences and powers no less +dissimilar whose distinction escapes us as readily. + +And finally, to end this apology, wherein I seem somewhat to have +fallen into the error I laid to Sir John Lubbock's charge, does not +the capacity for folly so great in itself argue intelligence? For +thus it is ever in the uncertain domain of the intellect, apparently +the most vacillating and precarious condition of matter. The same +light that falls on the intellect falls also on passion, whereof +none can tell whether it be the smoke of the flame or the wick. In +the case above it has not been mere animal desire to gorge +themselves with honey that has urged on the bees. They could do this +at their leisure in the store-rooms at home. Watch them in an +analogous circumstance; follow them; you will see that, as soon as +their sac is filled, they will return to the hive and add their +spoil to the general store; and visit the marvellous vintage, and +leave it, perhaps thirty times in an hour. Their admirable labours, +therefore, are inspired by a single desire: zeal to bring as much +wealth as they can to the home of their sisters, which is also the +home of the future. When we discover a cause as disinterested for +the follies of men, we are apt to call them by another name. + +{44} + +However, the whole truth must be told. In the midst of the marvels +of their industry, their policy, their sacrifice, one thing exists +that must always check and weaken our admiration; and this is the +indifference with which they regard the misfortunes or death of +their comrades. There is a strange duality in the character of the +bee. In the heart of the hive all help and love each other. They are +as united as the good thoughts that dwell in the same soul. Wound +one of them, and a thousand will sacrifice themselves to avenge its +injury. But outside the hive they no longer recognise each other. +Mutilate them, crush them,--or rather, do nothing of the kind; it +would be a useless cruelty, for the fact is established beyond any +doubt,--but were you to mutilate, or crush, on a piece of comb +placed a few steps from their dwelling, twenty or thirty bees that +have all issued from the same hive, those you have left untouched +will not even turn their heads. With their tongue, fantastic as a +Chinese weapon, they will tranquilly continue to absorb the liquid +they hold more precious than life, heedless of the agony whose last +gestures almost are touching them, of the cries of distress that +arise all around. And when the comb is empty, so great is their +anxiety that nothing shall be lost, that their eagerness to gather +the honey which clings to the victims will induce them tranquilly to +climb over dead and dying, unmoved by the presence of the first and +never dreaming of helping the others. In this case, therefore, they +have no notion of the danger they run, seeing that they are wholly +untroubled by the death that is scattered about them, and they have +not the slightest sense of solidarity or pity. As regards the +danger, the explanation lies ready to hand; the bees know not the +meaning of fear, and, with the exception only of smoke, are afraid +of nothing in the world. Outside the hive, they display extreme +condescension and forbearance. They will avoid whatever disturbs +them, and affect to ignore its existence, so long as it come not too +close; as though aware that this universe belongs to all, that each +one has his place there, and must needs be discreet and peaceful. +But beneath this indulgence is quietly hidden a heart so sure of +itself that it never dreams of protesting. If they are threatened, +they will alter their course, but never attempt to escape. In the +hive, however, they will not confine themselves to this passive +ignoring of peril. They will spring with incredible fury on any +living thing, ant or lion or man, that dares to profane the sacred +ark. This we may term anger, ridiculous obstinacy, or heroism, +according as our mind be disposed. + +But of their want of solidarity outside the hive, and even of +sympathy within it, I can find nothing to say. Are we to believe +that each form of intellect possesses its own strange limitation, +and that the tiny flame which with so much difficulty at last burns +its way through inert matter and issues forth from the brain, is +still so uncertain that if it illumine one point more strongly the +others are forced into blacker darkness? Here we find that the bees +(or nature acting within them) have organised work in common, the +love and cult of the future, in a manner more perfect than can +elsewhere be discovered. Is it for this reason that they have lost +sight of all the rest? They give their love to what lies ahead of +them; we bestow ours on what is around. And we who love here, +perhaps, have no love left for what is beyond. Nothing varies so +much as the direction of pity or charity. We ourselves should +formerly have been far less shocked than we are to-day at the +insensibility of the bees; and to many an ancient people such +conduct would not have seemed blameworthy. And further, can we tell +how many of the things that we do would shock a being who might be +watching us as we watch the bees? + + + + +IV -- THE LIFE OF THE BEE + +{45} + +LET us now, in order to form a clearer conception of the bees' +intellectual power, proceed to consider their methods of +inter-communication. There can be no doubting that they understand +each other; and indeed it were surely impossible for a republic so +considerable, wherein the labours are so varied and so marvellously +combined, to subsist amid the silence and spiritual isolation of so +many thousand creatures. They must be able, therefore, to give +expression to thoughts and feelings, by means either of a phonetic +vocabulary or more probably of some kind of tactile language or +magnetic intuition, corresponding perhaps to senses and properties +of matter wholly unknown to ourselves. And such intuition well might +lodge in the mysterious antennae--containing, in the case of the +workers, according to Cheshire's calculation, twelve thousand +tactile hairs and five thousand "smell-hollows," wherewith they +probe and fathom the darkness. For the mutual understanding of the +bees is not confined to their habitual labours; the extraordinary +also has a name and place in their language; as is proved by the +manner in which news, good or bad, normal or supernatural, will at +once spread in the hive; the loss or return of the mother, for +instance, the entrance of an enemy, the intrusion of a strange +queen, the approach of a band of marauders, the discovery of +treasure, etc. And so characteristic is their attitude, so +essentially different their murmur at each of these special events, +that the experienced apiarist can without difficulty tell what is +troubling the crowd that moves distractedly to and fro in the +shadow. + +If you desire a more definite proof, you have but to watch a bee +that shall just have discovered a few drops of honey on your +window-sill or the corner of your table. She will immediately gorge +herself with it; and so eagerly, that you will have time, without +fear of disturbing her, to mark her tiny belt with a touch of paint. +But this gluttony of hers is all on the surface; the honey will not +pass into the stomach proper, into what we might call her personal +stomach, but remains in the sac, the first stomach,--that of the +community, if one may so express it. This reservoir full, the bee +will depart, but not with the free and thoughtless motion of the fly +or butterfly; she, on the contrary, will for some moments fly +backwards, hovering eagerly about the table or window, with her head +turned toward the room. + +She is reconnoitring, fixing in her memory the exact position of the +treasure. Thereupon she will go to the hive, disgorge her plunder +into one of the provision-cells, and in three or four minutes +return, and resume operations at the providential window. And thus, +while the honey lasts, will she come and go, at intervals of every +five minutes, till evening, if need be; without interruption or +rest; pursuing her regular journeys from the hive to the window, +from the window back to the hive. + +{46} + +Many of those who have written on bees have thought fit to adorn the +truth; I myself have no such desire. For studies of this description +to possess any interest, it is essential that they should remain +absolutely sincere. Had the conclusion been forced upon me that bees +are incapable of communicating to each other news of an event +occurring outside the hive, I should, I imagine, as a set-off +against the slight disappointment this discovery would have +entailed, have derived some degree of satisfaction in recognising +once more that man, after all, is the only truly intelligent being +who inhabits our globe. And there comes too a period of life when we +have more joy in saying the thing that is true than in saying the +thing that merely is wonderful. Here as in every case the principle +holds that, should the naked truth appear at the moment less +interesting, less great and noble than the imaginary embellishment +it lies in our power to bestow, the fault must rest with ourselves +who still are unable to perceive the astonishing relation in which +this truth always must stand to our being, and to universal law; and +in that case it is not the truth, but our intellect, that needs +embellishment and ennoblement. + +I will frankly confess, therefore, that the marked bee often returns +alone. Shall we believe that in bees there exists the same +difference of character as in men; that of them too some are +gossips, and others prone to silence? A friend who stood by and +watched my experiment, declared that it was evidently mere +selfishness or vanity that caused so many of the bees to refrain +from revealing the source of their wealth, and from sharing with +others the glory of an achievement that must seem miraculous to the +hive. These were sad vices indeed, which give not forth the sweet +odour, so fragrant and loyal, that springs from the home of the many +thousand sisters. But, whatever the cause, it often will also happen +that the bee whom fortune has favoured will return to the honey +accompanied by two or three friends. I am aware that Sir John +Lubbock, in the appendix to his book on "Ants, Bees, and Wasps," +records the results of his investigations in long and minute tables; +and from these we are led to infer that it is a matter of rarest +occurrence for a single bee to follow the one who has made the +discovery. The learned naturalist does not name the race of bees +which he selected for his experiments, or tell us whether the +conditions were especially unfavourable. As for myself I only can +say that my own tables, compiled with great care,--and every +possible precaution having been taken that the bees should not be +directly attracted by the odour of the honey,--establish that on an +average one bee will bring others four times out of ten. + +I even one day came across an extraordinary little Italian bee, +whose belt I had marked with a touch of blue paint. In her second +trip she brought two of her sisters, whom I imprisoned, without +interfering with her. She departed once more, and this time returned +with three friends, whom I again confined, and so till the end of +the afternoon, when, counting my prisoners, I found that she had +told the news to no less than eighteen bees. + +In fact you will find, if you make this experiment yourself, that +communication, if not general, at least is frequent. The possession +of this faculty is so well known to American bee-hunters that they +trade upon it when engaged in searching for nests. Mr. Josiah Emery +remarks on this head (quoted by Romanes in his "Intellect of Animals"): +"Going to a field or wood at a distance from tame bees with +their box of honey, they gather up from the flowers and imprison one +or more bees, and after they have become sufficiently gorged, let +them out to return to their home with their easily gotten load. +Waiting patiently a longer or shorter time, according to the +distance of the bee-tree, the hunter scarcely ever fails to see the +bee or bees return accompanied by other bees, which are in like +manner imprisoned till they in turn are filled; then one or more are +let out at places distant from each other, and the direction in +which the bee flies noted; and thus, by a kind of triangulation, the +position of the bee-tree proximately ascertained." + +{47} + +You will notice too in your experiments that the friends who appear +to obey the behests of good fortune do not always fly together, and +that there will often be an interval of several seconds between the +different arrivals. As regards these communications, therefore, we +must ask ourselves the question that Sir John Lubbock has solved as +far as the ants are concerned. + +Do the comrades who flock to the treasure only follow the bee that +first made the discovery, or have they been sent on by her, and do +they find it through following her indications, her description of +the place where it lies? Between these two hypotheses, that refer +directly to the extent and working of the bee's intellect, there is +obviously an enormous difference. The English savant has succeeded, +by means of an elaborate and ingenious arrangement of gangways, +corridors, moats full of water, and flying bridges, in establishing +that the ants in such cases do no more than follow in the track of +the pioneering insect. With ants, that can be made to pass where one +will, such experiments are possible; but for the bee, whose wings +throw every avenue open, some other expedient must of necessity be +contrived. I imagined the following, which, though it gave no +definite result, might yet, under more favourable conditions, and if +organised more carefully, give rise to definite and satisfactory +conclusions. + +My study in the country is on the first floor, above a somewhat +lofty room; sufficiently high, therefore, to be out of the ordinary +range of the bees' flight, except at times when the chestnuts and +lime trees are in bloom. And for more than a week before I started +this experiment I had kept on my table an open comb of honey, +without the perfume having attracted, or induced the visit of, a +single bee. Then I went to a glass hive that was close to the house, +took an Italian bee, brought her to my study, set her on the comb, +and marked her while she was feeding. + +When satisfied, she flew away and returned to the hive. I followed, +saw her pass over the surface of the crowd, plunge her head into an +empty cell, disgorge her honey, and prepare to set forth again. At +the door of the hive I had placed a glass box, divided by a trap +into two compartments. The bee flew into this box; and as she was +alone, and no other bee seemed to accompany or follow her, I +imprisoned her and left her there. I then repeated the experiment on +twenty different bees in succession. When the marked bee reappeared +alone, I imprisoned her as I had imprisoned the first. But eight of +them came to the threshold of the hive and entered the box +accompanied by two or three friends. By means of the trap I was able +to separate the marked bee from her companions, and to keep her a +prisoner in the first compartment. Then, having marked her +companions with a different colour, I threw open the second +compartment and set them at liberty, myself returning quickly to my +study to await their arrival. Now it is evident that if a verbal or +magnetic communication had passed, indicating the place, describing +the way, etc., a certain number of the bees, having been furnished +with this information, should have found their way to my room. I am +compelled to admit that there came but a single one. Was this mere +chance, or had she followed instructions received? The experiment +was insufficient, but circumstances prevented me from carrying it +further. I released the "baited" bees, and my study soon was +besieged by the buzzing crowd to whom they had taught the way to the +treasure. + +We need not concern ourselves with this incomplete attempt of mine, +for many other curious traits compel us to recognise the existence +among the bees of spiritual communications that go beyond a mere +"yes" or "no," and that are manifest in cases where mere example or +gesture would not be sufficient. Of such, for instance, are the +remarkable harmony of their work in the hive, the extraordinary +division of labour, the regularity with which one worker will take +the place of another, etc. I have often marked bees that went +foraging in the morning, and found that, in the afternoon, unless +flowers were specially abundant, they would be engaged in heating +and fanning the brood-cells, or perhaps would form part of the +mysterious, motionless curtain in whose midst the wax-makers and +sculptors would be at work. Similarly I have noticed that workers +whom I have seen gathering pollen for the whole of one day, will +bring no pollen back on the morrow, but will concern themselves +exclusively with the search for nectar, and vice-versa. + +{48} + +And further, we might mention what M. Georges de Layens, the +celebrated French apiarist, terms the "Distribution of Bees over +Melliferous Plants." Day after day, at the first hour of sunrise, +the explorers of the dawn return, and the hive awakes to receive the +good news of the earth. "The lime trees are blossoming to-day on the +banks of the canal." "The grass by the roadside is gay with white +clover." "The sage and the lotus are about to open." "The +mignonette, the lilies are overflowing with pollen." Whereupon the +bees must organise quickly, and arrange to divide the work. Five +thousand of the sturdiest will sully forth to the lime trees, while +three thousand juniors go and refresh the white clover. Those who +yesterday were absorbing nectar from the corollas will to-day repose +their tongue and the glands of their sac, and gather red pollen from +the mignonette, or yellow pollen from the tall lilies; for never +shall you see a bee collecting or mixing pollen of a different +colour or species; and indeed one of the chief pre-occupations of +the hive is the methodical bestowal of these pollens in the +store-rooms, in strict accordance with their origin and colour. Thus +does the hidden genius issue its commands. The workers immediately +sally forth, in long black files, whereof each one will fly straight +to its allotted task. "The bees," says De Layens, "would seem to be +perfectly informed as to the locality, the relative melliferous +value, and the distance of every melliferous plant within a certain +radius from the hive. + +"If we carefully note the different directions in which these +foragers fly, and observe in detail the harvest they gather from the +various plants around, we shall find that the workers distribute +themselves over the flowers in proportion not only to the numbers of +flowers of one species, but also to their melliferous value. Nay, +more--they make daily calculations as to the means of obtaining the +greatest possible wealth of saccharine liquid. In the spring, for +instance, after the willows have bloomed, when the fields still are +bare, and the first flowers of the woods are the one resource of the +bees, we shall see them eagerly visiting gorse and violets, +lungworts and anemones. But, a few days later, when fields of +cabbage and colza begin to flower in sufficient abundance, we shall +find that the bees will almost entirely forsake the plants in the +woods, though these be still in full blossom, and will confine their +visits to the flowers of cabbage and colza alone. In this fashion +they regulate, day by day, their distribution over the plants, so as +to collect the greatest value of saccharine liquid in the least +possible time. + +"It may fairly be claimed, therefore, for the colony of bees that, +in its harvesting labours no less than in its internal economy, it +is able to establish a rational distribution of the number of +workers without ever disturbing the principle of the division of +labour." + +{49} + +But what have we to do, some will ask, with the intelligence of the +bees? What concern is it of ours whether this be a little less or a +little more? Why weigh, with such infinite care, a minute fragment +of almost invisible matter, as though it were a fluid whereon +depended the destiny of man? I hold, and exaggerate nothing, that +our interest herein is of the most considerable. The discovery of a +sign of true intellect outside ourselves procures us something of +the emotion Robinson Crusoe felt when he saw the imprint of a human +foot on the sandy beach of his island. We seem less solitary than we +had believed. And indeed, in our endeavour to understand the +intellect of the bees, we are studying in them that which is most +precious in our own substance: an atom of the extraordinary matter +which possesses, wherever it attach itself, the magnificent power of +transfiguring blind necessity, of organising, embellishing, and +multiplying life; and, most striking of all, of holding in suspense +the obstinate force of death, and the mighty, irresponsible wave +that wraps almost all that exists in an eternal unconsciousness. + +Were we sole possessors of the particle of matter that, when +maintained in a special condition of flower or incandescence, we +term the intellect, we should to some extent be entitled to look on +ourselves as privileged beings, and to imagine that in us nature +achieved some kind of aim; but here we discover, in the hymenoptera, +an entire category of beings in whom a more or less identical aim is +achieved. And this fact, though it decide nothing perhaps, still +holds an honourable place in the mass of tiny facts that help to +throw light on our position in this world. It affords even, if +considered from a certain point of view, a fresh proof of the most +enigmatic part of our being; for the superpositions of destinies +that we find in the hive are surveyed by us from an eminence loftier +than any we can attain for the contemplation of the destinies of +man. There we see before us, in miniature, the large and simple +lines that in our own disproportionate sphere we never have the +occasion to disentangle and follow to the end. Spirit and matter are +there, the race and the individual, evolution and permanence, life +and death, the past and the future; all gathered together in a +retreat that our hand can lift and one look of our eye embrace. And +may we not reasonably ask ourselves whether the mere size of a body, +and the room that it fills in time and space, can modify to the +extent we imagine the secret idea of nature; the idea that we try to +discover in the little history of the hive, which in a few days +already is ancient, no less than in the great history of man, of +whom three generations overlap a long century? + +{50} + +Let us go on, then, with the story of our hive; let us take it up +where we left it; and raise, as high as we may, a fold of the +festooned curtain in whose midst a strange sweat, white as snow and +airier than the down of a wing, is beginning to break over the +swarm. For the wax that is now being born is not like the wax that +we know; it is immaculate, it has no weight; seeming truly to be the +soul of the honey, that itself is the spirit of flowers. And this +motionless incantation has called it forth that it may serve us, +later--in memory of its origin, doubtless, wherein it is one with +the azure sky, and heavy with perfumes of magnificence and +purity--as the fragrant light of the last of our altars. + +{51} + +To follow the various phases of the secretion and employment of wax +by a swarm that is beginning to build, is a matter of very great +difficulty. All comes to pass in the blackest depths of the crowd, +whose agglomeration, growing denser and denser, produces the +temperature needful for this exudation, which is the privilege of +the youngest bees. Huber, who was the first to study these +phenomena, bringing incredible patience to bear and exposing himself +at times to very serious danger, devotes to them more than two +hundred and fifty pages; which, though of considerable interest, are +necessarily somewhat confused. But I am not treating this subject +technically; and while referring when necessary to Huber's admirable +studies, I shall confine myself generally to relating what is patent +to any one who may gather a swarm into a glass hive. + +We have to admit, first of all, that we know not yet by what process +of alchemy the honey transforms itself into wax in the enigmatic +bodies of our suspended bees. We can only say that they will remain +thus suspended for a period extending from eighteen to twenty-four +hours, in a temperature so high that one might almost believe that a +fire was burning in the hollow of the hive; and then white and +transparent scales will appear at the opening of four little pockets +that every bee has underneath its abdomen. + +When the bodies of most of those who form the inverted cone have +thus been adorned with ivory tablets, we shall see one of the bees, +as though suddenly inspired, abruptly detach herself from the mass, +and climb over the backs of the passive crowd till she reach the +inner pinnacle of the cupola. To this she will fix herself solidly, +dislodging, with repeated blows of her head, such of her neighbours +as may seem to hamper her movements. Then, with her mouth and claws, +she will seize one of the eight scales that hang from her abdomen, +and at once proceed to clip it and plane it, extend it, knead it +with her saliva, bend it and flatten it, roll it and straighten it, +with the skill of a carpenter handling a pliable panel. When at last +the substance, thus treated, appears to her to possess the required +dimensions and consistency, she will attach it to the highest point +of the dome, thus laying the first, or rather the keystone of the +new town; for we have here an inverted city, hanging down from the +sky, and not rising from the bosom of earth like a city of men. + +To this keystone, depending in the void, she will add other +fragments of wax that she takes in succession from beneath her rings +of horn; and finally, with one last lick of the tongue, one last +wave of antennae, she will go as suddenly as she came, and disappear +in the crowd. Another will at once take her place, continue the work +at the point where the first one has left it, add on her own, change +and adjust whatever may seem to offend the ideal plan of the tribe, +then vanish in her turn, to be succeeded by a third, a fourth, and a +fifth, all appearing unexpectedly, suddenly, one after the other, +none completing the work, but each bringing her share to the task in +which all combine. + +{52} + +A small block of wax, formless as yet, hangs down from the top of +the vault. So soon as its thickness may be deemed sufficient, we +shall see another bee emerge from the mass, her physical appearance +differing appreciably from that of the foundresses who preceded her. +And her manner displays such settled conviction, her movements are +followed so eagerly by all the crowd, that we almost might fancy +that some illustrious engineer had been summoned to trace in the +void the site of the first cell of all, from which every other must +mathematically depend. This bee belongs to the sculptor or carver +class of workers; she produces no wax herself and is content to deal +with the materials others provide. She locates the first cell, +scoops into the block for an instant, lays the wax she has removed +from the cavity on the borders around it; and then, like the +foundresses, abruptly departs and abandons her model. Her place is +taken at once by an impatient worker, who continues the task that a +third will finish, while others close by are attacking the rest of +the surface and the opposite side of the wall; each one obeying the +general law of interrupted and successive labour, as though it were +an inherent principle of the hive that the pride of toil should be +distributed, and every achievement be anonymous and common to all, +that it might thereby become more fraternal. + +{53} + +The outline of the nascent comb may soon be divined. In form it will +still be lenticular, for the little prismatic tubes that compose it +are unequal in length, and diminish in proportion as they recede +from the centre to the extremities. In thickness and appearance at +present it more or less resembles a human tongue whose sides might +be formed of hexagonal cells, contiguous, and placed back to back. + +The first cells having been built, the foundresses proceed to add a +second block of wax to the roof; and so in gradation a third and a +fourth. These blocks follow each other at regular intervals so +nicely calculated that when, at a much later period, the comb shall +be fully developed, there will be ample space for the bees to move +between its parallel walls. + +Their plan must therefore embrace the final thickness of every comb, +which will be from eighty-eight to ninety-two hundredths of an inch, +and at the same time the width of the avenues between, which must be +about half an inch, or in other words twice the height of a bee, +since there must be room to pass back to back between the combs. + +The bees, however, are not infallible, nor does their certainty +appear mechanical. They will commit grave errors at times, when +circumstances present unusual difficulty. They will often leave too +much space, or too little, between the combs. This they will remedy +as best they can, either by giving an oblique twist to the comb that +too nearly approaches the other, or by introducing an irregular comb +into the gap. "The bees sometimes make mistakes," Reaumur remarks on +this subject, "and herein we may find yet another fact which appears +to prove that they reason." + +{54} + +We know that the bees construct four kinds of cells. First of all, +the royal cells, which are exceptional, and contrived somewhat in +the shape of an acorn; then the large cells destined for the rearing +of males and storing of provisions when flowers super-abound; and +the small cells, serving as workers' cradles and ordinary +store-rooms, which occupy normally about four-fifths of the +built-over surface of the hive. And lastly, so as to connect in +orderly fashion the larger cells with the small, the bees will erect +a certain number of what are known as transition cells. These must +of necessity be irregular in form; but so unerringly accurate are +the dimensions of the second and third types that, at the time when +the decimal system was established, and a fixed measure sought in +nature to serve as a starting-point and an incontestable standard, +it was proposed by Reaumur to select for this purpose the cell of +the bee.* + + *It was as well, perhaps, that this standard was not + adopted. For although the diameter of the cells is admirably + regular, it is, like all things produced by a living + organism, not _mathematically_ invariable in the same hive. + Further, as M. Maurice Girard has pointed out, the apothem + of the cell varies among different races of bees, so that + the standard would alter from hive to hive, according to the + species of bee that inhabited it. + +Each of the cells is an hexagonal tube placed on a pyramidal base; +and two layers of these tubes form the comb, their bases being +opposed to each other in such fashion that each of the three rhombs +or lozenges which on one side constitute the pyramidal base of one +cell, composes at the same time the pyramidal base of three cells on +the other. It is in these prismatic tubes that the honey is stored; +and to prevent its escaping during the period of maturation,--which +would infallibly happen if the tubes were as strictly horizontal as +they appear to be,--the bees incline them slightly, to an angle of 4 +deg or 5 deg. + +"Besides the economy of wax," says Reaumur, when considering this +marvellous construction in its entirety, "besides the economy of wax +that results from the disposition of the cells, and the fact that +this arrangement allows the bees to fill the comb without leaving a +single spot vacant, there are other advantages also with respect to +the solidity of the work. The angle at the base of each cell, the +apex of the pyramidal cavity, is buttressed by the ridge formed by +two faces of the hexagon of another cell. The two triangles, or +extensions of the hexagon faces which fill one of the convergent +angles of the cavity enclosed by the three rhombs, form by their +junction a plane angle on the side they touch; each of these angles, +concave within the cell, supports, on its convex side, one of the +sheets employed to form the hexagon of another cell; the sheet, +pressing on this angle, resists the force which is tending to push +it outwards; and in this fashion the angles are strengthened. Every +advantage that could be desired with regard to the solidity of each +cell is procured by its own formation and its position with +reference to the others." + +{55} + +"There are only," says Dr. Reid, "three possible figures of the +cells which can make them all equal and similar, without any useless +interstices. These are the equilateral triangle, the square, and the +regular hexagon. Mathematicians know that there is not a fourth way +possible in which a plane shall be cut into little spaces that shall +be equal, similar, and regular, without useless spaces. Of the three +figures, the hexagon is the most proper for convenience and +strength. Bees, as if they knew this, make their cells regular +hexagons. + +"Again, it has been demonstrated that, by making the bottoms of the +cells to consist of three planes meeting in a point, there is a +saving of material and labour in no way inconsiderable. The bees, as +if acquainted with these principles of solid geometry, follow them +most accurately. It is a curious mathematical problem at what +precise angle the three planes which compose the bottom of a cell +ought to meet, in order to make the greatest possible saving, or the +least expense of material and labour.* This is one of the problems +which belong to the higher parts of mathematics. It has accordingly +been resolved by some mathematicians, particularly by the ingenious +Maclaurin, by a fluctionary calculation which is to be found in the +Transactions of the Royal Society of London. He has determined +precisely the angle required, and he found, by the most exact +mensuration the subject would admit, that it is the very angle in +which the three planes at the bottom of the cell of a honey comb do +actually meet." + + *Reaumur suggested the following problem to the celebrated + mathematician Koenig: "Of all possible hexagonal cells with + pyramidal base composed of three equal and similar rhombs, + to find the one whose construction would need the least + material." Koenig's answer was, the cell that had for its + base three rhombs whose large angle was 109 deg 26', and the + small 70 deg 34'. Another savant, Maraldi, had measured as + exactly as possible the angles of the rhombs constructed by + the bees, and discovered the larger to be 109 deg 28', and + the other 70 deg 32'. Between the two solutions there was a + difference, therefore, of only 2'. It is probable that the + error, if error there be, should be attributed to Maraldi + rather than to the bees; for it is impossible for any + instrument to measure the angles of the cells, which are not + very clearly defined, with infallible precision. + +The problem suggested to Koenig was put to another mathematician, +Cramer, whose solution came even closer to that of the bees, viz., +109 deg 28 1/2' for the large angle, and 70 deg 31 1/2' for the +small. + +{56} + +I myself do not believe that the bees indulge in these abstruse +calculations; but, on the other hand, it seems equally impossible to +me that such astounding results can be due to chance alone, or to +the mere force of circumstance. The wasps, for instance, also build +combs with hexagonal cells, so that for them the problem was +identical, and they have solved it in a far less ingenious fashion. +Their combs have only one layer of cells, thus lacking the common +base that serves the bees for their two opposite layers. The wasps' +comb, therefore, is not only less regular, but also less +substantial; and so wastefully constructed that, besides loss of +material, they must sacrifice about a third of the available space +and a quarter of the energy they put forth. Again, we find that the +trigonae and meliponae, which are veritable and domesticated bees, +though of less advanced civilisation, erect only one row of +rearing-cells, and support their horizontal, superposed combs on +shapeless and costly columns of wax. Their provision-cells are +merely great pots, gathered together without any order; and, at the +point between the spheres where these might have intersected and +induced a profitable economy of space and material, the meliponae +clumsily insert a section of cells with flat walls. Indeed, to +compare one of their nests with the mathematical cities of our own +honey-flies, is like imagining a hamlet composed of primitive huts +side by side with a modern town; whose ruthless regularity is the +logical, though perhaps somewhat charmless, result of the genius of +man, that to-day, more fiercely than ever before, seeks to conquer +space, matter, and time. + +{57} + +There is a theory, originally propounded by Buffon and now revived, +which assumes that the bees have not the least intention of +constructing hexagons with a pyramidal base, but that their desire +is merely to contrive round cells in the wax; only, that as their +neighbours, and those at work on the opposite side of the comb, are +digging at the same moment and with the same intentions, the points +where the cells meet must of necessity become hexagonal. Besides, it +is said, this is precisely what happens to crystals, the scales of +certain kinds of fish, soap-bubbles, etc., as it happens in the +following experiment that Buffon suggested. "If," he said, "you fill +a dish with peas or any other cylindrical bean, pour as much water +into it as the space between the beans will allow, close it +carefully and then boil the water, you will find that all these +cylinders have become six-sided columns. And the reason is evident, +being indeed purely mechanical; each of the cylindrical beans tends, +as it swells, to occupy the utmost possible space within a given +space; wherefore it follows that the reciprocal compression compels +them all to become hexagonal. Similarly each bee seeks to occupy the +utmost possible space within a given space, with the necessary +result that, its body being cylindrical, the cells become hexagonal +for the same reason as before, viz., the working of reciprocal +obstacles." + +{58} + +These reciprocal obstacles, it would seem, are capable of marvellous +achievement; on the same principle, doubtless, that the vices of man +produce a general virtue, whereby the human race, hateful often in +its individuals, ceases to be so in the mass. We might reply, first +of all, with Brougham, Kirby and Spence, and others, that +experiments with peas and soap-bubbles prove nothing; for the reason +that in both cases the pressure produces only irregular forms, and +in no wise explains the existence of the prismatic base of the +cells. But above all we might answer that there are more ways than +one of dealing with rigid necessity; that the wasp, the humble-bee, +the trigonae and meliponae of Mexico and Brazil achieve very +different and manifestly inferior results, although the +circumstances, and their own intentions, are absolutely identical +with those of the bees. It might further be urged that if the bee's +cell does indeed follow the law that governs crystals, snow, +soap-bubbles, as well as Buffon's boiled peas, it also, through its +general symmetry, disposition in opposite layers, and angle of +inclination, obeys many other laws that are not to be found in +matter. May we not say, too, of man that all his genius is comprised +in his fashion of handling kindred necessities? And if it appear to +us that his manner of treating these is the best there can possibly +be, the reason only can lie in the absence of a judge superior to +ourselves. But it is well that argument should make way for fact; +and indeed, to the objection based on an experiment, the best reply +of all must be a counter-experiment. + +In order to satisfy myself that hexagonal architecture truly was +written in the spirit of the bee, I cut off and removed one day a +disc of the size of a five-franc piece from the centre of a comb, at +a spot where there were both brood-cells and cells full of honey. I +cut into the circumference of this disc, at the intersecting point +of the pyramidal cells; inserted a piece of tin on the base of one +of these sections, shaped exactly to its dimensions, and possessed +of resistance sufficient to prevent the bees from bending or +twisting it. Then I replaced the slice of comb, duly furnished with +its slab of tin, on the spot whence I had removed it; so that, while +one side of the comb presented no abnormal feature, the damage +having been repaired, the other displayed a sort of deep cavity, +covering the space of about thirty cells, with the piece of tin as +its base. The bees were disconcerted at first; they flocked in +numbers to inspect and examine this curious chasm; day after day +they wandered agitatedly to and fro, apparently unable to form a +decision. But, as I fed them copiously every evening, there came a +moment when they had no more cells available for the storage of +provisions. Thereupon they probably summoned their great engineers, +distinguished sculptors, and wax-workers, and invited them to turn +this useless cavity to profitable account. + +The wax-makers having gathered around and formed themselves into a +dense festoon, so that the necessary heat might be maintained, other +bees descended into the hole and proceeded solidly to attach the +metal, and connect it with the walls of adjacent cells, by means of +little waxen hooks which they distributed regularly over its +surface. In the upper semicircle of the disc they then began to +construct three or four cells, uniting these to the hooks. Each of +these transition, or accommodation, cells was more or less deformed +at the top, to allow of its being soldered to the adjoining cell on +the comb; but its lower portion already designed on the tin three +very clear angles, whence there ran three little straight lines that +correctly indicated the first half of the following cell. + +After forty-eight hours, and notwithstanding the fact that only +three bees at a time were able to work in the cavity, the entire +surface of the tin was covered with outlined cells. These were less +regular, certainly, than those of an ordinary comb; wherefore the +queen, having inspected them, wisely declined to lay any eggs there, +for the generation that would have arisen therefrom would +necessarily have been deformed. Each cell, however, was a perfect +hexagon; nor did it contain a single crooked line, a single curved +figure or angle. And yet the ordinary conditions had all been +changed; the cells had neither been scooped out of a block, +according to Huber's description, nor had they been designed within +a waxen hood, and, from being circular at first, been subsequently +converted into hexagons by the pressure of adjoining cells, as +explained by Darwin. Neither could there be question here of +reciprocal obstacles, the cells having been formed one by one, and +their first lines traced on what practically was a bare table. It +would seem incontestable, therefore, that the hexagon is not merely +the result of mechanical necessities, but that it has its true place +in the plans, the experience, the intellect and will of the bee. I +may relate here another curious instance of the workers' sagacity: +the cells they built on the tin had no other base than the metal +itself. The engineers of the corps had evidently decided that the +tin could adequately retain the honey; and had considered that, the +substance being impermeable, they need not waste the material they +value so highly by covering the metal with a layer of wax. But, a +short time after, some drops of honey having been placed in two of +these cells, the bees discovered, in tasting it, that the contact of +the metal had a deteriorating effect. Thereupon they reconsidered +the matter, and covered over with wax the entire surface of the tin. + +{59} + +Were it our desire to throw light upon all the secrets of this +geometric architecture, we should have more than one curious +question still to consider; as for instance the shape of the first +cells, which, being attached to the roof, are modified in such a +manner as to touch the roof at the greatest possible number of +points. + +The design of the principal thoroughfares is determined by the +parallelism of the combs; but we must admire the ingenious +construction of alleys and gangways through and around the comb, so +skilfully contrived as to provide short cuts in every direction and +prevent congestion of traffic, while ensuring free circulation of +air. And finally we should have to study the construction of +transition cells, wherein we see a unanimous instinct at work that +impels the bees at a given moment to increase the size of their +dwellings. Three reasons may dictate this step: an extraordinary +harvest may call for larger receptacles, the workers may consider +the population to be sufficiently numerous, or it may have become +necessary that males should be born. Nor can we in such cases +refrain from wondering at the ingenious economy, the unerring, +harmonious conviction, with which the bees will pass from the small +to the large, from the large to the small; from perfect symmetry to, +where unavoidable, its very reverse, returning to ideal regularity +so soon as the laws of a live geometry will allow; and all the time +not losing a cell, not suffering a single one of their numerous +structures to be sacrificed, to be ridiculous, uncertain, or +barbarous, or any section thereof to become unfit for use. But I +fear that I have already wandered into many details that will have +but slender interest for the reader, whose eyes perhaps may never +have followed a flight of bees; or who may have regarded them only +with the passing interest with which we are all of us apt to regard +the flower, the bird or the precious stone, asking of these no more +than a slight superficial assurance, and forgetting that the most +trivial secret of the non-human object we behold in nature connects +more closely perhaps with the profound enigma of our origin and our +end, than the secret of those of our passions that we study the most +eagerly and the most passionately. + +{60} + +And I will pass over too--in my desire that this essay shall not +become too didactic--the remarkable instinct that induces the bees +at times to thin and demolish the extremity of their combs, when +these are to be enlarged or lengthened; though it must be admitted +that in this case the "blind building instinct" fails signally to +account for their demolishing in order that they may rebuild, or +undoing what has been done that it may be done afresh, and with more +regularity. I will content myself also with a mere reference to the +remarkable experiment that enables us, with the aid of a piece of +glass, to compel the bees to start their combs at a right angle; +when they most ingeniously contrive that the enlarged cells on the +convex side shall coincide with the reduced cells on the concave +side of the comb. + +But before finally quitting this subject let us pause, though it be +but for an instant, and consider the mysterious fashion in which +they manage to act in concert and combine their labour, when +simultaneously carving two opposite sides of a comb, and unable +therefore to see each other. Take a finished comb to the light, fix +your eyes on the diaphanous wax; you will see, most clearly +designed, an entire network of sharply cut prisms, a whole system of +concordances so infallible that one might almost believe them to be +stamped on steel. + +I wonder whether those who never have seen the interior of a hive +can form an adequate conception of the arrangement and aspect of the +combs. Let them imagine--we will take a peasant's hive, where the +bee is left entirely to its own resources--let them imagine a dome +of straw or osier, divided from top to bottom by five, six, eight, +sometimes ten, strips of wax, resembling somewhat great slices of +bread, that run in strictly parallel lines from the top of the dome +to the floor, espousing closely the shape of the ovoid walls. +Between these strips is contrived a space of about half an inch, to +enable the bees to stand and to pass each other. At the moment when +they begin to construct one of these strips at the top of the hive, +the waxen wall (which is its rough model, and will later be thinned +and extended) is still very thick, and completely excludes the fifty +or sixty bees at work on its inner face from the fifty or sixty +simultaneously engaged in carving the outer, so that it is wholly +impossible for one group to see the other, unless indeed their sight +be able to penetrate opaque matter. And yet there is not a hole that +is scooped on the inner surface, not a fragment of wax that is +added, but corresponds with mathematical precision to a protuberance +or cavity on the outer surface, and vice versa. How does this +happen? How is it that one does not dig too deep, another not deep +enough? Whence the invariable magical coincidence between the angles +of the lozenges? What is it tells the bees that at this point they +must begin, and at that point stop? Once again we must content +ourselves with the reply, that is no reply: "It is a mystery of the +hive." + +Huber has sought to explain this mystery by suggesting that the +pressure of the bees' hooks and teeth may possibly produce slight +projections, at regular intervals, on the opposite side of the comb; +or that they may be able to estimate the thickness of the block by +the flexibility, elasticity, or some other physical quality of the +wax; or again, that their antennae, which seem so well adapted for +the questioning of the finer, less evident side of things, may serve +as a compass in the invisible; or, lastly, that the position of +every cell may derive mathematically from the arrangement and +dimensions of the cells on the first row, and thus dispense with the +need for further measurement. But these explanations are evidently +insufficient; the first are mere hypotheses that cannot be verified, +the others do no more than transplant the mystery. And useful as it +may be to transplant mystery as often as we possibly can, it were +not wise to imagine that a mystery has ceased to be because we have +shifted its home. + +{61} + +Now let us leave these dreary building grounds, this geometrical +desert of cells. The combs have been started, and are becoming +habitable. Though it be here the infinitely little that, without +apparent hope, adds itself to the infinitely little; though our eye +with its limited vision look and see nothing, the work of wax, +halting neither by day nor by night, will advance with incredible +quickness. The impatient queen already has more than once paced the +stockades that gleam white in the darkness; and no sooner is the +first row of dwellings complete than she takes possession with her +escort of counsellors, guardians, or servants--for we know not +whether she lead or be led, be venerated or supervised. When the +spot has been reached that she, or her urgent advisers, may regard +as favourable, she arches her back, bends forward, and introduces +the extremity of her long spindle-shaped abdomen into one of the +cells; the-little eager heads of her escort meanwhile forming a +passionate circle around her, watching her with their enormous black +eyes, supporting her, caressing her wings, and waving their feverish +antennae as though to encourage, incite, or congratulate. You may +easily discover the spot where the queen shall be found by the sort +of starry cockade, or oval brooch perhaps of the imposing kind our +grandmothers used to wear, of which she forms the central stone. And +one may mention here the curious fact that the workers always avoid +turning their back on the queen. No sooner has she approached a +group than they will invariably arrange themselves so as to face her +with eyes and antennae, and to walk backwards before her. It is a +token of respect, or of solicitude, that, unlikely as it may seem, +is nevertheless constant and general. But to return to the queen. +During the slight spasm that visibly accompanies the emission of an +egg, one of her daughters will often throw her arms round her and +appear to be whispering to her, brow pressed to brow and mouth to +mouth. But the queen, in no wise disturbed by this somewhat bold +demonstration, takes her time, tranquilly, calmly, wholly absorbed +by the mission that would seem amorous delight to her rather than +labour. And after some seconds she will rise, very quietly, take a +step back, execute a slight turn on herself, and proceed to the next +cell, into which she will first, before introducing her abdomen, dip +her head to make sure that all is in order and that she is not +laying twice in the same cell; and in the meanwhile two or three of +her escort will have plunged into the cell she has quitted to see +whether the work be duly accomplished, and to care for, and tenderly +house, the little bluish egg she has laid. + +From this moment, up to the first frosts of autumn, she does not +cease laying; she lays while she is being fed, and even in her +sleep, if indeed she sleeps at all, she still lays. She represents +henceforth the devouring force of the future, which invades every +corner of the kingdom. Step by step she pursues the unfortunate +workers who are exhaustedly, feverishly erecting the cradles her +fecundity demands. We have here the union of two mighty instincts; +and their workings throw into light, though they leave unresolved, +many an enigma of the hive. + +It will happen, for instance, that the workers will distance her, +and acquire a certain start; whereupon, mindful of their duties as +careful housewives to provide for the bad days ahead, they hasten to +fill with honey the cells they have wrested from the avidity of the +species. But the queen approaches; material wealth must give way to +the scheme of nature; and the distracted workers are compelled with +all speed to remove the importunate treasure. + +But assume them to be a whole comb ahead, and to have no longer +before them her who stands for the tyranny of days they shall none +of them see; we find then that they eagerly, hurriedly, build a zone +of large cells, cells for males; whose construction is very much +easier, and far more rapid. When the queen in her turn attains this +unthankful zone, she will regretfully lay a few eggs there, then +cease, pass beyond, and clamour for more workers' cells. Her +daughters obey; little by little they reduce the cells; and then the +pursuit starts afresh, till at last the insatiable mother shall have +traversed the whole circumference of the hive, and have returned to +the first cells. These, by this time, will be empty; for the first +generation will have sprung into life, soon to go forth, from their +shadowy corner of birth, disperse over the neighbouring blossoms, +people the rays of the sun and quicken the smiling hours; and then +sacrifice themselves in their turn to the new generations that are +already filling their place in the cradles. + +{62} + +And whom does the queen-bee obey? She is ruled by nourishment given +her; for she does not take her own food, but is fed like a child by +the very workers whom her fecundity harasses. And the food these +workers deal out is nicely proportioned to the abundance of flowers, +to the spoil brought back by those who visit the calyces. Here, +then, as everywhere else in the world, one part of the circle is +wrapped in darkness; here, as everywhere, it is from without, from +an unknown power, that the supreme order issues; and the bees, like +ourselves, obey the nameless lord of the wheel that incessantly +turns on itself, and crushes the wills that have set it in motion. + +Some little time back, I conducted a friend to one of my hives of +glass, and showed him the movements of this wheel, which was as +readily perceptible as the great wheel of a clock; showed him, in +all its bareness, the universal agitation on every comb, the +perpetual, frantic, bewildered haste of the nurses around the +brood-cells; the living gangways and ladders formed by the makers of +wax, the abounding, unceasing activity of the entire population, and +their pitiless, useless effort; the ardent, feverish coming and +going of all, the general absence of sleep save in the cradles +alone, around which continuous labour kept watch; the denial of even +the repose of death in a home which permits no illness and accords +no grave; and my friend, his astonishment over, soon turned his eyes +away, and in them I could read the signs of I know not what saddened +fear. + +And truly, underlying the gladness that we note first of all in the +hive, underlying the dazzling memories of beautiful days that render +it the storehouse of summer's most precious jewels, underlying the +blissful journeys that knit it so close to the flowers and to +running water, to the sky, to the peaceful abundance of all that +makes for beauty and happiness--underlying all these exterior joys, +there reposes a sadness as deep as the eye of man can behold. And +we, who dimly gaze on these things with our own blind eyes, we know +full well that it is not they alone that we are striving to see, not +they alone that we cannot understand, but that before us there lies +a pitiable form of the great power that quickens us also. + +Sad let it be, as all things in nature are sad, when our eyes rest +too closely upon them. And thus it ever shall be so long as we know +not her secret, know not even whether secret truly there be. And +should we discover some day that there is no secret, or that the +secret is monstrous, other duties will then arise that, as yet, +perhaps, have no name. Let our heart, if it will, in the meanwhile +repeat, "It is sad;" but let our reason be content to add, "Thus it +is." At the present hour the duty before us is to seek out that +which perhaps may be hiding behind these sorrows; and, urged on by +this endeavour, we must not turn our eyes away, but steadily, +fixedly, watch these sorrows and study them, with a courage and +interest as keen as though they were joys. It is right that before +we judge nature, before we complain, we should at least ask every +question that we can possibly ask. + +{63} + +We have seen that the workers, when free for the moment from the +threatening fecundity of the queen, hasten to erect cells for +provisions, whose construction is more economical and capacity +greater. We have seen, too, that the queen prefers to lay in the +smaller cells, for which she is incessantly clamouring. When these +are wanting, however, or till they be provided, she resigns herself +to laying her eggs in the large cells she finds on her road. + +These eggs, though absolutely identical with those from which +workers are hatched, will give birth to males, or drones. Now, +conversely to what takes place when a worker is turned into queen, +it is here neither the form nor the capacity of the cell that +produces this change; for from an egg laid in a large cell and +afterwards transferred to that of a worker (a most difficult +operation, because of the microscopic minuteness and extreme +fragility of the egg, but one that I have four or five times +successfully accomplished) there will issue an undeniable male, +though more or less atrophied. It follows, therefore, that the queen +must possess the power, while laying, of knowing or determining the +sex of the egg, and of adapting it to the cell over which she is +bending. She will rarely make a mistake. How does she contrive, from +among the myriad eggs her ovaries contain, to separate male from +female, and lower them, at will, into the unique oviduct? + +Here, yet again, there confronts us an enigma of the hive; and in +this case one of the most unfathomable. We know that the virgin +queen is not sterile; but the eggs that she lays will produce only +males. It is not till after the impregnation of the nuptial flight +that she can produce workers or drones at will. The nuptial flight +places her permanently in possession, till death, of the spermatozoa +torn from her unfortunate lover. These spermatozoa, whose number Dr. +Leuckart estimates at twenty-five millions, are preserved alive in a +special gland known as the spermatheca, that is situate under the +ovaries, at the entrance to the common oviduct. It is imagined that +the narrow aperture of the smaller cells, and the manner in which +the form of this aperture compels the queen to bend forward, +exercise a certain pressure upon the spermatheca, in consequence of +which the spermatozoa spring forth and fecundate the egg as it +passes. In the large cells this pressure would not take place, and +the spermatheca would therefore not open. Others, again, believe +that the queen has perfect control over the muscles that open and +close the spermatheca on the vagina; and these muscles are certainly +very numerous, complex, and powerful. For myself, I incline to the +second of these hypotheses, though I do not for a moment pretend to +decide which is the more correct; for indeed, the further we go and +the more closely we study, the more plainly is it brought home to us +that we merely are waifs shipwrecked on the ocean of nature; and +ever and anon, from a sudden wave that shall be more transparent +than others, there leaps forth a fact that in an instant confounds +all we imagined we knew. But the reason of my preferring the second +theory is that, for one thing, the experiments of a Bordeaux +bee-keeper, M. Drory, have shown that in cases where all the large +cells have been removed from the hive, the mother will not hesitate, +when the moment for laying male eggs has come, to deposit these in +workers' cells; and that, inversely, she will lay workers' eggs in +cells provided for males, if she have no others at her disposal. +And, further, we learn from the interesting observations of M. Fabre +on the Osmiae, which are wild and olitary bees of the Gastrilegidae +family, that not only does the Osmia know in advance the sex of the +egg she will lay, but that this sex is "optional for the mother, who +decides it in accordance with the space of which she disposes; this +space being often governed by chance and not to be modified; and she +will deposit a male egg here and a female there." I shall not enter +into the details of the great French entomologist's experiments, for +they are exceedingly minute, and would take us too far. But +whichever be the hypothesis we prefer to accept, either will serve +to explain the queen's inclination to lay her eggs in workers' +cells, without it being necessary to credit her with the least +concern for the future. + +It is not impossible that this slave-mother, whom we are inclined to +pity, may be indeed a great amorist, a great voluptuary, deriving a +certain enjoyment, an after-taste, as it were, of her one +marriage-flight, from the union of the male and female principle +that thus comes to pass in her being. Here again nature, never so +ingenious, so cunningly prudent and diverse, as when contriving her +snares of love, will not have failed to provide a certain pleasure +as a bait in the interest of the species. And yet let us pause for a +moment, and not become the dupes of our own explanation. For indeed, +to attribute an idea of this kind to nature, and regard that as +sufficient, is like flinging a stone into an unfathomable gulf we +may find in the depths of a grotto, and imagining that the sounds it +creates as it falls shall answer our every question, or reveal to us +aught beside the immensity of the abyss. + +When we say to ourselves, "This thing is of nature's devising; +she has ordained this marvel; those are her desires that we see +before us!" the fact is merely that our special attention has been +drawn to some tiny manifestation of life upon the boundless surface +of matter that we deem inactive, and choose to describe, with +evident inaccuracy, as nothingness and death. A purely fortuitous +chain of events has allowed this special manifestation to attract +our attention; but a thousand others, no less interesting, perhaps, +and informed with no less intelligence, have vanished, not meeting +with a like good-fortune, and have lost for ever the chance of +exciting our wonder. It were rash to affirm aught beside; and all +that remains, our reflections, our obstinate search for the final +cause, our admiration and hopes--all these in truth are no more than +our feeble cry as, in the depths of the unknown, we clash against +what is more unknowable still; and this feeble cry declares the +highest degree of individual existence attainable for us on this +mute and impenetrable surface, even as the flight of the condor, the +song of the nightingale, reveal to them the highest degree of +existence their species allows. But the evocation of this feeble +cry, whenever opportunity offers, is none the less one of our most +unmistakable duties; nor should we let ourselves be discouraged by +its apparent futility. + + + + +V -- THE YOUNG QUEENS + +{64} + +HERE let us close our hive, where we find that life is reassuming +its circular movement, is extending and multiplying, to be again +divided as soon as it shall attain the fulness of its happiness and +strength; and let us for the last time reopen the mother-city, and +see what is happening there after the departure of the swarm. + +The tumult having subsided, the hapless city, that two thirds of her +children have abandoned for ever, becomes feeble, empty, moribund; +like a body from which the blood has been drained. Some thousands of +bees have remained, however; and these, though a trifle languid +perhaps, are still immovably faithful to the duty a precise destiny +has laid upon them, still conscious of the part that they have +themselves to play; they resume their labours, therefore, fill as +best they can the place of those who have gone, remove all trace of +the orgy, carefully house the provisions that have escaped pillage, +sally forth to the flowers again, and keep scrupulous guard over the +hostages of the future. + +And for all that the moment may appear gloomy, hope abounds wherever +the eye may turn. We might be in one of the castles of German +legend, whose walls are composed of myriad phials containing the +souls of men about to be born. For we are in the abode of life that +goes before life. On all sides, asleep in their closely sealed +cradles, in this infinite superposition of marvellous six-sided +cells, lie thousands of nymphs, whiter than milk, who with folded +arms and head bent forward await the hour of awakening. In their +uniform tombs, that, isolated, become nearly transparent, they seem +almost like hoary gnomes, lost in deep thought, or legions of +virgins whom the folds of the shroud have contorted, who are buried +in hexagonal prisms that some inflexible geometrician has multiplied +to the verge of delirium. + +Over the entire area that the vertical walls enclose, and in the +midst of this growing world that so soon shall transform itself, +that shall four or five times in succession assume fresh vestments, +and then spin its own winding-sheet in the shadow, hundreds of +workers are dancing and flapping their wings. They appear thus to +generate the necessary heat, and accomplish some other object +besides that is still more obscure; for this dance of theirs +contains some extraordinary movements, so methodically conceived +that they must infallibly answer some purpose which no observer has +as yet, I believe, been able to divine. + +A few days more, and the lids of these myriad urns--whereof a +considerable hive will contain from sixty to eighty thousand--will +break, and two large and earnest black eyes will appear, surmounted +by antennae that already are groping at life, while active jaws are +busily engaged in enlarging the opening from within. The nurses at +once come running; they help the young bee to emerge from her +prison, they clean her and brush her, and at the tip of their tongue +present the first honey of the new life. But the bee, that has come +from another world, is bewildered still, trembling and pale; she +wears the feeble look of a little old man who might have escaped +from his tomb, or perhaps of a traveller strewn with the powdery +dust of the ways that lead unto life. She is perfect, however, from +head to foot; she knows at once all that has to be known; and, like +the children of the people, who learn, as it were, at their birth, +that for them there shall never be time to play or to laugh, she +instantly makes her way to the cells that are closed, and proceeds +to beat her wings and to dance in cadence, so that she in her turn +may quicken her buried sisters; nor does she for one instant pause +to decipher the astounding enigma of her destiny, or her race. + +{65} + +The most arduous labours will, however, at first be spared her. A +week must elapse from the day of her birth before she will quit the +hive; she will then perform her first "cleansing flight," and absorb +the air into her tracheae, which, filling, expand her body, and +proclaim her the bride of space. Thereupon she returns to the hive, +and waits yet one week more; and then, with her sisters born the +same day as herself, she will for the first time set forth to visit +the flowers. A special emotion now will lay hold of her; one that +French apiarists term the "soleil d'artifice," but which might more +rightly perhaps be called the "sun of disquiet." For it is evident +that the bees are afraid, that these daughters of the crowd, of +secluded darkness, shrink from the vault of blue, from the infinite +loneliness of the light; and their joy is halting, and woven of +terror. They cross the threshold and pause; they depart, they +return, twenty times. They hover aloft in the air, their head +persistently turned to the home; they describe great soaring circles +that suddenly sink beneath the weight of regret; and their thirteen +thousand eyes will question, reflect, and retain the trees and the +fountain, the gate and the walls, the neighbouring windows and +houses, till at last the aerial course whereon their return shall +glide have become as indelibly stamped in their memory as though it +were marked in space by two lines of steel. + +{66} + +A new mystery confronts us here, which we shall do well to +challenge; for though it reply not, its silence still will extend +the field of our conscious ignorance, which is the most fertile of +all that our activity knows. How do the bees contrive to find their +way back to the hive that they cannot possibly see, that is hidden, +perhaps, by the trees, that in any event must form an imperceptible +point in space? How is it that if taken in a box to a spot two or +three miles from their home, they will almost invariably succeed in +finding their way back? + +Do obstacles offer no barrier to their sight; do they guide +themselves by certain indications and landmarks; or do they possess +that peculiar, imperfectly understood sense that we ascribe to the +swallows and pigeons, for instance, and term the "sense of +direction"? The experiments of J. H. Fabre, of Lubbock, and, above +all, of Romanes (Nature, 29 Oct. 1886) seem to establish that it is +not this strange instinct that guides them. I have, on the other +hand, more than once noticed that they appear to pay no attention to +the colour or form of the hive. They are attracted rather by the +ordinary appearance of the platform on which their home reposes, by +the position of the entrance, and of the alighting-board. But this +even is merely subsidiary; were the front of the hive to be altered +from top to bottom, during the workers' absence, they would still +unhesitatingly direct their course to it from out the far depths of +the horizon; and only when confronted by the unrecognisable +threshold would they seem for one instant to pause. Such +experiments as lie in our power point rather to their guiding +themselves by an extraordinarily minute and precise appreciation of +landmarks. It is not the hive that they seem to remember, but its +position, calculated to the minutest fraction, in its relation to +neighbouring objects. And so marvellous is this appreciation, so +mathematically certain, so profoundly inscribed in their memory, +that if, after five months' hibernation in some obscure cellar, the +hive, when replaced on the platform, should be set a little to right +or to left of its former position, all the workers, on their return +from the earliest flowers, will infallibly steer their direct and +unwavering course to the precise spot that it filled the previous +year; and only after some hesitation and groping will they discover +the door which stands not now where it once had stood. It is as +though space had preciously preserved, the whole winter through, the +indelible track of their flight: as though the print of their tiny, +laborious footsteps, still lay graven in the sky. + +If the hive be displaced, therefore, many bees will lose their way; +except in the case of their having been carried far from their +former home, and finding the country completely transformed that +they had grown to know perfectly within a radius of two or three +miles; for then, if care be taken to warn them, by means of a little +gangway connecting with the alighting-board, at the entrance to the +hive, that some change has occurred, they will at once proceed to +seek new bearings and create fresh landmarks. + +{67} + +And now let us return to the city that is being repeopled, where +myriad cradles are incessantly opening, and the solid walls even +appear to be moving. But this city still lacks a queen. Seven or +eight curious structures arise from the centre of one of the combs, +and remind us, scattered as they are over the surface of the +ordinary cells, of the circles and protuberances that appear so +strange on the photographs of the moon. They are a species of +capsule, contrived of wrinkled wax or of inclined glands, +hermetically sealed, which fills the place of three or four workers' +cells. As a rule, they are grouped around the same point; and a +numerous guard keep watch, with singular vigilance and restlessness, +over this region that seems instinct with an indescribable prestige. +It is here that the mothers are formed. In each one of these +capsules, before the swarm departs, an egg will be placed by the +mother, or more probably--though as to this we have no certain +knowledge--by one of the workers; an egg that she will have taken +from some neighbouring cell, and that is absolutely identical with +those from which workers are hatched. + +From this egg, after three days, a small larva will issue, and +receive a special and very abundant nourishment; and henceforth we +are able to follow, step by step, the movements of one of those +magnificently vulgar methods of nature on which, were we dealing +with men, we should bestow the august name of fatality. The little +larva, thanks to this regimen, assumes an exceptional development; +and in its ideas, no less than in its body, there ensues so +considerable a change that the bee to which it will give birth might +almost belong to an entirely different race of insects. + +Four or five years will be the period of her life, instead of the +six or seven weeks of the ordinary worker. Her abdomen will be twice +as long, her colour more golden, and clearer; her sting will be +curved, and her eyes have seven or eight thousand facets instead of +twelve or thirteen thousand. Her brain will be smaller, but she will +possess enormous ovaries, and a special organ besides, the +spermatheca, that will render her almost an hermaphrodite. None of +the instincts will be hers that belong to a life of toil; she will +have no brushes, no pockets wherein to secrete the wax, no baskets +to gather the pollen. The habits, the passions, that we regard as +inherent in the bee, will all be lacking in her. She will not crave +for air, or the light of the sun; she will die without even once +having tasted a flower. Her existence will pass in the shadow, in +the midst of a restless throng; her sole occupation the +indefatigable search for cradles that she must fill. On the other +hand she alone will know the disquiet of love. Not even twice, it +may be, in her life shall she look on the light--for the departure +of the swarm is by no means inevitable; on one occasion only, +perhaps, will she make use of her wings, but then it will be to fly +to her lover. It is strange to see so many things--organs, ideas, +desires, habits, an entire destiny--depending, not on a germ, which +were the ordinary miracle of the plant, the animal, and man, but on +a curious inert substance: a drop of honey.* + + *It is generally admitted to-day that workers and queens, + after the hatching of the egg, receive the same + nourishment,--a kind of milk, very rich in nitrogen, that a + special gland in the nurses' head secretes. But after a few + days the worker larvae are weaned, and put on a coarser diet + of honey and pollen; whereas the future queen, until she be + fully developed, is copiously fed on the precious milk known + as "royal jelly." + +{68} + +About a week has passed since the departure of the old queen. The +royal nymphs asleep in the capsules are not all of the same age, for +it is to the interest of the bees that the births should be nicely +gradationed, and take place at regular intervals, in accordance with +their possible desire for a second swarm, a third, or even a fourth. +The workers have for some hours now been actively thinning the walls +of the ripest cell, while the young queen, from within, has been +simultaneously gnawing the rounded lid of her prison. And at last +her head appears; she thrusts herself forward; and, with the help of +the guardians who hasten eagerly to her, who brush her, caress her, +and clean her, she extricates herself altogether and takes her first +steps on the comb. At the moment of birth she too, like the workers, +is trembling and pale, but after ten minutes or so her legs become +stronger, and a strange restlessness seizes her; she feels that she +is not alone, that her kingdom has yet to be conquered, that close +by pretenders are hiding; and she eagerly paces the waxen walls in +search of her rivals. But there intervene here the mysterious +decisions and wisdom of instinct, of the spirit of the hive, or of +the assembly of workers. The most surprising feature of all, as we +watch these things happening before us in a hive of glass, is the +entire absence of hesitation, of the slightest division of opinion. +There is not a trace of discussion or discord. The atmosphere of the +city is one of absolute unanimity, preordained, which reigns over +all; and every one of the bees would appear to know in advance the +thought of her sisters. And yet this moment is the gravest, the most +vital, in their entire history. They have to choose between three or +four courses whose results, in the distant future, will be totally +different; which, too, the slightest accident may render disastrous. +They have to reconcile the multiplication of species--which is their +passion, or innate duty--with the preservation of the hive and its +people. They will err at times; they will successively send forth +three or four swarms, thereby completely denuding the mother-city; +and these swarms, too feeble to organise, will succumb, it may be, +at the approach of winter, caught unawares by this climate of ours, +which is different far from their original climate, that the bees, +notwithstanding all, have never forgotten. In such cases they suffer +from what is known as "swarming fever;" a condition wherein life, as +in ordinary fever, reacting too ardently on itself, passes its aim, +completes the circle, and discovers only death. + +{69} + +Of all the decisions before them there is none that would seem +imperative; nor can man, if content to play the part of spectator +only, foretell in the slightest degree which one the bees will +adopt. But that the most careful deliberation governs their choice +is proved by the fact that we are able to influence, or even +determine it, by for instance reducing or enlarging the space we +accord them; or by removing combs full of honey, and setting up, in +their stead, empty combs which are well supplied with workers' +cells. + +The question they have to consider is not whether a second or third +swarm shall be immediately launched,--for in arriving at such a +decision they would merely be blindly and thoughtlessly yielding to +the caprice or temptation of a favourable moment,--but the +instantaneous, unanimous adoption of measures that shall enable them +to issue a second swarm or "cast" three or four days after the birth +of the first queen, and a third swarm three days after the departure +of the second, with this first queen at their head. It must be +admitted, therefore, that we discover here a perfectly reasoned +system, and a mature combination of plans extending over a period +considerable indeed when compared with the brevity of the bee's +existence. + +These measures concern the care of the youthful queens who still lie +immured in their waxen prisons. Let us assume that the "spirit of +the hive" has pronounced against the despatch of a second swarm. Two +courses still remain open. The bees may permit the first-born of the +royal virgins, the one whose birth we have witnessed, to destroy her +sister-enemies; or they may elect to wait till she have performed +the perilous ceremony known as the "nuptial flight," whereon the +nation's future depends. The immediate massacre will be authorised +often, and often denied; but in the latter case it is of course not +easy for us to pronounce whether the bees' decision be due to a +desire for a second swarm, or to their recognition of the dangers +attending the nuptial flight; for it will happen at times that, on +account of the weather unexpectedly becoming less favourable, or for +some other reason we cannot divine, they will suddenly change their +mind, renounce the cast that they had decreed, and destroy the royal +progeny they had so carefully preserved. But at present we will +suppose that they have determined to dispense with a second swarm, +and that they accept the risks of the nuptial flight. Our young +queen hastens towards the large cradles, urged on by her great +desire, and the guard make way before her. Listening only to her +furious jealousy, she will fling herself on to the first cell she +comes across, madly strip off the wax with her teeth and claws, tear +away the cocoon that carpets the cell, and divest the sleeping +princess of every covering. If her rival should be already +recognisable, the queen will turn so that her sting may enter the +capsule, and will frantically stab it with her venomous weapon until +the victim perish. She then becomes calmer, appeased by the death +that puts a term to the hatred of every creature; she withdraws her +sting, hurries to the adjoining cell, attacks it and opens it, +passing it by should she find in it only an imperfect larva or +nymph; nor does she pause till, at last, exhausted and breathless, +her claws and teeth glide harmless over the waxen walls. + +The bees that surround her have calmly watched her fury, have stood +by, inactive, moving only to leave her path clear; but no sooner has +a cell been pierced and laid waste than they eagerly flock to it, +drag out the corpse of the ravished nymph, or the still living +larva, and thrust it forth from the hive, thereupon gorging +themselves with the precious royal jelly that adheres to the sides +of the cell. And finally, when the queen has become too weak to +persist in her passion, they will themselves complete the massacre +of the innocents; and the sovereign race, and their dwellings, will +all disappear. + +This is the terrible hour of the hive; the only occasion, with that +of the more justifiable execution of the drones, when the workers +suffer discord and death to be busy amongst them; and here, as often +in nature, it is the favoured of love who attract to themselves the +most extraordinary shafts of violent death. + +It will happen at times that two queens will be hatched +simultaneously, the occurrence being rare, however, for the bees +take special care to prevent it. But whenever this does take place, +the deadly combat will begin the moment they emerge from their +cradles; and of this combat Huber was the first to remark an +extraordinary feature. Each time, it would seem that the queens, in +their passes, present their chitrinous cuirasses to each other in +such a fashion that the drawing of the sting would prove mutually +fatal; one might almost believe that, even as a god or goddess was +wont to interpose in the combats of the Iliad, so a god or a +goddess, the divinity of the race, perhaps, interposes here; and the +two warriors, stricken with simultaneous terror, divide and fly, to +meet shortly after and separate again should the double disaster +once more menace the future of their people; till at last one of +them shall succeed in surprising her clumsier or less wary rival, +and in killing her without risk to herself. For the law of the race +has called for one sacrifice only. + +The cradles having thus been destroyed and the rivals all slain, the +young queen is accepted by her people; but she will not truly reign +over them, or be treated as was her mother before her, until the +nuptial flight be accomplished; for until she be impregnated the +bees will hold her but lightly, and render most passing homage. Her +history, however, will rarely be as uneventful as this, for the bees +will not often renounce their desire for a second swarm. In that +case, as before, quick with the same desires, the queen will +approach the royal cells; but instead of meeting with docile +servants who second her efforts, she will find her path blocked by a +numerous and hostile guard. In her fury, and urged on by her fixed +idea, she will endeavour to force her way through, or to outflank +them; but everywhere sentinels are posted to protect the sleeping +princesses. She persists, she returns to the charge, to be repulsed +with ever increasing severity, to be somewhat roughly handled even, +until at last she begins vaguely to understand that these little +inflexible workers stand for a law before which that law must bend +whereby she is inspired. + +And at last she goes, and wanders from comb to comb, her unsatisfied +wrath finding vent in a war-song, or angry complaint, that every +bee-keeper knows; resembling somewhat the note of a distant trumpet +of silver; so intense, in its passionate feebleness, as to be +clearly audible, in the evening especially, two or three yards from +the double walls of the most carefully enclosed hive. + +Upon the workers this royal cry has a magical effect. It terrifies +them, it induces a kind of respectful stupor; and when the queen +sends it forth, as she halts in front of the cells whose approach is +denied her, the guardians who have but this moment been hustling +her, pushing her back, will at once desist, and wait, with bent +head, till the cry shall have ceased to resound. Indeed, some +believe that it is thanks to the prestige of this cry, which the +Sphinx Atropos imitates, that the latter is able to enter the hive, +and gorge itself with honey, without the least molestation on the +part of the bees. + +For two or three days, sometimes even for five, this indignant +lament will be heard, this challenge that the queen addresses to her +well protected rivals. And as these in their turn develop, in their +turn grow anxious to see the light, they too set to work to gnaw the +lids of their cells. A mighty disorder would now appear to threaten +the republic. But the genius of the hive, at the time that it formed +its decision, was able to foretell every consequence that might +ensue; and the guardians have had their instructions: they know +exactly what must be done, hour by hour, to meet the attacks of a +foiled instinct, and conduct two opposite forces to a successful +issue. They are fully aware that if the young queens should escape +who now clamour for birth, they would fall into the hands of their +elder sister, by this time irresistible, who would destroy them one +by one. The workers, therefore, will pile on fresh layers of wax in +proportion as the prisoner reduces, from within, the walls of her +tower; and the impatient princess will ardently persist in her +labour, little suspecting that she has to deal with an enchanted +obstacle, that rises ever afresh from its ruin. She hears the +war-cry of her rival; and already aware of her royal duty and +destiny, although she has not yet looked upon life, nor knows what a +hive may be, she answers the challenge from within the depths of her +prison. But her cry is different; it is stifled and hollow, for it +has to traverse the walls of a tomb; and, when night is falling, and +noises are hushed, and high over all there reigns the silence of the +stars, the apiarist who nears these marvellous cities and stands, +questioning, at their entrance, recognises and understands the +dialogue that is passing between the wandering queen and the virgins +in prison. + +{72} + +To the young princesses, however, this prolonged reclusion is of +material benefit; for when they at last are freed they have grown +mature and vigorous, and are able to fly. But during this period of +waiting the strength of the first queen has also increased, and is +sufficient now to enable her to face the perils of the voyage. The +time has arrived, therefore, for the departure of the second swarm, +or "cast," with the first-born of the queens at its head. No sooner +has she gone than the workers left in the hive will set one of the +prisoners free; and she will evince the same murderous desires, send +forth the same cries of anger, until, at last, after three or four +days, she will leave the hive in her turn, at the head of the +tertiary swarm; and so in succession, in the case of "swarming +fever," till the mother-city shall be completely exhausted. + +Swammerdam cites a hive that, through its swarms and the swarms of +its swarms, was able in a single season to found no less than thirty +colonies. + +Such extraordinary multiplication is above all noticeable after +disastrous winters; and one might almost believe that the bees, +forever in touch with the secret desires of nature, are conscious of +the dangers that menace their race. But at ordinary times this fever +will rarely occur in a strong and well-governed hive. There are many +that swarm only once; and some, indeed, not at all. + +After the second swarm the bees, as a rule, will renounce further +division, owing either to their having observed the excessive +feebleness of their own stock, or to the prudence urged upon them by +threatening skies. In that case they will allow the third queen to +slaughter the captives; ordinary life will at once be resumed, and +pursued with the more ardour for the reason that the workers are all +very young, that the hive is depopulated and impoverished, and that +there are great voids to fill before the arrival of winter. + +{73} + +The departure of the second and third swarms resembles that of the +first, and the conditions are identical, with the exception that the +bees are fewer in number, less circumspect, and lacking in scouts; +and also that the young and virgin queen, being unencumbered and +ardent, will fly much further, and in the first stage lead the swarm +to a considerable distance from the hive. The conduct of these +second and third migrations will be far more rash, and their future +more problematical. The queen at their head, the representative of +the future, has not yet been impregnated. Their entire destiny +depends on the ensuing nuptial flight. A passing bird, a few drops +of rain, a mistake, a cold wind--any one of these may give rise to +irremediable disaster. Of this the bees are so well aware that when +the young queen sallies forth in quest of her lover, they often will +abandon the labours they have begun, will forsake the home of a day +that already is dear to them, and accompany her in a body, dreading +to let her pass out of their sight, eager, as they form closely +around her, and shelter her beneath their myriad devoted wings, to +lose themselves with her, should love cause her to stray so far from +the hive that the as yet unfamiliar road of return shall grow +blurred and hesitating in every memory. + +{74} + +But so potent is the law of the future that none of these +uncertainties, these perils of death, will cause a single bee to +waver. The enthusiasm displayed by the second and third swarms is +not less than that of the first. No sooner has the mother-city +pronounced its decision than a battalion of workers will flock +around each dangerous young queen, eager to follow her fortunes, to +accompany her on the voyage where there is so much to lose, and so +little to gain beyond the desire of a satisfied instinct. Whence do +they derive the energy we ourselves never possess, whereby they +break with the past as though with an enemy? Who is it selects from +the crowd those who shall go forth, and declares who shall remain? +No special class divides those who stay from those who wander +abroad; it will be the younger here and the elder there; around each +queen who shall never return veteran foragers jostle tiny workers, +who for the first time shall face the dizziness of the blue. Nor is +the proportionate strength of a swarm controlled by chance or +accident, by the momentary dejection or transport of an instinct, +thought, or feeling. I have more than once tried to establish a +relation between the number of bees composing a swarm and the number +of those that remain; and although the difficulties of this +calculation are such as to preclude anything approaching +mathematical precision, I have at least been able to gather that +this relation--if we take into account the brood-cells, or in other +words the forthcoming births--is sufficiently constant to point to +an actual and mysterious reckoning on the part of the genius of the +hive. + +{75} + +We will not follow these swarms on their numerous, and often most +complicated, adventures. Two swarms, at times, will join forces; at +others, two or three of the imprisoned queens will profit by the +confusion attending the moment of departure to elude the +watchfulness of their guardians and join the groups that are +forming. Occasionally, too, one of the young queens, finding herself +surrounded by males, will cause herself to be impregnated in the +swarming flight, and will then drag all her people to an +extraordinary height and distance. In the practice of apiculture +these secondary and tertiary swarms are always returned to the +mother-hive. The queens will meet on the comb; the workers will +gather around and watch their combat; and, when the stronger has +overcome the weaker they will then, in their ardour for work and +hatred of disorder, expel the corpses, close the door on the +violence of the future, forget the past, return to their cells, and +resume their peaceful path to the flowers that await them. + +{76} + +We will now, in order to simplify matters, return to the queen whom +the bees have permitted to slaughter her sisters, and resume the +account of her adventures. As I have already stated, this massacre +will be often prevented, and often sanctioned, at times even when +the bees apparently do not intend to issue a second swarm; for we +notice the same diversity of political spirit in the different hives +of an apiary as in the different human nations of a continent. But +it is clear that the bees will act imprudently in giving their +consent; for if the queen should die, or stray in the nuptial +flight, it will be impossible to fill her place, the workers' larvae +having passed the age when they are susceptible of royal +transformation. Let us assume, however, that the imprudence has been +committed; and behold our first-born, therefore, unique sovereign, +and recognised as such in the spirit of her people. But she is still +a virgin. To become as was the mother before her, it is essential +that she should meet the male within the first twenty days of her +life. Should the event for some reason be delayed beyond this +period, her virginity becomes irrevocable. And yet we have seen that +she is not sterile, virgin though she be. There confronts us here +the great mystery--or precaution--of Nature, that is known as +parthenogenesis, and is common to a certain number of insects, such +as the aphides, the lepidoptera of the Psyche genus, the hymenoptera +of the Cynipede family, etc. The virgin queen is able to lay; but +from all the eggs that she will deposit in the cells, be these large +or small, there will issue males alone; and as these never work, as +they live at the expense of the females, as they never go foraging +except on their own account, and are generally incapable of +providing for their subsistence, the result will be, at the end of +some weeks, that the last exhausted worker will perish, and the +colony be ruined and totally annihilated. The queen, we have said, +will produce thousands of drones; and each of these will possess +millions of the spermatozoa whereof it is impossible that a single +one can have penetrated into the organism of the mother. That may +not be more astounding, perhaps, than a thousand other and analogous +phenomena; and, indeed, when we consider these problems, and more +especially those of generation, the marvellous and the unexpected +confront us so constantly--occurring far more frequently, and above +all in far less human fashion, than in the most miraculous fairy +stories--that after a time astonishment becomes so habitual with us +that we almost cease to wonder. The fact, however, is sufficiently +curious to be worthy of notice. But, on the other hand, how shall we +explain to ourselves the aim that nature can have in thus favouring +the valueless drones at the cost of the workers who are so +essential? Is she afraid lest the females might perhaps be induced +by their intellect unduly to limit the number of their parasites, +which, destructive though they be, are still necessary for the +preservation of the race? Or is it merely an exaggerated reaction +against the misfortune of the unfruitful queen? Can we have here one +of those blind and extreme precautions which, ignoring the cause of +the evil, overstep the remedy; and, in the endeavour to prevent an +unfortunate accident, bring about a catastrophe? In reality--though +we must not forget that the natural, primitive reality is different: +from that of the present, for in the original forest the colonies +might well be far more scattered than they are to-day--in reality +the queen's unfruitfulness will rarely be due to the want of males, +for these are very numerous always, and will flock from afar; but +rather to the rain, or the cold, that will have kept her too long in +the hive, and more frequently still to the imperfect state of her +wings, whereby she will be prevented from describing the high flight +in the air that the organ of the male demands. Nature, however, +heedless of these more intrinsic causes, is so deeply concerned with +the multiplication of males, that we sometimes find, in motherless +hives, two or three workers possessed of so great a desire to +preserve the race that, their atrophied ovaries notwithstanding, +they will still endeavour to lay; and, their organs expanding +somewhat beneath the empire of this exasperated sentiment, they will +succeed in depositing a few eggs in the cells; but from these eggs, +as from those of the virgin mother, there will, issue only males. + +{77} + +Here we behold the active intervention of a superior though perhaps +imprudent will, which offers irresistible obstruction to the +intelligent will of a life. In the insect world such interventions +are comparatively frequent, and much can be gained from their study; +for this world being more densely peopled and more complex than +others, certain special desires of nature are often more palpably +revealed to us there; and she may even at times be detected in the +midst of experiments we might almost be warranted in regarding as +incomplete. She has one great and general desire, for instance, that +she displays on all sides; the amelioration of each species through +the triumph of the stronger. This struggle, as a rule, is most +carefully organised. The hecatomb of the weak is enormous, but that +matters little so long as the victors' reward be effectual and +certain. But there are cases when one might almost imagine that +nature had not had time enough to disentangle her combinations; +cases where reward is impossible, and the fate of the victor no less +disastrous than that of the vanquished. And of such, selecting an +instance that will not take us too far from our bees, I know of no +instance more striking than that of the triongulins of the _Sitaris +colletes._ And it will be seen that, in many details, this story is +less foreign to the history of man than might perhaps be imagined. + +These triongulins are the primary larvae of a parasite proper to a +wild, obtuse-tongued, solitary bee, the Colletes, which builds its +nest in subterranean galleries. It is their habit to lie in wait for +the bee at the approach to these galleries; and then, to the number +of three, four, five, or often of more, they will leap on her back, +and bury themselves in her hair. Were the struggle of the weak +against the strong to take place at this moment there would be no +more to be said, and all would pass in accordance with universal +law. But, for a reason we know not, their instinct requires, and +nature has consequently ordained, that they should hold themselves +tranquil so long as they remain on the back of the bee. They +patiently bide their time while she visits the flowers, and +constructs and provisions her cells. But no sooner has an egg been +laid than they all spring upon it; and the innocent colletes +carefully seals down her cell, which she has duly supplied with +food, never suspecting that she has at the same time ensured the +death of her offspring. + +The cell has scarcely been closed when the triongulins grouped round +the egg engage in the inevitable and salutary combat of natural +selection. The stronger, more agile, will seize its adversary +beneath the cuirass, and, raising it aloft, will maintain it for +hours in its mandibles until the victim expire. But, while this +fight is in progress, another of the triongulins, that had either no +rival to meet, or already has conquered, takes possession of the egg +and bursts it open. The ultimate victor has therefore this fresh +enemy to subdue; but the conquest is easy, for the triongulin, deep +in the satisfaction of its pre-natal hunger, clings obstinately to +the egg, and does not even attempt to defend itself. It is quickly +despatched; and the other is at last alone, and possessor of the +precious egg it has won so well. It eagerly plunges its head into +the opening its predecessor had made; and begins the lengthy repast +that shall transform it into a perfect insect. But nature, that has +decreed this ordeal of battle, has, on the other hand, established +the prize of victory with such miserly precision that nothing short +of an entire egg will suffice for the nourishment of a single +triongulin. So that, as we are informed by M. Mayet, to whom we owe +the account of these disconcerting adventures, there is lacking to +our conqueror the food its last victim consumed before death; and +incapable therefore of achieving the first stage of its +transformation, it dies in its turn, adhering to the skin of the +egg, or adding itself, in the sugary liquid, to the number of the +drowned. + +{78} + +This case, though rarely to be followed so closely, is not unique in +natural history. We have here, laid bare before us, the struggle +between the conscious will of the triongulin, that seeks to live, +and the obscure and general will of nature, that not only desires +that the triongulin should live, but is anxious even that its life +should be improved, and fortified, to a degree beyond that to which +its own will impels it. But, through some strange inadvertence, the +amelioration nature imposes suppresses the life of even the fittest, +and the Sitaris Colletes would have long since disappeared had not +chance, acting in opposition to the desires of nature, permitted +isolated individuals to escape from the excellent and far-seeing law +that ordains on all sides the triumph of the stronger. + +Can this mighty power err, then, that seems unconscious to us, but +necessarily wise, seeing that the life she organises and maintains +is forever proving her to be right? Can feebleness at times overcome +that supreme reason, which we are apt to invoke when we have +attained the limits of our own? And if that be so, by whom shall +this feebleness be set right? + +But let us return to that special form of her resistless +intervention that we find in parthenogenesis. And we shall do well +to remember that, remote as the world may seem in which these +problems confront us, they do indeed yet concern ourselves very +nearly. Who would dare to affirm that no interventions take place in +the sphere of man--interventions that may be more hidden, but not +the less fraught with danger? And in the case before us, which is +right, in the end,--the insect, or nature? What would happen if the +bees, more docile perhaps, or endowed with a higher intelligence, +were too clearly to understand the desires of nature, and to follow +them to the extreme; to multiply males to infinity, seeing that +nature is imperiously calling for males? Would they not risk the +destruction of their species? Are we to believe that there are +intentions in nature that it is dangerous to understand too clearly, +fatal to follow with too much ardour; and that it is one of her +desires that we should not divine, and follow, all her desires? Is +it not possible that herein there may lie one of the perils of the +human race? We too are aware of unconscious forces within us, that +would appear to demand the reverse of what our intellect urges. And +this intellect of ours, that, as a rule, its own boundary reached, +knows not whither to go--can it be well that it should join itself +to these forces, and add to them its unexpected weight? + +{79} + +Have we the right to conclude, from the dangers of parthenogenesis, +that nature is not always able to proportion the means to the end; +and that what she intends to preserve is preserved at times by means +of precautions she has to contrive against her own precautions, and +often through foreign circumstances she has not herself foreseen? +But is there anything she does foresee, anything she does intend to +preserve? Nature, some may say, is a word wherewith we clothe the +unknowable; and few things authorise our crediting it with +intelligence, or with aim. That is true. We touch here the +hermetically sealed vases that furnish our conception of the +universe. Reluctant, over and over again, to label these with the +inscription "UNKNOWN," that disheartens us and compels us to +silence, we engrave upon them, in the degree of their size and +grandeur, the words "Nature, life, death, infinite, selection, +spirit of the race," and many others, even as those who went before +us affixed the words "God, Providence, destiny, reward," etc. Let it +be so, if one will, and no more. But, though the contents of the +vases remain obscure, there is gain at least in the fact that the +inscriptions to-day convey less menace to us, that we are able +therefore to approach them and touch them, and lay our ears close to +them and listen, with wholesome curiosity. + +But whatever the name we attach to these vases, it is certain that +one of them, at least, and the greatest--that which bears on its +flank the name "Nature"--encloses a very real force, the most real +of all, and one that is able to preserve an enormous and marvellous +quantity and quality of life on our globe, by means so skilful that +they surpass all that the genius of man could contrive. Could this +quantity and quality be maintained by other means? Is it we who +deceive ourselves when we imagine that we see precautions where +perhaps there is truly no more than a fortunate chance, that has +survived a million unfortunate chances? + +{80} + +That may be; but these fortunate chances teach us a lesson in +admiration as valuable as those we might learn in regions superior +to chance. If we let our gaze travel beyond the creatures that are +possessed of a glimmer of intellect and consciousness, beyond the +protozoa even, which are the first nebulous representatives of the +dawning animal kingdom, we find, as has been abundantly proved by +the experiments of Mr. H. J. Carter, the celebrated microscopist, +that the very lowest embryos, such as the myxomycetes, manifest a +will and desires and preferences; and that infusoria, which +apparently have no organism whatever, give evidence of a certain +cunning. The Amoebae, for instance, will patiently lie in wait for +the new-born Acinetes, as they leave the maternal ovary; being aware +that these must as yet be lacking their poisonous tentacles. Now, +the Amoebae have neither a nervous system nor distinguishable organs +of any kind. Or if we turn to the plants, which, being motionless, +would seem exposed to every fatality,--without pausing to consider +carnivorous species like the Drusera, which really act as +animals,--we are struck by the genius that some of our humblest +flowers display in contriving that the visit of the bee shall +infallibly procure them the crossed fertilisation they need. See the +marvellous fashion in which the Orchis Moris, our humble country +orchid, combines the play of its rostellum and retinacula; observe +the mathematical and automatic inclination and adhesion of its +pollinia; as also the unerring double seesaw of the anthers of the +wild sage, which touch the body of the visiting insect at a +particular spot in order that the insect may, in its turn, touch the +stigma of the neighbouring flower at another particular spot; watch, +too, in the case of the Pedicularis Sylvatica, the successive, +calculated movements of its stigma; and indeed the entrance of the +bee into any one of these three flowers sets every organ vibrating, +just as the skilful marksman who hits the black spot on the target +will cause all the figures to move in the elaborate mechanisms we +see in our village fairs. + +We might go lower still, and show, as Ruskin has shown in his +"Ethics of the Dust," the character, habits, and artifices of +crystals; their quarrels, and mode of procedure, when a foreign body +attempts to oppose their plans, which are more ancient by far than +our imagination can conceive; the manner in which they admit or +repel an enemy, the possible victory of the weaker over the +stronger, as, for instance, when the all-powerful quartz submits to +the humble and wily epidote, and allows this last to conquer it; the +struggle, terrible sometimes and sometimes magnificent, between the +rock-crystal and iron; the regular, immaculate expansion and +uncompromising purity of one hyaline block, which rejects whatever +is foul, and the sickly growth, the evident immorality, of its +brother, which admits corruption, and writhes miserably in the void; +as we might quote also the strange phenomena of crystalline +cicatrisation and reintegration mentioned by Claude Bernard, etc. +But the mystery here becomes too foreign to us. Let us keep to our +flowers, which are the last expression of a life that has yet some +kinship with our own. We are not dealing now with animals or +insects, to which we attribute a special, intelligent will, thanks +to which they survive. We believe, rightly or wrongly, that the +flowers possess no such will; at least we cannot discover in them +the slightest trace of the organs wherein will, intellect, and +initiative of action, are usually born and reside. It follows, +therefore, that all that acts in them in so admirable a fashion must +directly proceed from what we elsewhere call nature. We are no +longer concerned with the intellect of the individual; here we find +the un conscious, undivided force in the act of ensnaring other +forms of itself. Shall we on that account refuse to believe that +these snares are pure accidents, occurring in accordance with a +routine that is also incidental? We are not yet entitled to such a +deduction. It might be urged that these flowers, had these +miraculous combinations not been, would not have survived, but would +have had their place filled by others that stood in no need of +crossed fertilisation; and the non-existence of the first would have +been perceived by none, nor would the life that vibrates on the +earth have seemed less incomprehensible to us, less diverse, or less +astounding. + +And yet it would be difficult not to admit that acts which bear all +the appearance of acts of intelligence and prudence produce and +support these fortunate chances. Whence do they issue,--from the +being itself, or from the force whence that being draws life? I will +not say "it matters but little," for, on the contrary, to know the +answer were of supreme importance to us. But, in the meantime, and +till we shall learn whether it be the flower that endeavours to +maintain and perfect the life that nature has placed within it, or +whether it be nature that puts forth an effort to maintain and +improve the degree of existence the flower has assumed, or finally +whether it be chance that ultimately governs chance, a multitude of +semblances invite us to believe that something equal to our loftiest +thoughts issues at times from a common source, that we are compelled +to admire without knowing where it resides. + +There are moments when what seems error to us comes forth from this +common source. But, although we know very few things, proofs abound +that the seeming error was in reality an act of prudence that we at +first could not grasp. In the little circle, even, that our eyes +embrace we are constantly shown that what we regarded as nature's +blunder close by was due to her deeming it well to adjust the +presumed inadvertence out yonder. She has placed the three flowers +we mentioned under conditions of such difficulty that they are +unable to fertilise themselves; she considers it beneficial, +therefore, for reasons beyond our powers of perception, that they +should cause themselves to be fertilised by their neighbours; and, +inasmuch as she enhances the intelligence of her victims, she +displays on our right the genius she failed to display on our left. +The byways of this genius of hers remain incomprehensible to us, but +its level is always the same. It will appear to fall into +error--assuming that error be possible--thereupon rising again at +once in the organ charged to repair this error. Turn where we may, +it towers high over our heads. It is the circular ocean, the +tideless water, whereon our boldest and most independent thoughts +will never be more than mere abject bubbles. We call it Nature +to-day; to-morrow, perhaps, we shall give it another name, softer or +more alarming. In the meanwhile it holds simultaneous, impartial +sway over life and death; furnishing the two irreconcilable sisters +with the magnificent and familiar weapons that adorn and distract +its bosom. + +{81} + +Does this force take measures to maintain what may be struggling on +its surface, or must we say, arguing in the strangest of circles, +that what floats on its surface must guard itself against the genius +that has given it life? That question must be left open. We have no +means of ascertaining whether it be notwithstanding the efforts of +the superior will, or independently of these, or lastly because of +these, that a species has been able to survive. + +All we can say is that such a species exists, and that, on this +point, therefore, nature would seem to be right. But who shall tell +us how many others that we have not known have fallen victim to her +restless and forgetful intellect? Beyond this, we can recognise only +the surprising and occasionally hostile forms that the extraordinary +fluid we call life assumes, in utter unconsciousness sometimes, at +others with a kind of consciousness: the fluid which animates us +equally with all the rest, which produces the very thoughts that +judge it, and the feeble voice that attempts to tell its story. + + + + +VI -- THE NUPTIAL FLIGHT + +WE will now consider the manner in which the impregnation of the +queen-bee comes to pass. Here again nature has taken extraordinary +measures to favour the union of males with females of a different +stock; a strange law, whereto nothing would seem to compel her; a +caprice, or initial inadvertence, perhaps, whose reparation calls +for the most marvellous forces her activity knows. + +If she had devoted half the genius she lavishes on crossed +fertilisation and other arbitrary desires to making life more +certain, to alleviating pain, to softening death and warding off +horrible accidents, the universe would probably have presented an +enigma less incomprehensible, less pitiable, than the one we are +striving to solve. But our consciousness, and the interest we take +in existence, must grapple, not with what might have been, but with +what is. + +Around the virgin queen, and dwelling with her in the hive, are +hundreds of exuberant males, forever drunk on honey; the sole reason +for their existence being one act of love. But, notwithstanding the +incessant contact of two desires that elsewhere invariably triumph +over every obstacle, the union never takes place in the hive, nor +has it been possible to bring about the impregnation of a captive +queen.* + + + *Professor McLain has recently succeeded in causing a few + queens to be artificially impregnated; but this has been the + result of a veritable surgical operation, of the most + delicate and complicated nature. Moreover, the fertility of + the queens was restricted and ephemeral. + + +While she lives in their midst the lovers about her know not what +she is. They seek her in space, in the remote depths of the horizon, +never suspecting that they have but this moment quitted her, have +shared the same comb with her, have brushed against her, perhaps, in +the eagerness of their departure. One might almost believe that +those wonderful eyes of theirs, that cover their head as though with +a glittering helmet, do not recognise or desire her save when she +soars in the blue. Each day, from noon till three, when the sun +shines resplendent, this plumed horde sallies forth in search of the +bride, who is indeed more royal, more difficult of conquest, than +the most inaccessible princess of fairy legend; for twenty or thirty +tribes will hasten from all the neighbouring cities, her court thus +consisting of more than ten thousand suitors; and from these ten +thousand one alone will be chosen for the unique kiss of an instant +that shall wed him to death no less than to happiness; while the +others will fly helplessly round the intertwined pair, and soon will +perish without ever again beholding this prodigious and fatal +apparition. + +{83} + +I am not exaggerating this wild and amazing prodigality of nature. +The best-conducted hives will, as a rule, contain four to five +hundred males. Weaker or degenerate ones will often have as many as +four or five thousand; for the more a hive inclines to its ruin, the +more males will it produce. It may be said that, on an average, an +apiary composed of ten colonies will at a given moment send an army +of ten thousand males into the air, of whom ten or fifteen at most +will have the occasion of performing the one act for which they were +born. + +In the meanwhile they exhaust the supplies of the city; each one of +the parasites requiring the unceasing labour of five or six workers +to maintain it in its abounding and voracious idleness, its activity +being indeed solely confined to its jaws. But nature is always +magnificent when dealing with the privileges and prerogatives of +love. She becomes miserly only when doling out the organs and +instruments of labour. She is especially severe on what men have +termed virtue, whereas she strews the path of the most uninteresting +lovers with innumerable jewels and favours. "Unite and multiply; +there is no other law, or aim, than love," would seem to be her +constant cry on all sides, while she mutters to herself, perhaps: +"and exist afterwards if you can; that is no concern of mine." Do or +desire what else we may, we find, everywhere on our road, this +morality that differs so much from our own. And note, too, in these +same little creatures, her unjust avarice and insensate waste. From +her birth to her death, the austere forager has to travel abroad in +search of the myriad flowers that hide in the depths of the +thickets. She has to discover the honey and pollen that lurk in the +labyrinths of the nectaries and in the most secret recesses of the +anthers. And yet her eyes and olfactory organs are like the eyes and +organs of the infirm, compared with those of the male. Were the +drones almost blind, had they only the most rudimentary sense of +smell, they scarcely would suffer. They have nothing to do, no prey +to hunt down; their food is brought to them ready prepared, and +their existence is spent in the obscurity of the hive, lapping honey +from the comb. But they are the agents of love; and the most +enormous, most useless gifts are flung with both hands into the +abyss of the future. Out of a thousand of them, one only, once in +his life, will have to seek, in the depths of the azure, the +presence of the royal virgin. Out of a thousand one only will have, +for one instant, to follow in space the female who desires not to +escape. That suffices. The partial power flings open her treasury, +wildly, even deliriously. To every one of these unlikely lovers, of +whom nine hundred and ninety-nine will be put to death a few days +after the fatal nuptials of the thousandth, she has given thirteen +thousand eyes on each side of their head, while the worker has only +six thousand. According to Cheshire's calculations, she has provided +each of their antennae with thirty-seven thousand eight hundred +olfactory cavities, while the worker has only five thousand in both. +There we have an instance of the almost universal disproportion that +exists between the gifts she rains upon love and her niggardly doles +to labour; between the favours she accords to what shall, in an +ecstasy, create new life, and the indifference wherewith she regards +what will patiently have to maintain itself by toil. Whoever would +seek faithfully to depict the character of nature, in accordance +with the traits we discover here, would design an extraordinary +figure, very foreign to our ideal, which nevertheless can only +emanate from her. But too many things are unknown to man for him to +essay such a portrait, wherein all would be deep shadow save one or +two points of flickering light. + +{84} + +Very few, I imagine, have profaned the secret of the queen-bee's +wedding, which comes to pass in the infinite, radiant circles of a +beautiful sky. But we are able to witness the hesitating departure +of the bride-elect and the murderous return of the bride. + +However great her impatience, she will yet choose her day and her +hour, and linger in the shadow of the portal till a marvellous +morning fling open wide the nuptial spaces in the depths of the +great azure vault. She loves the moment when drops of dew still +moisten the leaves and the flowers, when the last fragrance of dying +dawn still wrestles with burning day, like a maiden caught in the +arms of a heavy warrior; when through the silence of approaching +noon is heard, once and again, a transparent cry that has lingered +from sunrise. + +Then she appears on the threshold--in the midst of indifferent +foragers, if she have left sisters in the hive; or surrounded by a +delirious throng of workers, should it be impossible to fill her +place. + +She starts her flight backwards; returns twice or thrice to the +alighting-board; and then, having definitely fixed in her mind the +exact situation and aspect of the kingdom she has never yet seen +from without, she departs like an arrow to the zenith of the blue. +She soars to a height, a luminous zone, that other bees attain at no +period of their life. Far away, caressing their idleness in the +midst of the flowers, the males have beheld the apparition, have +breathed the magnetic perfume that spreads from group to group till +every apiary near is instinct with it. Immediately crowds collect, +and follow her into the sea of gladness, whose limpid boundaries +ever recede. She, drunk with her wings, obeying the magnificent law +of the race that chooses her lover, and enacts that the strongest +alone shall attain her in the solitude of the ether, she rises +still; and, for the first time in her life, the blue morning air +rushes into her stigmata, singing its song, like the blood of +heaven, in the myriad tubes of the tracheal sacs, nourished on +space, that fill the centre of her body. She rises still. A region +must be found unhaunted by birds, that else might profane the +mystery. She rises still; and already the ill-assorted troop below +are dwindling and falling asunder. The feeble, infirm, the aged, +unwelcome, ill-fed, who have flown from inactive or impoverished +cities, these renounce the pursuit and disappear in the void. Only a +small, indefatigable cluster remain, suspended in infinite opal. She +summons her wings for one final effort; and now the chosen of +incomprehensible forces has reached her, has seized her, and +bounding aloft with united impetus, the ascending spiral of their +intertwined flight whirls for one second in the hostile madness of +love. + +{85} + +Most creatures have a vague belief that a very precarious hazard, a +kind of transparent membrane, divides death from love; and that the +profound idea of nature demands that the giver of life should die at +the moment of giving. Here this idea, whose memory lingers still +over the kisses of man, is realised in its primal simplicity. No +sooner has the union been accomplished than the male's abdomen +opens, the organ detaches itself, dragging with it the mass of the +entrails; the wings relax, and, as though struck by lightning, the +emptied body turns and turns on itself and sinks down into the +abyss. + +The same idea that, before, in parthenogenesis, sacrificed the +future of the hive to the unwonted multiplication of males, now +sacrifices the male to the future of the hive. + +This idea is always astounding; and the further we penetrate into +it, the fewer do our certitudes become. Darwin, for instance, to +take the man of all men who studied it the most methodically and +most passionately, Darwin, though scarcely confessing it to himself, +loses confidence at every step, and retreats before the unexpected +and the irreconcilable. Would you have before you the nobly +humiliating spectacle of human genius battling with infinite power, +you have but to follow Darwin's endeavours to unravel the strange, +incoherent, inconceivably mysterious laws of the sterility and +fecundity of hybrids, or of the variations of specific and generic +characters. Scarcely has he formulated a principle when numberless +exceptions assail him; and this very principle, soon completely +overwhelmed, is glad to find refuge in some corner, and preserve a +shred of existence there under the title of an exception. + +For the fact is that in hybridity, in variability (notably in the +simultaneous variations known as correlations of growth), in +instinct, in the processes of vital competition, in geologic +succession and the geographic distribution of organised beings, in +mutual affinities, as indeed in every other direction, the idea of +nature reveals itself, in one and the same phenomenon and at the +very same time, as circumspect and shiftless, niggard and prodigal, +prudent and careless, fickle and stable, agitated and immovable, one +and innumerable, magnificent and squalid. There lay open before her +the immense and virgin fields of simplicity; she chose to people +them with trivial errors, with petty contradictory laws that stray +through existence like a flock of blind sheep. It is true that our +eye, before which these things happen, can only reflect a reality +proportionate to our needs and our stature; nor have we any warrant +for believing that nature ever loses sight of her wandering results +and causes. + +In any event she will rarely permit them to stray too far, or +approach illogical or dangerous regions. She disposes of two forces +that never can err; and when the phenomenon shall have trespassed +beyond certain limits, she will beckon to life or to death--which +arrives, re-establishes order, and unconcernedly marks out the path +afresh. + +{86} + +She eludes us on every side; she repudiates most of our rules and +breaks our standards to pieces. On our right she sinks far beneath +the level of our thoughts, on our left she towers mountain-high +above them. She appears to be constantly blundering, no less in the +world of her first experiments than in that of her last, of man. +There she invests with her sanction the instincts of the obscure +mass, the unconscious injustice of the multitude, the defeat of +intelligence and virtue, the uninspired morality which urges on the +great wave of the race, though manifestly inferior to the morality +that could be conceived or desired by the minds composing the small +and the clearer wave that ascends the other. And yet, can such a +mind be wrong if it ask itself whether the whole truth--moral +truths, therefore, as well as non-moral--had not better be sought in +this chaos than in itself, where these truths would seem +comparatively clear and precise? + +The man who feels thus will never attempt to deny the reason or +virtue of his ideal, hallowed by so many heroes and sages; but there +are times when he will whisper to himself that this ideal has +perhaps been formed at too great a distance from the enormous mass +whose diverse beauty it would fain represent. He has, hitherto, +legitimately feared that the attempt to adapt his morality to that +of nature would risk the destruction of what was her masterpiece. +But to-day he understands her a little better; and from some of her +replies, which, though still vague, reveal an unexpected breadth, he +has been enabled to seize a glimpse of a plan and an intellect +vaster than could be conceived by his unaided imagination; wherefore +he has grown less afraid, nor feels any longer the same imperious +need of the refuge his own special virtue and reason afford him. He +concludes that what is so great could surely teach nothing that +would tend to lessen itself. He wonders whether the moment may not +have arrived for submitting to a more judicious examination his +convictions, his principles, and his dreams. + +Once more, he has not the slightest desire to abandon his human +ideal. That even which at first diverts him from this ideal teaches +him to return to it. It were impossible for nature to give ill +advice to a man who declines to include in the great scheme he is +endeavouring to grasp, who declines to regard as sufficiently lofty +to be definitive, any truth that is not at least as lofty as the +truth he himself desires. Nothing shifts its place in his life save +only to rise with him; and he knows he is rising when he finds +himself drawing near to his ancient image of good. But all things +transform themselves more freely in his thoughts; and he can descend +with impunity, for he has the presentiment that numbers of +successive valleys will lead him to the plateau that he expects. +And, while he thus seeks for conviction, while his researches even +conduct him to the very reverse of that which he loves, he directs +his conduct by the most humanly beautiful truth, and clings to the +one that provisionally seems to be highest. All that may add to +beneficent virtue enters his heart at once; all that would tend to +lessen it remaining there in suspense, like insoluble salts that +change not till the hour for decisive experiment. He may accept an +inferior truth, but before he will act in accordance therewith he +will wait, if need be for centuries, until he perceive the +connection this truth must possess with truths so infinite as to +include and surpass all others. + +In a word, he divides the moral from the intellectual order, +admitting in the former that only which is greater and more +beautiful than was there before. And blameworthy as it may be to +separate the two orders in cases, only too frequent in life, where +we suffer our conduct to be inferior to our thoughts, where, seeing +the good, we follow the worse--to see the worse and follow the +better, to raise our actions high over our idea, must ever be +reasonable and salutary; for human experience renders it daily more +clear that the highest thought we can attain will long be inferior +still to the mysterious truth we seek. Moreover, should nothing of +what goes before be true, a reason more simple and more familiar +would counsel him not yet to abandon his human ideal. For the more +strength he accords to the laws which would seem to set egoism, +injustice, and cruelty as examples for men to follow, the more +strength does be at the same time confer on the others that ordain +generosity, justice, and pity; and these last laws are found to +contain something as profoundly natural as the first, the moment he +begins to equalise, or allot more methodically, the share he +attributes to the universe and to himself. + +{87} + +Let us return to the tragic nuptials of the queen. Here it is +evidently nature's wish, in the interests of crossed fertilisation, +that the union of the drone and the queen-bee should be possible +only in the open sky. But her desires blend network-fashion, and her +most valued laws have to pass through the meshes of other laws, +which, in their turn, the moment after, are compelled to pass +through the first. + +In the sky she has planted so many dangers--cold winds, +storm-currents, birds, insects, drops of water, all of which also +obey invincible laws--that she must of necessity arrange for this +union to be as brief as possible. It is so, thanks to the +startlingly sudden death of the male. One embrace suffices; the rest +all enacts itself in the very flanks of the bride. + +She descends from the azure heights and returns to the hive, +trailing behind her, like an oriflamme, the unfolded entrails of her +lover. Some writers pretend that the bees manifest great joy at this +return so big with promise--Buchner, among others, giving a detailed +account of it. I have many a time lain in wait for the queen-bee's +return, and I confess that I have never noticed any unusual emotion +except in the case of a young queen who had gone forth at the head +of a swarm, and represented the unique hope of a newly founded and +still empty city. In that instance the workers were all wildly +excited, and rushed to meet her. But as a rule they appear to forget +her, even though the future of their city will often be no less +imperilled. They act with consistent prudence in all things, till +the moment when they authorise the massacre of the rival queens. +That point reached, their instinct halts; and there is, as it were, +a gap in their foresight.--They appear to be wholly indifferent. +They raise their heads; recognise, probably, the murderous tokens of +impregnation; but, still mistrustful, manifest none of the gladness +our expectation had pictured. Being positive in their ways, and slow +at illusion, they probably need further proofs before permitting +themselves to rejoice. Why endeavour to render too logical, or too +human, the feelings of little creatures so different from ourselves? +Neither among the bees nor among any other animals that have a ray +of our intellect, do things happen with the precision our books +record. Too many circumstances remain unknown to us. Why try to +depict the bees as more perfect than they are, by saying that which +is not? Those who would deem them more interesting did they resemble +ourselves, have not yet truly realised what it is that should awaken +the interest of a sincere mind. The aim of the observer is not to +surprise, but to comprehend; and to point out the gaps existing in +an intellect, and the signs of a cerebral organisation different +from our own, is more curious by far than the relating of mere +marvels concerning it. + +But this indifference is not shared by all; and when the breathless +queen has reached the alighting-board, some groups will form and +accompany her into the hive; where the sun, hero of every festivity +in which the bees take part, is entering with little timid steps, +and bathing in azure and shadow the waxen walls and curtains of +honey. Nor does the new bride, indeed, show more concern than her +people, there being not room for many emotions in her narrow, +barbarous, practical brain. She has but one thought, which is to rid +herself as quickly as possible of the embarrassing souvenirs her +consort has left her, whereby her movements are hampered. She seats +herself on the threshold, and carefully strips off the useless +organs, that are borne far away by the workers; for the male has +given her all he possessed, and much more than she requires. She +retains only, in her spermatheca, the seminal liquid where millions +of germs are floating, which, until her last day, will issue one by +one, as the eggs pass by, and in the obscurity of her body +accomplish the mysterious union of the male and female element, +whence the worker-bees are born. Through a curious inversion, it is +she who furnishes the male principle, and the drone who provides the +female. Two days after the union she lays her first eggs, and her +people immediately surround her with the most particular care. From +that moment, possessed of a dual sex, having within her an +inexhaustible male, she begins her veritable life; she will never +again leave the hive, unless to accompany a swarm; and her fecundity +will cease only at the approach of death. + +{88} + +Prodigious nuptials these, the most fairylike that can be conceived, +azure and tragic, raised high above life by the impetus of desire; +imperishable and terrible, unique and bewildering, solitary and +infinite. An admirable ecstasy, wherein death supervening in all +that our sphere has of most limpid and loveliest, in virginal, +limitless space, stamps the instant of happiness in the sublime +transparence of the great sky; purifying in that immaculate light +the something of wretchedness that always hovers around love, +rendering the kiss one that can never be forgotten; and, content +this time with moderate tithe, proceeding herself, with hands that +are almost maternal, to introduce and unite, in one body, for a long +and inseparable future, two little fragile lives. + +Profound truth has not this poetry, but possesses another that we +are less apt to grasp, which, however, we should end, perhaps, by +understanding and loving. Nature has not gone out of her way to +provide these two "abbreviated atoms," as Pascal would call them, +with a resplendent marriage, or an ideal moment of love. Her +concern, as we have said, was merely to improve the race by means of +crossed fertilisation. To ensure this she has contrived the organ of +the male in such a fashion that he can make use of it only in space. +A prolonged flight must first expand his two great tracheal sacs; +these enormous receptacles being gorged on air will throw back the +lower part of the abdomen, and permit the exsertion of the organ. +There we have the whole physiological secret--which will seem +ordinary enough to some, and almost vulgar to others--of this +dazzling pursuit and these magnificent nuptials. + +{89} + +"But must we always, then," the poet will wonder, "rejoice in +regions that are loftier than the truth?" + +Yes, in all things, at all times, let us rejoice, not in regions +loftier than the truth, for that were impossible, but in regions +higher than the little truths that our eye can seize. Should a +chance, a recollection, an illusion, a passion,--in a word, should +any motive whatever cause an object to reveal itself to us in a more +beautiful light than to others, let that motive be first of all dear +to us. It may only be error, perhaps; but this error will not +prevent the moment wherein this object appears the most admirable to +us from being the moment wherein we are likeliest to perceive its +real beauty. The beauty we lend it directs our attention to its +veritable beauty and grandeur, which, derived as they are from the +relation wherein every object must of necessity stand to general, +eternal, forces and laws, might otherwise escape observation. The +faculty of admiring which an illusion may have created within us +will serve for the truth that must come, be it sooner or later. It +is with the words, the feelings, and ardour created by ancient and +imaginary beauties, that humanity welcomes today truths which +perhaps would have never been born, which might not have been able +to find so propitious a home, had these sacrificed illusions not +first of all dwelt in, and kindled, the heart and the reason +whereinto these truths should descend. Happy the eyes that need no +illusion to see that the spectacle is great! It is illusion that +teaches the others to look, to admire, and rejoice. And look as high +as they will, they never can look too high. Truth rises as they draw +nearer; they draw nearer when they admire. And whatever the heights +may be whereon they rejoice, this rejoicing can never take place in +the void, or above the unknown and eternal truth that rests over all +things like beauty in suspense. + +{90} + +Does this mean that we should attach ourselves to falsehood, to an +unreal and factitious poetry, and find our gladness therein for want +of anything better? Or that in the example before us--in itself +nothing, but we dwell on it because it stands for a thousand others, +as also for our entire attitude in face of divers orders of +truths--that here we should ignore the physiological explanation, +and retain and taste only the emotions of this nuptial flight, which +is yet, and whatever the cause, one of the most lyrical, most +beautiful acts of that suddenly disinterested, irresistible force +which all living creatures obey and are wont to call love? That were +too childish; nor is it possible, thanks to the excellent habits +every loyal mind has today acquired. + +The fact being incontestable, we must evidently admit that the +exsertion of the organ is rendered possible only by the expansion of +the tracheal vesicles. But if we, content with this fact, did not +let our eyes roam beyond it; if we deduced therefrom that every +thought that rises too high or wanders too far must be of necessity +wrong, and that truth must be looked for only in the material +details; if we did not seek, no matter where, in uncertainties often +far greater than the one this little explanation has solved, in the +strange mystery of crossed fertilisation for instance, or in the +perpetuity of the race and life, or in the scheme of nature; if we +did not seek in these for something beyond the current explanation, +something that should prolong it, and conduct us to the beauty and +grandeur that repose in the unknown, I would almost venture to +assert that we should pass our existence further away from the truth +than those, even, who in this case wilfully shut their eyes to all +save the poetic and wholly imaginary interpretation of these +marvellous nuptials. They evidently misjudge the form and colour of +the truth, but they live in its atmosphere and its influence far +more than the others, who complacently believe that the entire truth +lies captive within their two hands. For the first have made ample +preparations to receive the truth, have provided most hospitable +lodging within them; and even though their eyes may not see it, they +are eagerly looking towards the beauty and grandeur where its +residence surely must be. + +We know nothing of nature's aim, which for us is the truth that +dominates every other. But for the very love of this truth, and to +preserve in our soul the ardour we need for its search, it behoves +us to deem it great. And if we should find one day that we have been +on a wrong road, that this aim is incoherent and petty, we shall +have discovered its pettiness by means of the very zeal its presumed +grandeur had created within us; and this pettiness once established, +it will teach us what we have to do. In the meanwhile it cannot be +unwise to devote to its search the most strenuous, daring efforts of +our heart and our reason. And should the last word of all this be +wretched, it will be no little achievement to have laid bare the +inanity and the pettiness of the aim of nature. + +"There is no truth for us yet," a great physiologist of our day +remarked to me once, as I walked with him in the country; "there is +no truth yet, but there are everywhere three very good semblances of +truth. Each man makes his own choice, or rather, perhaps, has it +thrust upon him; and this choice, whether it be thrust upon him, or +whether, as is often the case, he have made it without due +reflection, this choice, to which he clings, will determine the form +and the conduct of all that enters within him. The friend whom we +meet, the woman who approaches and smiles, the love that unlocks our +heart, the death or sorrow that seals it, the September sky above +us, this superb and delightful garden, wherein we see, as in +Corneille's 'Psyche,' bowers of greenery resting on gilded statues, +and the flocks grazing yonder, with their shepherd asleep, and the +last houses of the village, and the sea between the trees,--all +these are raised or degraded before they enter within us, are +adorned or despoiled, in accordance with the little signal this +choice of ours makes to them. We must learn to select from among +these semblances of truth. I have spent my own life in eager search +for the smaller truths, the physical causes; and now, at the end of +my days, I begin to cherish, not what would lead me from these, but +what would precede them, and, above all, what would somewhat surpass +them." We had attained the summit of a plateau in the "pays de +Caux," in Normandy, which is supple as an English park, but natural +and limitless. It is one of the rare spots on the globe where nature +reveals herself to us unfailingly wholesome and green. A little +further to the north the country is threatened with barrenness, a +little further to the south, it is fatigued and scorched by the sun. +At the end of a plain that ran down to the edge of the sea, some +peasants were erecting a stack of corn. "Look," he said, "seen from +here, they are beautiful. They are constructing that simple and yet +so important thing, which is above all else the happy and almost +unvarying monument of human life taking root--a stack of corn. The +distance, the air of the evening, weave their joyous cries into a +kind of song without words, which replies to the noble song of the +leaves as they whisper over our heads. Above them the sky is +magnificent; and one almost might fancy that beneficent spirits, +waving palm-trees of fire, had swept all the light towards the +stack, to give the workers more time. And the track of the palms +still remains in the sky. See the humble church by their side, +overlooking and watching them, in the midst of the rounded lime +trees and the grass of the homely graveyard, that faces its native +ocean. They are fitly erecting their monument of life underneath the +monuments of their dead, who made the same gestures and still are +with them. Take in the whole picture. There are no special, +characteristic features, such as we find in England, Provence, or +Holland. It is the presentment, large and ordinary enough to be +symbolic, of a natural and happy life. Observe how rhythmic human +existence becomes in its useful moments. Look at the man who is +leading the horses, at that other who throws up the sheaves on his +fork, at the women bending over the corn, and the children at play. +... They have not displaced a stone, or removed a spadeful of +earth, to add to the beauty of the scenery; nor do they take one +step, plant a tree or a flower, that is not necessary. All that we +see is merely the involuntary result of the effort that man puts +forth to subsist for a moment in nature; and yet those among us +whose desire is only to create or imagine spectacles of peace, deep +thoughtfulness, or beatitude, have been able to find no scene more +perfect than this, which indeed they paint or describe whenever they +seek to present us with a picture of beauty or happiness. Here we +have the first semblance, which some will call the truth." + +{92} + +"Let us draw nearer. Can you distinguish the song that blended so +well with the whispering of the leaves? It is made up of abuse and +insult; and when laughter bursts forth, it is due to an obscene +remark some man or woman has made, to a jest at the expense of the +weaker,--of the hunchback unable to lift his load, the cripple they +have knocked over, or the idiot whom they make their butt. + +"I have studied these people for many years. We are in Normandy; the +soil is rich and easily tilled. Around this stack of corn there is +rather more comfort than one would usually associate with a scene of +this kind. The result is that most of the men, and many of the +women, are alcoholic. Another poison also, which I need not name, +corrodes the race. To that, to the alcohol, are due the children +whom you see there: the dwarf, the one with the hare-lip, the others +who are knock-kneed, scrofulous, imbecile. All of them, men and +women, young and old, have the ordinary vices of the peasant. They +are brutal, suspicious, grasping, and envious; hypocrites, liars, +and slanderers; inclined to petty, illicit profits, mean +interpretations, and coarse flattery of the stronger. Necessity +brings them together, and compels them to help each other; but the +secret wish of every individual is to harm his neighbour as soon as +this can be done without danger to himself. The one substantial +pleasure of the village is procured by the sorrows of others. Should +a great disaster befall one of them, it will long be the subject of +secret, delighted comment among the rest. Every man watches his +fellow, is jealous of him, detests and despises him. While they are +poor, they hate their masters with a boiling and pent-up hatred +because of the harshness and avarice these last display; should they +in their turn have servants, they profit by their own experience of +servitude to reveal a harshness and avarice greater even than that +from which they have suffered. I could give you minutest details of +the meanness, deceit, injustice, tyranny, and malice that underlie +this picture of ethereal, peaceful toil. Do not imagine that the +sight of this marvellous sky, of the sea which spreads out yonder +behind the church and presents another, more sensitive sky, flowing +over the earth like a great mirror of wisdom and consciousness--do +not imagine that either sea or sky is capable of lifting their +thoughts or widening their minds. They have never looked at them. +Nothing has power to influence or move them save three or four +circumscribed fears, that of hunger, of force, of opinion and law, +and the terror of hell when they die. To show what they are, we +should have to consider them one by one. See that tall fellow there +on the right, who flings up such mighty sheaves. Last summer his +friends broke his right arm in some tavern row. I reduced the +fracture, which was a bad and compound one. I tended him for a long +time, and gave him the wherewithal to live till he should be able to +get back to work. He came to me every day. He profited by this to +spread the report in the village that he had discovered me in the +arms of my sister-in-law, and that my mother drank. He is not +vicious, he bears me no ill-will; on the contrary, see what a broad, +open smile spreads over his face as he sees me. It was not social +animosity that induced him to slander me. The peasant values wealth +far too much to hate the rich man. But I fancy my good corn-thrower +there could not understand my tending him without any profit to +myself. He was satisfied that there must be some underhand scheme, +and he declined to be my dupe. More than one before him, richer or +poorer, has acted in similar fashion, if not worse. It did not occur +to him that he was lying when he spread those inventions abroad; he +merely obeyed a confused command of the morality he saw about him. +He yielded unconsciously, against his will, as it were, to the +all-powerful desire of the general malevolence.... But why +complete a picture with which all are familiar who have spent some +years in the country? Here we have the second semblance that some +will call the real truth. It is the truth of practical life. It +undoubtedly is based on the most precise, the only, facts that one +can observe and test." + +{93} + +"Let us sit on these sheaves," he continued, "and look again. Let us +reject not a single one of the little facts that build up the +reality of which I have spoken. Let us permit them to depart of +their own accord into space. They cumber the foreground, and yet we +cannot but be aware of the existence behind them of a great and very +curious force that sustains the whole. Does it only sustain and not +raise? These men whom we see before us are at least no longer the +ferocious animals of whom La Bruyere speaks, the wretches who talked +in a kind of inarticulate voice, and withdrew at night to their +dens, where they lived on black bread, water, and roots. + +"The race, you will tell me, is neither as strong nor as healthy. +That may be; alcohol and the other scourge are accidents that +humanity has to surmount; ordeals, it may be, by which certain of +our organs, those of the nerves, for instance, may benefit; for we +invariably find that life profits by the ills that it overcomes. +Besides, a mere trifle that we may discover to-morrow may render +these poisons innocuous. These men have thoughts and feelings that +those of whom La Bruyere speaks had not." "I prefer the simple, +naked animal to the odious half-animal," I murmured. "You are +thinking of the first semblance now," he replied, "the semblance +dear to the poet, that we saw before; let us not confuse it with the +one we are now considering. These thoughts and feelings are petty, +if you will, and vile; but what is petty and vile is still better +than that which is not at all. Of these thoughts and feelings they +avail themselves only to hurt each other, and to persist in their +present mediocrity; but thus does it often happen in nature. The +gifts she accords are employed for evil at first, for the rendering +worse what she had apparently sought to improve; but, from this +evil, a certain good will always result in the end. Besides, I am by +no means anxious to prove that there has been progress, which may be +a very small thing or a very great thing, according to the place +whence we regard it. It is a vast achievement, the surest ideal, +perhaps, to render the condition of men a little less servile, a +little less painful; but let the mind detach itself for an instant +from material results, and the difference between the man who +marches in the van of progress and the other who is blindly dragged +at its tail ceases to be very considerable. Among these young +rustics, whose mind is haunted only by formless ideas, there are +many who have in themselves the possibility of attaining, in a short +space of time, the degree of consciousness that we both enjoy. One +is often struck by the narrowness of the dividing line between what +we regard as the unconsciousness of these people and the +consciousness that to us is the highest of all." + +"Besides, of what is this consciousness composed, whereof we are so +proud? Of far more shadow than light, of far more acquired ignorance +than knowledge; of far more things whose comprehension, we are well +aware, must ever elude us, than of things that we actually know. And +yet in this consciousness lies all our dignity, our most veritable +greatness; it is probably the most surprising phenomenon this world +contains. It is this which permits us to raise our head before the +unknown principle, and say to it: 'What you are I know not; but +there is something within me that already enfolds you. You will +destroy me, perhaps, but if your object be not to construct from my +ruins an organism better than mine, you will prove yourself inferior +to what I am; and the silence that will follow the death of the race +to which I belong will declare to you that you have been judged. And +if you are not capable even of caring whether you be justly judged +or not, of what value can your secret be? It must be stupid or +hideous. Chance has enabled you to produce a creature that you +yourself lacked the quality to produce. It is fortunate for him that +a contrary chance should have permitted you to suppress him before +he had fathomed the depths of your unconsciousness; more fortunate +still that he does not survive the infinite series of your awful +experiments. He had nothing to do in a world where his intellect +corresponded to no eternal intellect, where his desire for the +better could attain no actual good.' + +"Once more, for the spectacle to absorb us, there is no need of +progress. The enigma suffices; and that enigma is as great, and +shines as mysteriously, in the peasants as in ourselves. As we trace +life back to its all-powerful principle, it confronts us on every +side. To this principle each succeeding century has given a new +name. Some of these names were clear and consoling. It was found, +however, that consolation and clearness were alike illusory. But +whether we call it God, Providence, Nature, chance, life, fatality, +spirit, or matter, the mystery remains unaltered; and from the +experience of thousands of years we have learned nothing more than +to give it a vaster name, one nearer to ourselves, more congruous +with our expectation, with the unforeseen. + +"That is the name it bears to-day, wherefore it has never seemed +greater. Here we have one of the numberless aspects of the third +semblance, which also is truth." + + + + +VII -- THE MASSACRE OF THE MALES + +{94} + +IF skies remain clear, the air warm, and pollen and nectar abound in +the flowers, the workers, through a kind of forgetful indulgence, or +over-scrupulous prudence perhaps, will for a short time longer +endure the importunate, disastrous presence of the males. These +comport themselves in the hive as did Penelope's suitors in the +house of Ulysses. Indelicate and wasteful, sleek and corpulent, +fully content with their idle existence as honorary lovers, they +feast and carouse, throng the alleys, obstruct the passages, and +hinder the work; jostling and jostled, fatuously pompous, swelled +with foolish, good-natured contempt; harbouring never a suspicion of +the deep and calculating scorn wherewith the workers regard them, of +the constantly growing hatred to which they give rise, or of the +destiny that awaits them. For their pleasant slumbers they select +the snuggest corners of the hive; then, rising carelessly, they +flock to the open cells where the honey smells sweetest, and soil +with their excrements the combs they frequent. The patient workers, +their eyes steadily fixed on the future, will silently set things +right. From noon till three, when the purple country trembles in +blissful lassitude beneath the invincible gaze of a July or August +sun, the drones will appear on the threshold. They have a helmet +made of enormous black pearls, two lofty, quivering plumes, a +doublet of iridescent, yellowish velvet, an heroic tuft, and a +fourfold mantle, translucent and rigid. They create a prodigious +stir, brush the sentry aside, overturn the cleaners, and collide +with the foragers as these return laden with their humble spoil. +They have the busy air, the extravagant, contemptuous gait, of +indispensable gods who should be simultaneously venturing towards +some destiny unknown to the vulgar. One by one they sail off into +space, irresistible, glorious, and tranquilly make for the nearest +flowers, where they sleep till the afternoon freshness awake them. +Then, with the same majestic pomp, and still overflowing with +magnificent schemes, they return to the hive, go straight to the +cells, plunge their head to the neck in the vats of honey, and fill +themselves tight as a drum to repair their exhausted strength; +whereupon, with heavy steps, they go forth to meet the good, +dreamless and careless slumber that shall fold them in its embrace +till the time for the next repast. + +{95} + +But the patience of the bees is not equal to that of men. One +morning the long-expected word of command goes through the hive; and +the peaceful workers turn into judges and executioners. Whence this +word issues, we know not; it would seem to emanate suddenly from the +cold, deliberate indignation of the workers; and no sooner has it +been uttered than every heart throbs with it, inspired with the +genius of the unanimous republic. One part of the people renounce +their foraging duties to devote themselves to the work of justice. +The great idle drones, asleep in unconscious groups on the +melliferous walls, are rudely torn from their slumbers by an army of +wrathful virgins. They wake, in pious wonder; they cannot believe +their eyes; and their astonishment struggles through their sloth as +a moonbeam through marshy water. They stare amazedly round them, +convinced that they must be victims of some mistake; and the +mother-idea of their life being first to assert itself in their dull +brain, they take a step towards the vats of honey to seek comfort +there. But ended for them are the days of May honey, the wine-flower +of lime trees and fragrant ambrosia of thyme and sage, of marjoram +and white clover. Where the path once lay open to the kindly, +abundant reservoirs, that so invitingly offered their waxen and +sugary mouths, there stands now a burning-bush all alive with +poisonous, bristling stings. The atmosphere of the city is changed; +in lieu of the friendly perfume of honey, the acrid odour of poison +prevails; thousands of tiny drops glisten at the end of the stings, +and diffuse rancour and hatred. Before the bewildered parasites are +able to realise that the happy laws of the city have crumbled, +dragging down in most inconceivable fashion their own plentiful +destiny, each one is assailed by three or four envoys of justice; +and these vigorously proceed to cut off his wings, saw through the +petiole that connects the abdomen with the thorax, amputate the +feverish antennae, and seek an opening between the rings of his +cuirass through which to pass their sword. No defence is attempted +by the enormous, but unarmed, creatures; they try to escape, or +oppose their mere bulk to the blows that rain down upon them. Forced +on to their back, with their relentless enemies clinging doggedly to +them, they will use their powerful claws to shift them from side to +side; or, turning on themselves, they will drag the whole group +round and round in wild circles, which exhaustion soon brings to an +end. And, in a very brief space, their appearance becomes so +deplorable that pity, never far from justice in the depths of our +heart, quickly returns, and would seek forgiveness, though vainly, +of the stern workers who recognise only nature's harsh and profound +laws. The wings of the wretched creatures are torn, their antennae +bitten, the segments of their legs wrenched off; and their +magnificent eyes, mirrors once of the exuberant flowers, flashing +back the blue light and the innocent pride of summer, now, softened +by suffering, reflect only the anguish and distress of their end. +Some succumb to their wounds, and are at once borne away to distant +cemeteries by two or three of their executioners. Others, whose +injuries are less, succeed in sheltering themselves in some corner, +where they lie, all huddled together, surrounded by an inexorable +guard, until they perish of want. Many will reach the door, and +escape into space dragging their adversaries with them; but, towards +evening, impelled by hunger and cold, they return in crowds to the +entrance of the hive to beg for shelter. But there they encounter +another pitiless guard. The next morning, before setting forth on +their journey, the workers will clear the threshold, strewn with the +corpses of the useless giants; and all recollection of the idle race +disappear till the following spring. + +{96} + +In very many colonies of the apiary this massacre will often take +place on the same day. The richest, best-governed hive will give the +signal; to be followed, some days after, by the little and less +prosperous republics. Only the poorest, weakest colonies--those +whose mother is very old and almost sterile--will preserve their +males till the approach of winter, so as not to abandon the hope of +procuring the impregnation of the virgin queen they await, and who +may yet be born. Inevitable misery follows; and all the +tribe--mother, parasites, workers--collect in a hungry and closely +intertwined group, who perish in silence before the first snows +arrive, in the obscurity of the hive. + +In the wealthy and populous cities work is resumed after the +execution of the drones,--although with diminishing zeal, for +flowers are becoming scarce. The great festivals, the great dramas, +are over. The autumn honey, however, that shall complete the +indispensable provisions, is accumulating within the hospitable +walls; and the last reservoirs are sealed with the seal of white, +incorruptible wax. Building ceases, births diminish, deaths +multiply; the nights lengthen, and days grow shorter. Rain and +inclement winds, the mists of the morning, the ambushes laid by a +hastening twilight, carry off hundreds of workers who never return; +and soon, over the whole little people, that are as eager for +sunshine as the grasshoppers of Attica, there hangs the cold menace +of winter. + +Man has already taken his share of the harvest. Every good hive has +presented him with eighty or a hundred pounds of honey; the most +remarkable will sometimes even give two hundred, which represent an +enormous expanse of liquefied light, immense fields of flowers that +have been visited daily one or two thousand times. He throws a last +glance over the colonies, which are becoming torpid. From the +richest he takes their superfluous wealth to distribute it among +those whom misfortune, unmerited always in this laborious world, may +have rendered necessitous. He covers the dwellings, half closes the +doors, removes the useless frames, and leaves the bees to their long +winter sleep. They gather in the centre of the hive, contract +themselves, and cling to the combs that contain the faithful urns; +whence there shall issue, during days of frost, the transmuted +substance of summer. The queen is in the midst of them, surrounded +by her guard. The first row of the workers attach themselves to the +sealed cells; a second row cover the first, a third the second, and +so in succession to the last row of all, which form the envelope. +When the bees of this envelope feel the cold stealing over them, +they re-enter the mass, and others take their place. The suspended +cluster is like a sombre sphere that the walls of the comb divide; +it rises imperceptibly and falls, it advances or retires, in +proportion as the cells grow empty to which it clings. For, contrary +to what is generally believed, the winter life of the bee is not +arrested, although it be slackened. By the concerted beating of +their wings--little sisters that have survived the flames of the +sun--which go quickly or slowly in accordance as the temperature +without may vary, they maintain in their sphere an unvarying warmth, +equal to that of a day in spring. This secret spring comes from the +beautiful honey, itself but a ray of heat transformed, that returns +now to its first condition. It circulates in the hive like generous +blood. The bees at the full cells present it to their neighbours, +who pass it on in their turn. Thus it goes from hand to hand and +from mouth to mouth, till it attain the extremity of the group in +whose thousands of hearts one destiny, one thought, is scattered and +united. It stands in lieu of the sun and the flowers, till its elder +brother, the veritable sun of the real, great spring, peering +through the half-open door, glides in his first softened glances, +wherein anemones and violets are coming to life again; and gently +awakens the workers, showing them that the sky once more is blue in +the world, and that the uninterrupted circle that joins death to +life has turned and begun afresh. + + + + +VIII -- THE PROGRESS OF THE RACE + +{97} + +BEFORE closing this book--as we have closed the hive on the torpid +silence of winter--I am anxious to meet the objection invariably +urged by those to whom we reveal the astounding industry and policy +of the bees. Yes, they will say, that is all very wonderful; but +then, it has never been otherwise. The bees have for thousands of +years dwelt under remarkable laws, but during those thousands of +years the laws have not varied. For thousands of years they have +constructed their marvellous combs, whereto we can add nothing, +wherefrom we can take nothing,--combs that unite in equal perfection +the science of the chemist, the geometrician, the architect, and the +engineer; but on the sarcophagi, on Egyptian stones and papyri, we +find drawings of combs that are identical in every particular. Name +a single fact that will show the least progress, a single instance +of their having contrived some new feature or modified their +habitual routine, and we will cheerfully yield, and admit that they +not only possess an admirable instinct, but have also an intellect +worthy to approach that of man, worthy to share in one knows not +what higher destiny than awaits unconscious and submissive matter. + +This language is not even confined to the profane; it is made use of +by entomologists of the rank of Kirby and Spence, in order to deny +the bees the possession of intellect other than may vaguely stir +within the narrow prison of an extraordinary but unchanging +instinct. "Show us," they say, "a single case where the pressure of +events has inspired them with the idea, for instance, of +substituting clay or mortar for wax or propolis; show us this, and +we will admit their capacity for reasoning." + +This argument, that Romanes refers to as the "question-begging +argument," and that might also be termed the "insatiable argument," +is exceedingly dangerous, and, if applied to man, would take us very +far. Examine it closely, and you find that it emanates from the +"mere common-sense," which is often so harmful; the "common-sense" +that replied to Galileo: "The earth does not turn, for I can see the +sun move in the sky, rise in the morning and sink in the evening; +and nothing can prevail over the testimony of my eyes." Common-sense +makes an admirable, and necessary, background for the mind; but +unless it be watched by a lofty disquiet ever ready to remind it, +when occasion demand, of the infinity of its ignorance, it dwindles +into the mere routine of the baser side of our intellect. But the +bees have themselves answered the objection Messrs. Kirby and Spence +advanced. Scarcely had it been formulated when another naturalist, +Andrew Knight, having covered the bark of some diseased trees with a +kind of cement made of turpentine and wax, discovered that his bees +were entirely renouncing the collection of propolis, and exclusively +using this unknown matter, which they had quickly tested and +adopted, and found in abundant quantities, ready prepared, in the +vicinity of their dwelling. + +And indeed, one-half of the science and practice of apiculture +consists in giving free rein to the spirit of initiative possessed +by the bees, and in providing their enterprising intellect with +opportunities for veritable discoveries and veritable inventions. +Thus, for instance, to aid in the rearing of the larvae and nymphs, +the bee-keeper will scatter a certain quantity of flour close to the +hive when the pollen is scarce of which these consume an enormous +quantity. In a state of nature, in the heart of their native forests +in the Asiatic valleys, where they existed probably long before the +tertiary epoch, the bees can evidently never have met with a +substance of this kind. And yet, if care be taken to "bait" some of +them with it, by placing them on the flour, they will touch it and +test it, they will perceive that its properties more or less +resemble those possessed by the dust of the anthers; they will +spread the news among their sisters, and we shall soon find every +forager hastening to this unexpected, incomprehensible food, which, +in their hereditary memory, must be inseparable from the calyx of +flowers where their flight, for so many centuries past, has been +sumptuously and voluptuously welcomed. + +{98} + +It is a little more than a hundred years ago that Huber's researches +gave the first serious impetus to our study of the bees, and +revealed the elementary important truths that allowed us to observe +them with fruitful result. Barely fifty years have passed since the +foundation of rational, practical apiculture was rendered possible +by means of the movable combs and frames devised by Dzierzon and +Langstroth, and the hive ceased to be the inviolable abode wherein +all came to pass in a mystery from which death alone stripped the +veil. And lastly, less than fifty years have elapsed since the +improvements of the microscope, of the entomologist's laboratory, +revealed the precise secret of the principal organs of the workers, +of the mother, and the males. Need we wonder if our knowledge be as +scanty as our experience? The bees have existed many thousands of +years; we have watched them for ten or twelve lustres. And if it +could even be proved that no change has occurred in the hive since +we first opened it, should we have the right to conclude that +nothing had changed before our first questioning glance? Do we not +know that in the evolution of species a century is but as a drop of +rain that is caught in the whirl of the river, and that millenaries +glide as swiftly over the life of universal matter as single years +over the history of a people? + +{99} + +But there is no warrant for the statement that the habits of the +bees are unchanged. If we examine them with an unbiassed eye, and +without emerging from the small area lit by our actual experience, +we shall, on the contrary, discover marked variations. And who shall +tell how many escape us? Were an observer of a hundred and fifty +times our height and about seven hundred and fifty thousand times +our importance (these being the relations of stature and weight in +which we stand to the humble honey-fly), one who knew not our +language, and was endowed with senses totally different from our +own; were such an one to have been studying us, he would recognise +certain curious material transformations in the course of the last +two thirds of the century, but would be totally unable to form any +conception of our moral, social, political, economic or religious +evolution. + +The most likely of all the scientific hypotheses will presently +permit us to connect our domestic bee with the great tribe of the +"Apiens," which embraces all wild bees, and where its ancestors are +probably to be found. We shall then perceive physiological, social, +economic, industrial, and architectural transformations more +extraordinary than those of our human evolution. But for the moment +we will limit ourselves to our domestic bee properly so called. Of +these sixteen fairly distinct species are known; but, essentially, +whether we consider the Apis Dorsata, the largest known to us, or +the Apis Florea, which is the smallest, the insect is always exactly +the same, except for the slight modifications induced by the climate +and by the conditions whereto it has had to conform.* + + *The scientific classification of the domestic bee is as follows: + + Class....... Insecta + + Order....... Hymenoptera + + Family...... Apidae + + Genus....... Apis + + Species..... Mellifica + +The term "Mellifica" is that of the Linnaean classification. It is +not of the happiest, for all the Apidae, with the exception of +certain parasites perhaps, are producers of honey. Scopoli uses the +term "Cerifera "; Reaumur "Domestica "; Geoffroy "Gregaria." The +"Apis Ligustica," the Italian bee, is another variety of the +"Mellifica." + +The difference between these various species is scarcely greater +than that between an Englishman and a Russian, a Japanese and a +European. In these preliminary remarks, therefore, we will confine +ourselves to what actually lies within the range of our eyes, +refusing the aid of hypothesis, be this never so probable or so +imperious. We shall mention no facts that are not susceptible of +immediate proof; and of such facts we will only rapidly refer to +some of the more significant. + +{100} + +Let us consider first of all the most important and most radical +improvement, one that in the case of man would have called for +prodigious labour: the external protection of the community. + +The bees do not, like ourselves, dwell in towns free to the sky, and +exposed to the caprice of rain and storm, but in cities entirely +covered with a protecting envelope. In a state of nature, however, +in an ideal climate, this is not the case. If they listened only to +their essential instinct, they would construct their combs in the +open air. In the Indies, the Apis Dorsata will not eagerly seek +hollow trees, or a hole in the rocks. The swarm will hang from the +crook of a branch; and the comb will be lengthened, the queen lay +her eggs, provisions be stored, with no shelter other than that +which the workers' own bodies provide. Our Northern bees have at +times been known to revert to this instinct, under the deceptive +influence of a too gentle sky; and swarms have been found living in +the heart of a bush. But even in the Indies, the result of this +habit, which would seem innate, is by no means favourable. So +considerable a number of the workers are compelled to remain on one +spot, occupied solely with the maintenance of the heat required by +those who are moulding the wax and rearing the brood, that the Apis +Dorsata, hanging thus from the branches, will construct but a single +comb; whereas if she have the least shelter she will erect four or +five, or more, and will proportionately increase the prosperity and +the population of the colony. And indeed we find that all species of +bees existing in cold and temperate regions have abandoned this +primitive method. The intelligent initiative of the insect has +evidently received the sanction of natural selection, which has +allowed only the most numerous and best protected tribes to survive +our winters. What had been merely an idea, therefore, and opposed to +instinct, has thus by slow degrees become an instinctive habit. But +it is none the less true that in forsaking the vast light of nature +that was so dear to them and seeking shelter in the obscure hollow +of a tree or a cavern, the bees have followed what at first was an +audacious idea, based on observation, probably, on experience and +reasoning. And this idea might be almost declared to have been as +important to the destinies of the domestic bee as was the invention +of fire to the destinies of man. + +{101} + +This great progress, not the less actual for being hereditary and +ancient, was followed by an infinite variety of details which prove +that the industry, and even the policy, of the hive have not +crystallised into infrangible formulae. We have already mentioned +the intelligent substitution of flour for pollen, and of an +artificial cement for propolis. We have seen with what skill the +bees are able to adapt to their needs the occasionally disconcerting +dwellings into which they are introduced, and the surprising +adroitness wherewith they turn combs of foundation-wax to good +account. They display extraordinary ingenuity in their manner of +handling these marvellous combs, which are so strangely useful, and +yet incomplete. In point of fact, they meet man half-way. Let us +imagine that we had for centuries past been erecting cities, not +with stones, bricks, and lime, but with some pliable substance +painfully secreted by special organs of our body. One day an +all-powerful being places us in the midst of a fabulous city. We +recognise that it is made of a substance similar to the one that we +secrete, but, as regards the rest, it is a dream, whereof what is +logical is so distorted, so reduced, and as it were concentrated, as +to be more disconcerting almost than had it been incoherent. Our +habitual plan is there; in fact, we find everything that we had +expected; but all has been put together by some antecedent force +that would seem to have crushed it, arrested it in the mould, and to +have hindered its completion. The houses whose height must attain +some four or five yards are the merest protuberances, that our two +hands can cover. Thousands of walls are indicated by signs that hint +at once of their plan and material. Elsewhere there are marked +deviations, which must be corrected; gaps to be filled and +harmoniously joined to the rest, vast surfaces that are unstable and +will need support. The enterprise is hopeful, but full of hardship +and danger. It would seem to have been conceived by some sovereign +intelligence, that was able to divine most of our desires, but has +executed them clumsily, being hampered by its very vastness. We must +disentangle, therefore, what now is obscure, we must develop the +least intentions of the supernatural donor; we must build in a few +days what would ordinarily take us years; we must renounce organic +habits, and fundamentally alter our methods of labour. It is certain +that all the attention man could devote would not be excessive for +the solution of the problems that would arise, or for the turning to +fullest account the help thus offered by a magnificent providence. +Yet that is, more or less, what the bees are doing in our modern +hives.* + + *As we are now concerned with the construction of the bee, + we may note, in passing, a strange peculiarity of the Apis + Florea. Certain walls of its cells for males are cylindrical + instead of hexagonal. Apparently she has not yet succeeded + in passing from one form to the other, and indefinitely + adopting the better. + +{102} + +I have said that even the policy of the bees is probably subject to +change. This point is the obscurest of all, and the most difficult +to verify. I shall not dwell on their various methods of treating +the queens, or the laws as to swarming that are peculiar to the +inhabitants of every hive, and apparently transmitted from +generation to generation, etc.; but by the side of these facts which +are not sufficiently established are others so precise and unvarying +as to prove that the same degree of political civilisation has not +been attained by all races of the domestic bee, and that, among some +of them, the public spirit still is groping its way, seeking perhaps +another solution of the royal problem. The Syrian bee, for instance, +habitually rears 120 queens and often more, whereas our Apis +Mellifica will rear ten or twelve at most. Cheshire tells of a +Syrian hive, in no way abnormal, where 120 dead queen-mothers were +found, and 90 living, unmolested queens. This may be the point of +departure, or the point of arrival, of a strange social evolution, +which it would be interesting to study more thoroughly. We may add +that as far as the rearing of queens is concerned, the Cyprian bee +approximates to the Syrian. And finally, there is yet another fact +which establishes still more clearly that the customs and prudent +organisation of the hive are not the results of a primitive impulse, +mechanically followed through different ages and climates, but that +the spirit which governs the little republic is fully as capable of +taking note of new conditions and turning these to the best +advantage, as in times long past it was capable of meeting the +dangers that hemmed it around. Transport our black bee to California +or Australia, and her habits will completely alter. Finding that +summer is perpetual and flowers forever abundant, she will after one +or two years be content to live from day to day, and gather +sufficient honey and pollen for the day's consumption; and, her +thoughtful observation of these new features triumphing over +hereditary experience, she will cease to make provision for the +winter.* In fact it becomes necessary, in order to stimulate her +activity, to deprive her systematically of the fruits of her labour. + + *Buchner cites an analogous fact. In the Barbadoes, the bees + whose hives are in the midst of the refineries, where they + find sugar in abundance during the whole year, will entirely + abandon their visits to the flowers. + +{103} + +So much for what our own eyes can see. It will be admitted that we +have mentioned some curious facts, which by no means support the +theory that every intelligence is arrested, every future clearly +defined, save only the intelligence and future of man. + +But if we choose to accept for one moment the hypothesis of +evolution, the spectacle widens, and its uncertain, grandiose light +soon attains our own destinies. Whoever brings careful attention to +bear will scarcely deny, even though it be not evident, the presence +in nature of a will that tends to raise a portion of matter to a +subtler and perhaps better condition, and to penetrate its substance +little by little with a mystery-laden fluid that we at first term +life, then instinct, and finally intelligence; a will that, for an +end we know not, organises, strengthens, and facilitates the +existence of all that is. There can be no certainty, and yet many +instances invite us to believe that, were an actual estimate +possible, the quantity of matter that has raised itself from its +beginnings would be found to be ever increasing. A fragile remark, I +admit, but the only one we can make on the hidden force that leads +us; and it stands for much in a world where confidence in life, +until certitude to the contrary reach us, must remain the first of +all our duties, at times even when life itself conveys no +encouraging clearness to us. + +I know all that may be urged against the theory of evolution. In its +favour are numerous proofs and most powerful arguments, which yet do +not carry irresistible conviction. We must beware of abandoning +ourselves unreservedly to the prevailing truths of our time. A +hundred years hence, many chapters of a book instinct to-day with +this truth, will appear as ancient as the philosophical writings of +the eighteenth century seem to us now, full as they are of a too +perfect and non-existing man, or as so many works of the seventeenth +century, whose value is lessened by their conception of a harsh and +narrow god. + +Nevertheless, when it is impossible to know what the truth of a +thing may be, it is well to accept the hypothesis that appeals the +most urgently to the reason of men at the period when we happen to +have come into the world. The chances are that it will be false; but +so long as we believe it to be true it will serve a useful purpose +by restoring our courage and stimulating research in a new +direction. It might at the first glance seem wiser, perhaps, instead +of advancing these ingenious suppositions, simply to say the +profound truth, which is that we do not know. But this truth could +only be helpful were it written that we never shall know. In the +meanwhile it would induce a state of stagnation within us more +pernicious than the most vexatious illusions. We are so constituted +that nothing takes us further or leads us higher than the leaps made +by our errors. In point of fact we owe the little we have learned to +hypotheses that were always hazardous and often absurd, and, as a +general rule, less discreet than they are to-day. They were unwise, +perhaps, but they kept alive the ardour for research. To the +traveller, shivering with cold, who reaches the human Hostelry, it +matters little whether he by whose side he seats himself, he who has +guarded the hearth, be blind or very old. So long as the fire still +burn that he has been watching, he has done as much as the best +could have done. Well for us if we can transmit this ardour, not as +we received it, but added to by ourselves; and nothing will add to +it more than this hypothesis of evolution, which goads us to +question with an ever severer method and ever increasing zeal all +that exists on the earth's surface and in its entrails, in the +depths of the sea and expanse of the sky. Reject it, and what can we +set up against it, what can we put in its place? There is but the +grand confession of scientific ignorance, aware of its knowing +nothing--but this is habitually sluggish, and calculated to +discourage the curiosity more needful to man than wisdom--or the +hypothesis of the fixity of the species and of divine creation, +which is less demonstrable than the other, banishes for all time +the living elements of the problem, and explains nothing. + +{104} + +Of wild bees approximately 4500 varieties are known. It need +scarcely be said that we shall not go through the list. Some day, +perhaps, a profound study, and searching experiments and +observations of a kind hitherto unknown, that would demand more than +one lifetime, will throw a decisive light upon the history of the +bee's evolution. All that we can do now is to enter this veiled +region of supposition, and, discarding all positive statement, +attempt to follow a tribe of hymenoptera in their progress towards a +more intelligent existence, towards a little more security and +comfort, lightly indicating the salient features of this ascension +that is spread over many thousands of years. The tribe in question +is already known to us; it is that of the "Apiens," whose essential +characteristics are so distinct and well-marked that one is inclined +to credit all its members with one common ancestor.* + + *It is important that the terms we shall successively + employ, adopting the classification of M. Emile Blanchard,-- + "APIENS, APIDAE and APITAE,--should not be confounded. The + tribe of the Apiens comprises all families of bees. The + Apidae constitute the first of these families, and are + subdivided into three groups: the Meliponae, the Apitae, and + the Bombi (humble-bees). And, finally, the Apitae include + all the different varieties of our domestic bees. + +The disciples of Darwin, Hermann Muller among others, consider a +little wild bee, the Prosopis, which is to be found all over the +universe, as the actual representative of the primitive bee whence +all have issued that are known to us to-day. + +The unfortunate Prosopis stands more or less in the same relation to +the inhabitants of our hives as the cave-dwellers to the fortunate +who live in our great cities. You will probably more than once have +seen her fluttering about the bushes, in a deserted corner of your +garden, without realising that you were carelessly watching the +venerable ancestor to whom we probably owe most of our flowers and +fruits (for it is actually estimated that more than a hundred +thousand varieties of plants would disappear if the bees did not +visit them) and possibly even our civilisation, for in these +mysteries all things intertwine. She is nimble and attractive, the +variety most common in France being elegantly marked with white on a +black background. But this elegance hides an inconceivable poverty. +She leads a life of starvation. She is almost naked, whereas her +sisters are dad in a warm and sumptuous fleece. She has not, like +the Apidae, baskets to gather the pollen, nor, in their default, the +tuft of the Andrenae, nor the ventral brush of the Gastrilegidae. +Her tiny claws must laboriously gather the powder from the calices, +which powder she needs must swallow in order to take it back to her +lair. She has no implements other than her tongue, her mouth and her +claws; but her tongue is too short, her legs are feeble, and her +mandibles without strength. Unable to produce wax, bore holes +through wood, or dig in the earth, she contrives clumsy galleries in +the tender pith of dry berries; erects a few awkward cells, stores +these with a little food for the offspring she never will see; and +then, having accomplished this poor task of hers, that tends she +knows not whither and of whose aim we are no less ignorant, she goes +off and dies in a corner, as solitarily as she had lived. + +We shall pass over many intermediary species, wherein we may see the +gradual lengthening of the tongue, enabling more nectar to be +extracted from the cups of corollas, and the dawning formation +and subsequent development of the apparatus for collecting +pollen,--hairs, tufts, brushes on the tibia, on the tarsus, and +abdomen,--as also claws and mandibles becoming stronger, useful +secretions being formed, and the genius that presides over the +construction of dwellings seeking and finding extraordinary +improvement in every direction. Such a study would need a whole +volume. I will merely outline a chapter of it, less than a chapter, +a page, which shall show how the hesitating endeavours of the will +to live and be happier result in the birth, development, and +affirmation of social intelligence. + +We have seen the unfortunate Prosopis silently bearing her solitary +little destiny in the midst of this vast universe charged with +terrible forces. A certain number of her sisters, belonging to +species already more skilful and better supplied with utensils, such +as the well-clad Colletes, or the marvellous cutter of rose-leaves, +the Megachile Centuncularis, live in an isolation no less profound; +and if by chance some creature attach itself to them, and share +their dwelling, it will either be an enemy, or, more often, a +parasite. + +For the world of bees is peopled with phantoms stranger than our +own; and many a species will thus have a kind of mysterious and +inactive double, exactly similar to the victim it has selected, save +only that its immemorial idleness has caused it to lose one by one +its implements of labour, and that it exists solely at the expense +of the working type of its race.* + + *The humble-bees, for instance, have the Psithyri as + parasites, while the Stelites live on the Anthidia. "As + regards the frequent identity of the parasite with its + victim," M. J. Perez very justly remarks in his book "The + Bees," "one must necessarily admit that the two genera are + only different forms of the same type, and are united to + each other by the closest affinity. And to naturalists who + believe in the theory of evolution this relationship is not + purely ideal, but real. The parasitic genus must be regarded + as merely a branch of the foraging genus, having lost its + foraging organs because of its adaptation to parasitic + life." + +Among the bees, however, which are somewhat too arbitrarily termed +the "solitary Apidae," the social instinct already is smouldering, +like a flame crushed beneath the overwhelming weight of matter that +stifles all primitive life. And here and there, in unexpected +directions, as though reconnoitring, with timid and sometimes +fantastic outbursts, it will succeed in piercing the mass that +oppresses it, the pyre that some day shall feed its triumph. + +If in this world all things be matter, this is surely its most +immaterial movement. Transition is called for from a precarious, +egotistic and incomplete life to a life that shall be fraternal, a +little more certain, a little more happy. The spirit must ideally +unite that which in the body is actually separate; the individual +must sacrifice himself for the race, and substitute for visible +things the things that cannot be seen. Need we wonder that the bees +do not at the first glance realise what we have not yet +disentangled, we who find ourselves at the privileged spot whence +instinct radiates from all sides into our consciousness? And it is +curious too, almost touching, to see how the new idea gropes its +way, at first, in the darkness that enfolds all things that come to +life on this earth. It emerges from matter, it is still quite +material. It is cold, hunger, fear, transformed into something that +as yet has no shape. It crawls vaguely around great dangers, around +the long nights, the approach of winter, of an equivocal sleep which +almost is death.... + +{106} + +The Xylocopae are powerful bees which worm their nest in dry wood. +Their life is solitary always. Towards the end of summer, however, +some individuals of a particular species, the Xylocopa Cyanescens, +may be found huddled together in a shivering group, on a stalk of +asphodel, to spend the winter in common. Among the Xylocopae this +tardy fraternity is exceptional, but among the Ceratinae, which are +of their nearest kindred, it has become a constant habit. The idea +is germinating. It halts immediately; and hitherto has not +succeeded, among the Xylocopae, in passing beyond this first obscure +line of love. + +Among other Apiens, this groping idea assumes other forms. The +Chalicodomae of the out-houses, which are building-bees, the +Dasypodae and Halicti, which dig holes in the earth, unite in large +colonies to construct their nests. But it is an illusory crowd +composed of solitary units, that possess no mutual understanding, +and do not act in common. Each one is profoundly isolated in the +midst of the multitude, and builds a dwelling for itself alone, +heedless of its neighbour. "They are," M. Perez remarks, "a mere +congregation of individuals, brought together by similar tastes and +habits, but observing scrupulously the maxim of each one for itself; +in fact, a mere mob of workers, resembling the swarm of a hive only +as regards their number and zeal. Such assemblies merely result from +a great number of individuals inhabiting the same locality." + +But when we come to the Panurgi, which are cousins of the Dasypodae, +a little ray of light suddenly reveals the birth of a new sentiment +in this fortuitous crowd. They collect in the same way as the +others, and each one digs its own subterranean chambers; but the +entrance is common to all, as also the gallery which leads from the +surface of the ground to the different cells. "And thus," M. Perez +adds, "as far as the work of the cells is concerned, each bee acts +as though she were alone; but all make equal use of the gallery that +conducts to the cells, so that the multitude profit by the labours +of an individual, and are spared the time and trouble required for +the construction of separate galleries. It would be interesting to +discover whether this preliminary work be not executed in common, by +relays of females, relieving each other in turn." + +However this may be, the fraternal idea has pierced the wall that +divided two worlds. It is no longer wild and unrecognisable, wrested +from instinct by cold and hunger, or by the fear of death; it is +prompted by active life. But it halts once more; and in this +instance arrives no further. No matter, it does not lose courage; it +will seek other channels. It enters the humble-bee, and, maturing +there, becomes embodied in a different atmosphere, and works its +first decisive miracles. + +The humble-bees, the great hairy, noisy creatures that all of us +know so well, so harmless for all their apparent fierceness, lead a +solitary life at first. At the beginning of March the impregnated +female who has survived the winter starts to construct her nest, +either underground or in a bush, according to the species to which +she belongs. She is alone in the world, in the midst of awakening +spring. She chooses a spot, clears it, digs it and carpets it. Then +she erects her somewhat shapeless waxen cells, stores these with +honey and pollen, lays and hatches the eggs, tends and nourishes the +larvae that spring to life, and soon is surrounded by a troop of +daughters who aid her in all her labours, within the nest and +without, while some of them soon begin to lay in their turn. The +construction of the cells improves; the colony grows, the comfort +increases. The foundress is still its soul, its principal mother, +and finds herself now at the head of a kingdom which might be the +model of that of our honeybee. But the model is still in the rough. + +The prosperity of the humble-bees never exceeds a certain limit, +their laws are ill-defined and ill-obeyed, primitive cannibalism and +infanticide reappear at intervals, the architecture is shapeless and +entails much waste of material; but the cardinal difference between +the two cities is that the one is permanent, and the other +ephemeral. For, indeed, that of the humble-bee will perish in the +autumn; its three or four hundred inhabitants will die, leaving no +trace of their passage or their endeavours; and but a single female +will survive, who, the next spring, in the same solitude and poverty +as her mother before her, will recommence the same useless work. The +idea, however, has now grown aware of its strength. Among the +humble-bees it goes no further than we have stated, but, faithful to +its habits and pursuing its usual routine, it will immediately +undergo a sort of unwearying metempsychosis, and re-incarnate +itself, trembling with its last triumph, rendered all-powerful now +and nearly perfect, in another group, the last but one of the race, +that which immediately precedes our domestic bee wherein it attains +its crown; the group of the Meliponitae, which comprises the +tropical Meliponae and Trigonae. + +{108} + +Here the organisation is as complete as in our hives. There is an +unique mother, there are sterile workers and males. Certain details +even seem better devised. The males, for instance, are not wholly +idle; they secrete wax. The entrance to the hive is more carefully +guarded; it has a door that can be closed when nights are cold, and +when these are warm a kind of curtain will admit the air. + +But the republic is less strong, general life less assured, +prosperity more limited, than with our bees; and wherever these are +introduced, the Meliponitae tend to disappear before them. In both +races the fraternal idea has undergone equal and magnificent +development, save in one point alone, wherein it achieves no further +advance among the Meliponitae than among the limited offspring of +the humble-bees. In the mechanical organisation of distributed +labour, in the precise economy of effort; briefly, in the +architecture of the city, they display manifest inferiority. As to +this I need only refer to what I said in section 42 of this book, +while adding that, whereas in the hives of our Apitae all the cells +are equally available for the rearing of the brood and the storage +of provisions, and endure as long as the city itself, they serve +only one of these purposes among the Meliponitae, and the cells +employed as cradles for the nymphs are destroyed after these have +been hatched.* + + *It is not certain that the principle of unique royalty, or + maternity, is strictly observed among the Meliponitae. + Blanchard remarks very justly, that as they possess no sting + and are consequently less readily able than the mothers of + our own bees to kill each other, several queens will + probably live together in the same hive. But certainty on + this point has hitherto been unattainable owing to the great + resemblance that exists between queens and workers, as also + to the impossibility of rearing the Meliponitae in our + climate. + +It is in our domestic bees, therefore, that the idea, of whose +movements we have given a cursory and incomplete picture, attains +its most perfect form. Are these movements definitely, and for all +time, arrested in each one of these species, and does the +connecting-line exist in our imagination alone? Let us not be too +eager to establish a system in this ill-explored region. Let our +conclusions be only provisional, and preferentially such as convey +the utmost hope, for, were a choice forced upon us, occasional +gleams would appear to declare that the inferences we are most +desirous to draw will prove to be truest. Besides, let us not forget +that our ignorance still is profound. We are only learning to open +our eyes. A thousand experiments that could be made have as yet not +even been tried. If the Prosopes, for instance, were imprisoned, and +forced to cohabit with their kind, would they, in course of time, +overstep the iron barrier of total solitude, and be satisfied to +live the common life of the Dasypodae, or to put forth the fraternal +effort of the Panurgi? And if we imposed abnormal conditions upon +the Panurgi, would these, in their turn, progress from a general +corridor to general cells? If the mothers of the humble-bees were +compelled to hibernate together, would they arrive at a mutual +understanding, a mutual division of labour? Have combs of +foundation-wax been offered to the Meliponitae? Would they accept +them, would they make use of them, would they conform their habits +to this unwonted architecture? Questions, these, that we put to Very +tiny creatures; and yet they contain the great word of our greatest +secrets. We cannot answer them, for our experience dates but from +yesterday. Starting with Reaumur, about a hundred and fifty years +have elapsed since the habits of wild bees first received attention. +Reaumur was acquainted with only a few of them; we have since then +observed a few more; but hundreds, thousands perhaps, have hitherto +been noticed only by hasty and ignorant travellers. The habits of +those that are known to us have undergone no change since the author +of the "Memoirs" published his valuable work; and the humble-bees, +all powdered with gold, and vibrant as the sun's delectable murmur, +that in the year 1730 gorged themselves with honey in the gardens of +Charenton, were absolutely identical with those that to-morrow, when +April returns, will be humming in the woods of Vincennes, but a few +yards away. From Reaumur's day to our own, however, is but as the +twinkling of an eye; and many lives of men, placed end to end, form +but a second in the history of Nature's thought. + +{109} + +Although the idea that our eyes have followed attains its supreme +expression in our domestic bees, it must not be inferred therefrom +that the hive reveals no faults. There is one masterpiece, the +hexagonal cell, that touches absolute perfection,--a perfection that +all the geniuses in the world, were they to meet in conclave, could +in no way enhance. No living creature, not even man, has achieved, +in the centre of his sphere, what the bee has achieved in her own; +and were some one from another world to descend and ask of the earth +the most perfect creation of the logic of life, we should needs have +to offer the humble comb of honey. + +But the level of this perfection is not maintained throughout. We +have already dealt with a few faults and shortcomings, evident +sometimes and sometimes mysterious, such as the ruinous +superabundance and idleness of the males, parthenogenesis, the +perils of the nuptial flight, excessive swarming, the absence of +pity, and the almost monstrous sacrifice of the individual to +society. To these must be added a strange inclination to store +enormous masses of pollen, far in excess of their needs; for the +pollen, soon turning rancid, and hardening, encumbers the surface of +the comb; and further, the long sterile interregnum between the date +of the first swarm and the impregnation of the second queen, etc., +etc. + +Of these faults the gravest, the only one which in our climates is +invariably fatal, is the repeated swarming. But here we must bear in +mind that the natural selection of the domestic bee has for +thousands of years been thwarted by man. From the Egyptian of the +time of Pharaoh to the peasant of our own day, the bee-keeper has +always acted in opposition to the desires and advantages of the +race. The most prosperous hives are those which throw only one swarm +after the beginning of summer. They have fulfilled their maternal +duties, assured the maintenance of the stock and the necessary +renewal of queens; they have guaranteed the future of the swarm, +which, being precocious and ample in numbers, has time to erect +solid and well-stored dwellings before the arrival of autumn. If +left to themselves, it is clear that these hives and their offshoots +would have been the only ones to survive the rigours of winter, +which would almost invariably have destroyed colonies animated by +different instincts; and the law of restricted swarming would +therefore by slow degrees have established itself in our northern +races. But it is precisely these prudent, opulent, acclimatised +hives that man has always destroyed in order to possess himself of +their treasure. He has permitted only--he does so to this day in +ordinary practice--the feeblest colonies to survive; degenerate +stock, secondary or tertiary swarms, which have just barely +sufficient food to subsist through the winter, or whose miserable +store he will supplement perhaps with a few droppings of honey. The +result is, probably, that the race has grown feebler, that the +tendency to excessive swarming has been hereditarily developed, and +that to-day almost all our bees, particularly the black ones, swarm +too often. For some years now the new methods of "movable" +apiculture have gone some way towards correcting this dangerous +habit; and when we reflect how rapidly artificial selection acts on +most of our domestic animals, such as oxen, dogs, pigeons, sheep and +horses, it is permissible to believe that we shall before long have +a race of bees that will entirely renounce natural swarming and +devote all their activity to the collection of honey and pollen. + +{110} + +But for the other faults: might not an intelligence that possessed a +clearer consciousness of the aim of common life emancipate itself +from them? Much might be said concerning these faults, which emanate +now from what is unknown to us in the hive, now from swarming and +its resultant errors, for which we are partly to blame. But let +every man judge for himself, and, having seen what has gone before, +let him grant or deny intelligence to the bees, as he may think +proper. I am not eager to defend them. It seems to me that in many +circumstances they give proof of understanding, but my curiosity +would not be less were all that they do done blindly. It is +interesting to watch a brain possessed of extraordinary resources +within itself wherewith it may combat cold and hunger, death, time, +space, and solitude, all the enemies of matter that is springing to +life; but should a creature succeed in maintaining its little +profound and complicated existence without overstepping the +boundaries of instinct, without doing anything but what is ordinary, +that would be very interesting too, and very extraordinary. Restore +the ordinary and the marvellous to their veritable place in the +bosom of nature, and their values shift; one equals the other. We +find that their names are usurped; and that it is not they, but the +things we cannot understand or explain that should arrest our +attention, refresh our activity, and give a new and juster form to +our thoughts and feelings and words. There is wisdom in attaching +oneself to nought beside. + +{111} + +And further, our intellect is not the proper tribunal before which +to summon the bees, and pass their faults in review. Do we not find, +among ourselves, that consciousness and intellect long will dwell in +the midst of errors and faults without perceiving them, longer still +without effecting a remedy? If a being exist whom his destiny calls +upon most specially, almost organically, to live and to organise +common life in accordance with pure reason, that being is man. And +yet see what he makes of it, compare the mistakes of the hive with +those of our own society. How should we marvel, for instance, were +we bees observing men, as we noted the unjust, illogical +distribution of work among a race of creatures that in other +directions appear to manifest eminent reason! We should find the +earth's surface, unique source of all common life, insufficiently, +painfully cultivated by two or three tenths of the whole population; +we should find another tenth absolutely idle, usurping the larger +share of the products of this first labour; and the remaining +seven-tenths condemned to a life of perpetual half-hunger, +ceaselessly exhausting themselves in strange and sterile efforts +whereby they never shall profit, but only shall render more complex +and more inexplicable still the life of the idle. We should conclude +that the reason and moral sense of these beings must belong to a +world entirely different from our own, and that they must obey +principles hopelessly beyond our comprehension. But let us carry +this review of our faults no further. They are always present in our +thoughts, though their presence achieves but little. From century to +century only will one of them for a moment shake off its slumber, +and send forth a bewildered cry; stretch the aching arm that +supported its head, shift its position, and then lie down and fall +asleep once more, until a new pain, born of the dreary fatigue of +repose, awaken it afresh. + +{112} + +The evolution of the Apiens, or at least of the Apitae, being +admitted, or regarded as more probable than that they should have +remained stationary, let us now consider the general, constant +direction that this evolution takes. It seems to follow the same +roads as with ourselves. It tends palpably to lessen the struggle, +insecurity, and wretchedness of the race, to augment authority and +comfort, and stimulate favourable chances. To this end it will +unhesitatingly sacrifice the individual, bestowing general strength +and happiness in exchange for the illusory and mournful independence +of solitude. It is as though Nature were of the opinion with which +Thucydides credits Pericles: viz., that individuals are happier in +the bosom of a prosperous city, even though they suffer themselves, +than when individually prospering in the midst of a languishing +state. It protects the hardworking slave in the powerful city, while +those who have no duties, whose association is only precarious, are +abandoned to the nameless, formless enemies who dwell in the minutes +of time, in the movements of the universe, and in the recesses of +space. This is not the moment to discuss the scheme of nature, or to +ask ourselves whether it would be well for man to follow it; but it +is certain that wherever the infinite mass allows us to seize the +appearance of an idea, the appearance takes this road whereof we +know not the end. Let it be enough that we note the persistent care +with which nature preserves, and fixes in the evolving race, all +that has been won from the hostile inertia of matter. She records +each happy effort, and contrives we know not what special and +benevolent laws to counteract the inevitable recoil. This progress, +whose existence among the most intelligent species can scarcely be +denied, has perhaps no aim beyond its initial impetus, and knows not +whither it goes. But at least, in a world where nothing save a few +facts of this kind indicates a precise will, it is significant +enough that we should see certain creatures rising thus, slowly and +continuously; and should the bees have revealed to us only this +mysterious spiral of light in the overpowering darkness, that were +enough to induce us not to regret the time we have given to their +little gestures and humble habits, which seem so far away and are +yet so nearly akin to our grand passions and arrogant destinies. + +{113} + +It may be that these things are all vain; and that our own spiral of +light, no less than that of the bees, has been kindled for no other +purpose save that of amusing the darkness. So, too, is it possible +that some stupendous incident may suddenly surge from without, from +another world, from a new phenomenon, and either inform this effort +with definitive meaning, or definitively destroy it. But we must +proceed on our way as though nothing abnormal could ever befall us. +Did we know that to-morrow some revelation, a message, for instance, +from a more ancient, more luminous planet than ours, were to root up +our nature, to suppress the laws, the passions, and radical truths +of our being, our wisest plan still would be to devote the whole of +to-day to the study of these passions, these laws, and these truths, +which must blend and accord in our mind; and to remain faithful to +the destiny imposed on us, which is to subdue, and to some extent +raise within and around us the obscure forces of life. + +None of these, perhaps, will survive the new revelation; but the +soul of those who shall up to the end have fulfilled the mission +that is pre-eminently the mission of man, must inevitably be in the +front rank of all to welcome this revelation; and should they learn +therefrom that indifference, or resignation to the unknown, is the +veritable duty, they will be better equipped than the others for the +comprehension of this final resignation and indifference, better +able to turn these to account. + +{114} + +But such speculations may well be avoided. Let not the possibility +of general annihilation blur our perception of the task before us; +above all, let us not count on the miraculous aid of chance. +Hitherto, the promises of our imagination notwithstanding, we have +always been left to ourselves, to our own resources. It is to our +humblest efforts that every useful, enduring achievement of this +earth is due. It is open to us, if we choose, to await the better or +worse that may follow some alien accident, but on condition that +such expectation shall not hinder our human task. Here again do the +bees, as Nature always, provide a most excellent lesson. In the hive +there has truly been prodigious intervention. The bees are in the +hands of a power capable of annihilating or modifying their race, of +transforming their destinies; the bees' thraldom is far more +definite than our own. Therefore none the less do they perform their +profound and primitive duty. And, among them, it is precisely those +whose obedience to duty is most complete who are able most fully to +profit by the supernatural intervention that to-day has raised the +destiny of their species. And indeed, to discover the unconquerable +duty of a being is less difficult than one imagines. It is ever to +be read in the distinguishing organs, whereto the others are all +subordinate. And just as it is written in the tongue, the stomach, +and mouth of the bee that it must make honey, so is it written in +our eyes, our ears, our nerves, our marrow, in every lobe of our +head, that we must make cerebral substance; nor is there need that +we should divine the purpose this substance shall serve. The bees +know not whether they will eat the honey they harvest, as we know +not who it is shall reap the profit of the cerebral substance we +shall have formed, or of the intelligent fluid that issues therefrom +and spreads over the universe, perishing when our life ceases or +persisting after our death. As they go from flower to flower +collecting more honey than themselves and their offspring can +need, let us go from reality to reality seeking food for the +incomprehensible flame, and thus, certain of having fulfilled our +organic duty, preparing ourselves for whatever befall. Let us +nourish this flame on our feelings and passions, on all that we see +and think, that we hear and touch, on its own essence, which is the +idea it derives from the discoveries, experience and observation +that result from its every movement. A time then will come when all +things will turn so naturally to good in a spirit that has given +itself to the loyal desire of this simple human duty, that the very +suspicion of the possible aimlessness of its exhausting effort will +only render the duty the clearer, will only add more purity, power, +disinterestedness, and freedom to the ardour wherewith it still +seeks. + + + + +APPENDIX + + +TO give a complete bibliography of the bee were outside the scope of +this book; we shall be satisfied, therefore, merely to indicate the +more interesting works:-- + +1. The Historical Development of Apiarian Science: + +(a) The ancient writers: Aristotle, "History of Animals" (Trans. +Bart. St. Hilaire); T. Varro, "De Agricultura," L. III. xvi.; Pliny, +"Hist. Nat.," L. xi.; Columella, "De Re Rustica;" "Palladius, "De Re +Rustica," L. I. xxxvii., etc. + +(b) The moderns: Swammerdam, "Biblia Naturae," 1737; Maraldi, +"Observations sur les Abeilles," 1712; Reaumur, "Memoires pour +servir a l'Histoire des Insectes," 1740; Ch. Bonnet, "OEuvres +d'Histoire Naturelle," 1779-1783; A. G. Schirach, "Physikalische +Untersuchung der bisher unbekannten aber nachher entdeckten +Erzeugung der Bienen-mutter," 1767; J. Hunter, "On Bees" +(Philosophical Transactions, 1732); J. A. Janscha, "Hinterlassene +Vollstandige Lehre von der Bienenzucht," 1773; Francois Huber, +"Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles," 1794, etc. + +2. Practical Apiculture: + +Dzierzon, "Theorie und Praxis des neuen Bienenfreundes;" Langstroth, +"The Honeybee"(translated into French by Ch. Dadant: "L'Abeille et +la Ruche," which corrects and completes the original); Georges de +Layens and Bonnier, "Cours Complet d'Apiculture;" Frank Cheshire, +"Bees and Bee-keeping" (vol. ii.--Practical); Dr. E. Bevan, "The +Honey-bee;" T. W. Cowan, "The British Bee-keeper's Guidebook;" A. +Root, "The A B C of Bee-Culture;" Henry Alien, "The Bee-keeper's +Handy-book;" L'Abbe Collin, "Guide du Proprietaire des Abeilles;" +Ch. Dadant, "Petit Cours d'Apiculture Pratique;" Ed. Bertrand, +"Conduite du Rucher;" Weber, "Manuel pratique d'Apiulture;" Hamet, +"Cours Complet d'Api-culture;" De Bauvoys, "Guide de l'Apiculteur;" +Pollmann, "Die Biene und ihre Zucht;" Jeker, Kramer, and Theiler, +"Der Schweizerische Bienenvater;" S. Simmins, "A Modern Bee Farm;" +F. W. Vogel, "Die Honigbiene und die Vermehrung der Bienvolker;" +Baron A. Von Berlepsch, "Die Biene und ihre Frucht," etc. + +3. General Monographs: + +F. Cheshire, "Bees and Bee-keeping" (vol. i.--Scientific); T. W. +Cowan, "The Honey-bee;" J. Perez, "Les Abeilles;" Girard, "Manuel +d'Apiculture" (Les Abeilles, Organes et Fonctions); Schuckard, +"British Bees;" Kirby and Spence, "Introduction to Entomology;" +Girdwoyn, "Anatomie et Physiologic de l'Abeille;" F. Cheshire, +"Diagrams on the Anatomy of the Honeybee;" Gunderach, "Die +Naturgeschichte der Honigbiene;" L. Buchner, "Geistes-leben der +Thiere;" O. Butschli, "Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Biene;" J. D. +Haviland, "The Social Instincts of Bees, their Origin and Natural +Selection." + +4. Special Monographs (Organs, Functions, Undertakings, etc.): + +F. Dujardin, "Memoires sur le Systeme nerveux des Insectes;" Dumas +and Milne Edwards, "Sur la Production de la Cire des Abeilles;" E. +Blanchard, "Recherches anatomiques sur le Systeme nerveux des +Insectes;" L. R. D. Brougham, "Observations, Demonstrations, and +Experiences upon the Structure of the Cells of Bees;" P. Cameron, +"On Parthenogenesis in the Hymenoptera" (Transactions Natural +Society of Glasgow, 1888); Erichson, "De Fabrica et Usu Antennarum +in Insectis;" B. T. Lowne, "On the Simple and Compound Eyes of +Insects "(Philosophical Transactions, 1879); G. K. Waterhouse, "On +the Formation of the Cells of Bees and Wasps;" Dr. C. T. E. von +Siebold, "On a True Parthenogenesis in Moths and Bees;" F. Leydig, +"Das Auge der Gliederthiere;" Pastor Schonfeld, "Bienen-Zeitung," +1854--1883; "Illustrierte Bienen-Zeitung," 1885-1890; Assmuss, "Die +Parasiten der Honig-biene." + +5. Notes on Melliferous Hymenoptera: + +E. Blanchard, "Metamorphoses, Moeurs et Instincts des Insectes;" +Vid: "Histoire des Insectes;" Darwin, "Origin of Species;" Fabre, +"Souvenirs Entomologiques" (3d series); Romanes, "Mental Evolution +in Animals;" id., "Animal Intelligence;" Lepeletier et Fargeau, +"Histoire Naturelle des Hymenopteres;" V. Mayet, "Memoire sur les +Moeurs et sur les Metamorphoses d'une Nouvelle Espece de la Famille +des Vesicants" (Ann. Soc. Entom. de France, 1875); H. Muller, "Ein +Beitrag zur Lebensgeschichte der Dasypoda Hirtipes;" E. Hoffer, +"Biologische Beobachtungen an Hummeln und Schmarotzerhummeln;" +Jesse, "Gleanings in Natural History;" Sir John Lubbock, "Ants, +Bees, and Wasps;" id., "The Senses, Instincts, and Intelligence of +Animals;" Walkenaer, "Les Haclites;" Westwood, "Introduction to the +Study of Insects;" V. Rendu, "De l'Intelligence des Betes;" Espinas, +"Animal Communities," etc. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Life of the Bee, by Maurice Maeterlinck + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF THE BEE *** + +***** This file should be named 4511.txt or 4511.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/5/1/4511/ + +Produced by Steve Solomon + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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