PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 417 



What it is that, in the former instance, excites the fury of the bees 

 against the males, is not easy to discover ; but some conjecture may perhaps 

 be formed from the circumstance last related. When only males are pro- 

 duced by the queen, the bees seem aware that something more is wanted, 

 and retain the males ; the same is the case when they have no queen ; and 

 when one is procured, they appear to know that she would not profit them 

 without the males. Their fury then is connected with their utility : when 

 the queen is impregnated, which lasts for her whole life, as if they knew 

 that the drones could be of no further use, and would only consume their 

 winter stores of provision, they destroy them ; which surely is more mer- 

 ciful than expelling them, in which case they must inevitably perish from 

 hunger. But when the queen only produces males, their numbers are not 

 sufficient to cause alarm ; and the same reasoning applies to the case when 

 there is no queen. 



Having brought the males from their cradle to their untimely grave, and 

 amused you with the little that is known of their uneventful history, I shall 

 now, at last, call you to attend to the proceedings of the workers themselves ; 

 and here I am afraid, long as I have detained you, I must still press you to 

 expatiate with me in a more ample field ; but the spectacles you will behold 

 during our excursion will repay, I promise you, any delay or trouble it 

 ma}'' occasion. 



When I consider the proceedings of these little creatures, both in the 

 hive and out of it, they are so numerous and multifarious that I scarcely 

 know where to begin. You have already, however, heard much of their in- 

 ternal labors, in the care and nurture of the young ; the construction of their 

 combs ; and their proceedings with respect to their queens and their para- 

 mours. It will therefore change the scene a little, if we accompany them 

 in their excursions to collect the various substances of which they have 

 need.^ On these occasions the principal object of the bees is to furnish 



' The following beautiful lines by Professor Smyth are extremely applicable to this part 

 of a bee's labors : — 



" Thou cheerful Bee ! come, freely come, 

 And travel round my woodbine bower; 

 Delight me with thy wandering hum, 



And rouse me from my musing hour. 

 Oh ! try no more those tedious fields, 

 Come taste the sweets my garden yields : 

 The treasures of each blooming mine, 

 The bud. the blossom, — all are thine. 



" And, careless of this noontide heat, 



I'll follow as thy ramble guides ; 

 To watch thee pause and chafe thy feet, 



And sweep them o'er thy downy sides: 

 Then in a flower's bell nestling lie, 

 And all thy envied ardor ply ! 

 Then o'er the stem, tho' fair it grow, 

 With touch rejecting, glance, and go. 



"0 Nature kind ! laborer wise ! 



That roam'st along the summer's ray, 

 Glean'st every bliss thy life supplies, 



And meet'st prepared thy wintry day ! 

 Go, envied go — with crowded gates 

 The hive thy rich return awaits ; 

 Bear home thy store, in triumph gay, 

 And shame each idler of the day." 



