The Nuptial Flight 



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 glad- 

 ness 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 re- 

 cord. 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 

 317 



