The Nuptial Flight 



tical brain. She has but one thought, 

 which is to rid herself as quickly as pos- 

 sible of the embarrassing souvenirs her 

 consort has left her, whereby her move- 

 ments 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, un- 

 til 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 

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