The Life of the Bee 



The prosperity of the humble-bees never 

 exceeds a certain limit, their laws are ill- 

 defined and ill-obeyed, primitive cannibal- 

 ism 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 hum- 

 ble-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 use- 

 less 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 im- 

 mediately undergo a sort of unwearying 

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