The Swarm 



at once detect the imposture ; the intru- 

 der will be seized, and immediately en- 

 closed 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 un- 

 swerving 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 notwith- 

 standing, in the desperate confusion that 

 may follow one of these hazardous ex- 

 pedients, it is on the admirable good 

 sense of the bee that man always, and 

 almost empirically, relies ; on the inex- 

 105 



