IN REPUBLICS. 365 
by the faculty of flying. When.the day 
of their departure arrives, they quit the 
nest in a crowd, accompanied by a nu- 
merous retinue of workers, who cannot 
follow them to any distance. ‘They take 
flight, complete their junction in the 
midst of the swarms they form in the air, 
and never return to their original abode. 
The males ina short time perish ; for they 
know not how to provide for their neces- 
sities; but the females are destined to 
extend the republics of their species ; 
they are, therefore, under the necessity 
of going and establishing the founda- 
tions of them alone, and unassisted. 
One would be inclined to believe that 
the wings, with which they are provided, 
would be of advantage to them in their 
labours; but Supreme Intelligence has or- 
dered it otherwise; for as soon as they are 
impregnated, they renounce that prero- 
gative, which no longer agrees with their 
new condition, and tear away of their own 
accord, and with effect, those members 
which appear to us a gift from Heaven 
Rr 8 
