NATURAL HISTORY STUDIES 



the fatigue of a long day. Quite apart from the 

 weather, it is good that the queen humble-bee should 

 sleep through the winter, just as it is well for the 

 fisherman that he should loaf after the storm. 



To others the sleep is in some measure a prepara- 

 tion for a new day. Thus in the seeds which 

 slumber in the earth, each a young life, there is a 

 rotting away of the husks which the delicate embryo 

 could scarce burst, and later on there are processes 

 of fermentation, by which the legacy of hard, con- 

 densed food-material is made available for the 

 young plant. Similarly, within the cocoons there 

 lie the chrysalids, quaintly mummy-like and inert 

 to all appearance, but slowly undergoing that 

 marvellous change, the result of which is the winged 

 butterfly of next summer's sunshine. 



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