DOOMSDAY 



DOOMSDAY 



WASPS begin to grow sleepy, and may sting us as they 

 lurk drowsily in unexpected hiding-places. 

 Last Days The young queens, who have contributed 

 of Wasps nothing to the welfare of the colony, and 

 have lived luxuriously, feeding and being 

 fed, have mated with their chosen princes among the 

 idle drones, and now go into retreat; hanging by their 

 jaws to some such support as the straw of a thatched 

 roof, with legs and wings folded entering the blessed 

 state of dormancy. The old queen, the mother of 

 thousands, dies as Winter comes on, and the workers 

 slay the larvae, in the cells of their crumbling home, as 

 their last act in life. 



THERE is much to charm us in the nature of Bombus, the 

 humble-bee ; as was made clear when a little 

 The girl was discovered in a garden trying to 



Humble- imprint a kiss on a drowsy bee's furry coat. 

 Bee's End She is a long-suffering and patient creature, 

 and has a pleasant way of humming songs 

 to herself as she flies. Her days are numbered, and we 

 mark the patience with which she waits her end. 

 Bombus, feeling drowsy one evening, is too lazy to 

 leave her floral tavern, and dies in her dreams. 



BOMBUS is inflicted with just such a cuckoo as makes a 

 dupe of the hedge-sparrow ; but the cuckoo- 



The Bee's bee goes farther in deception than the 



Cuckoo cuckoo-bird, in appearance mimicking its 

 host. There is the difference that the 



humble-bee carries on its thighs hairy baskets for 



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