72 THE FUNCTIONS OF BEES. 



to approach the provision-cells. Thus weakened by 

 hunger and captivity, and disqualified for resistance 

 hy the want of a sting, they fall an easy prey to 

 their merciless assailants; and a scene of carnage 

 takes place which it is difficult to describe. The 

 unhappy wretches are seen driven to the bottom of 

 the hive, pursued with such fury, that, in spite of 

 their strength, which is greatly superior to that of 

 their persecutors, and which enables them to drag 

 two or three of their assailants along the board, and 

 even to fly off with them, they are unable to avoid 

 the mortal thrust of their formidable stings, and ex- 

 pire instantaneously from the effects of the poison. 

 But death overtakes them in various forms; for 

 their enemies sometimes seize them by the wings, 

 and with their strong mandibles gnaw them at the 

 roots, and disable them from flying. They may then 

 be seen in numbers crawling on the ground, where 

 they perish from the cold, or are trampled under 

 foot, and devoured by birds or frogs. Such as escape 

 for a while, may be seen flying from destruction, 

 lighting on the shrubs and flowers to enjoy a mo- 

 ment's respite from their terrors ; or buzzing about 

 our windows, or wandering about from hive to hive, 

 into one of which they no sooner enter, than certain 

 death awaits them. Nay, so bitter is the fury of 

 their tormentors, that, not satisfied with destroying 

 these unhappy beings themselves, they tear from 

 the cells such of the doomed race as are yet in the 

 state of larvae, and sucking from their bodies, with 

 instinctive economy, the fluids they contain, cast the 



