PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 1?3 



in a more ample field ; but the spectacles you will be- 

 hold during our excursion will repay, I promise you, 

 any delay or trouble it may occasion. 



When I consider the proceedings of these little crea- 

 tures, both in the hive and out of it, they are so nume- 

 rous and multifarious, that I scarcely know where to be- 

 gin. You have already, however, heard much of their 

 internal labours, in the care and nurture of the young ; 

 the construction of their combs a ; and their proceedings 

 with respect to their queens and their paramours. It 

 will therefore change the scene a little, if we accompany 

 them in their excursions to collect the various substances 

 of which they have need 5 . On these occasions the prin- 

 cipal object of the bees is to furnish themselves with 

 three different materials : the nectar of flowers, from 

 which they elaborate honey and wax ; the pollen or fer^ 



a VOL. 1. 376 and 487 



b The following beautiful lines by Professor Smyth are extremely 

 applicable to this part of a bee's labours : 



" Thou cheerful Bee ! come, freely come, 

 And travel round my woodbine bower ! 



Delight me with thy wandering hum, 

 And rouse me from my musing hour; 



Oh ! try no more those tedious fields, 



Come taste the sweets my garden yields : 



The treasures of each blooming mine, 



The bud, the blossom, all are thine. 



" And careless of this noon-tide heat, 



I'll follow as thy ramble guides ; 

 To watch thee pause and chafe thy feet, 



And sweep them o'er thy downy sides : 

 Then in a flower's bell nestling lie, 

 And all thy envied ardor ply ! 

 Then o'er the stem, tho' fair it grow, 

 With touch rejecting, glance, and go. 



" O Nature 



