The Life of the Bee 

 bee warrants the belief that the swarming 

 always takes place against the old sov- 

 ereign's will. For indeed the ascetic 

 workers, her daughters, regard the queen 

 above all as the organ of love, indispen- 

 sable, certainly, and sacred, but in herself 

 somewhat unconscious, and often of feeble 

 mind. They treat her like a mother in 

 her dotage. Their respect for her, their 

 tenderness, is heroic and boundless. 

 The purest honey, specially distilled and 

 almost entirely assimilable, is reserved 

 for her use alone. She has an escort that 

 watches over her by day and by night, 

 that facilitates her maternal duties and 

 gets ready the cells wherein the eggs 

 shall be laid ; she has loving attendants 

 who pet and caress her, feed her and clean 

 her, and even absorb her excrement. 

 Should the least accident befall her the 

 news will spread quickly from group to 

 group, and the whole population will rush 



80 



