The Nuptial Flight 



less gifts are flung with both hands into the 

 abyss of the future. Out of a thousand 

 of them, one only, once in his life, will 

 have to seek, in the depths of the azure, 

 the presence of the royal virgin. Out of 

 a thousand one only v/ill have, for one in- 

 stant, to follow in space the female who 

 desires not to escape. That suffices. The 

 partial power flings open her treasury, 

 wildly, even deliriously. To every one 

 of these unlikely lovers, of whom nine 

 hundred and ninety-nine will be put to 

 death a few days after the fatal nuptials 

 of the thousandth, she has given thirteen 

 thousand eyes on each side of their head, 

 while the worker has only six thousand. 

 According to Cheshire's calculations, she 

 has provided each of their antennae with 

 thirtv-seven thousand eight hundred olfac- 

 tory cavities, while the worker has only 

 five thousand in both. There we have 



an instance of the almost universal dis- 



301 



