CHAP. V Social Life of Animals 77 



We have not outlined nearly all the labours of the 

 workers. There is the exhausting though passive labour of 

 forming the wax which oozes out on the under-surface of the 

 body, and then there is the marvellous comb-building, at 

 which the bees are very neat and clever workers, though they 

 do not deserve the reputation for mathematical insight once 

 granted them. "Their combs," Mr. Cheshire says, "are 

 rows of rooms unsurpassably suitable for feeding and nurtur- 

 ing the larvae, for giving safety and seclusion during the 

 mystic sleep of pupa-hood, for ensconcing the weary worker 

 seeking rest, and for safely warehousing the provisions ever 

 needed by the numerous family and by all during the 

 winter's siege. Corridors run between, giving sufficient 

 space for the more extensive quarters of the prospective 

 mother, and affording every facility to the busy throng 

 walking on the ladders the edges of their apartments supply ; 

 while the exactions of modern hygiene are fully met by air, 

 in its native purity, sweeping past the doorway of every 

 inhabitant of the insect city.'' 



We shall not seek to penetrate into the more hidden 

 mysteries of the life of bees ; for instance, " how the drones 

 have a mother but no father," or how high feeding makes 

 the difference between a queen and a worker. An outline 

 of the yearly life is more appropriate. From the winter's 

 rest the surviving bees reawaken when the early-flowering 

 trees begin to blossom ; the workers engage in a " spring 

 cleaning," and the queen restores the reduced population 

 by egg-laying. New supplies of food are brought in, new 

 bees are bom, and in early summer we see the busy life in 

 all its energy. The pressure of increased population makes 

 itself felt, and migration or " swarming " becomes impera- 

 tive. In due time and in fair weather " the old mother 

 departs with the superabundance of the population." 

 Meanwhile in the parent-hive drones have been bom, and 

 several possible queens await liberation. The first to be 

 set free has to hold her own against newcomers, or it may be 

 to die before one of them. The successful new queen soon 

 becomes restless, issues forth in swift nuptial flight, is 

 fertilised by a drone, and returns to her home to begin 



