UNDER THE MAPLES 



cations that go beyond a mere "y^s" or "no," he 

 is true to his own conception. 



The division of labor among hive bees is of course 

 spontaneous, like all their other economies — not a 

 matter of thought, but of instinct. 



Maeterlinck and other students of the honey bee 

 make the mistake of humanizing the bee, thus 

 making them communicate with one another as we 

 communicate. Bees have a language, they say; 

 they tell one another this and that; if one finds 

 honey or good pasturage, she tells her sisters, and 

 so on. This is all wide of the mark. There is 

 nothing analogous to verbal communication among 

 the insects. The unity of the swarm, or the Spirit 

 of the Hive, does it all. Bees communicate and 

 cooperate with on^ another as the cells of the body 

 communicate and cooperate in building up the 

 various organs. The spirit of the body coordinates 

 all the different organs and tissues, making a unit 

 of the body. 



If some outside creature, such as a mouse or a 

 snail, penetrates into the hive, and dies there, the 

 bees encase it in wax, or bury it where it lies, so 

 that it cannot contaminate the hive, and a foreign 

 object in the body, such as a bullet in the lungs, 

 or in the muscles, becomes encysted in an analogous 

 manner, and is thus rendered harmless. 



Kill a bee in or near the hive and the smell of 

 its crushed body will infuriate the other bees. But 



160 



