PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE 



at the start. Thus the sciences of observation become 

 increasingly obscure as one penetrates further into the 

 labyrinth. 



Among wasps and hornets there is nothing resembling 

 polygamy, even potentially. A fecundated female after 

 passing the winter, constructs, by herself, the first foun- 

 dations of a nest, lays the eggs, from which sexless in- 

 dividuals are born; these workers then assume all material 

 labours, finish the nest, watch the larvae which the 

 female continues to produce. These are now males and 

 females: after coupling the males die, then the workers, 

 the females become languid, those who survive will 

 found as many new tribes. 



The generation of bumble-bees is more curious, the 

 differentiation of castes more complicated. There are 

 among them, males, workers, small females, great females. 

 A great female, having passed the winter, founds a nest in 

 the earth, often in moss (there is a sort called the moss 

 bee), she constructs a wax comb, lays. From the first 

 eggs come workers who, as in wasps, construct the defini- 

 tive nest, pillage, make honey, and being more industrious 

 than the other sort of bees who fear dampness, they scour 

 the country long after sunset. After the workers, the 

 little females see light; they have no function save lay- 

 ing, without fecundation, the eggs which will hatch male. 

 Simultaneously the queen produces great females who 

 will soon couple with the males. Then, as with wasps, 

 all the colony dies except the fecundated great females, 

 by whom the cycle will recommence, the following spring. 



There are three casts of ants, or four if one count 

 the division of neuters into workers and fighters, as 

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