The Life of the Bee 



correct; for indeed, the further we go 

 and the more closely we study, the more 

 plainly is it brought home to us that we 

 merely are waifs shipwrecked on the 

 ocean of nature ; and ever and anon, 

 from a sudden wave that shall be more 

 transparent than others, there leaps forth 

 a fact that in an instant confounds all we 

 imagined we knew. But the reason of 

 my preferring the second theory is that, 

 for one thing, the experiments of a Bor- 

 deaux bee-keeper, M. Drory, have shown 

 that in cases where all the large cells have 

 been removed from the hive, the mother 

 will not hesitate, when the moment for 

 laying male eggs has come, to deposit 

 these in workers' cells ; and that, in- 

 versely, she will lay workers* eggs in cells 

 provided for males, if she have no others 

 at her disposal. And, further, we learn 

 from the interesting observations of M. 

 Fabre on the Osmiae, which are wild and 



