THE BEE AND THE FLOWER in 



lusty health that went with a dry air was proof against 

 this jeopardy. They returned to the hive not a penny the 

 worse and slumbered again ; and just at the right moment 

 again revived to the proper work of the season, the 

 fetching of water and the clearing out of the winter 

 refuse. Within twenty-four hours of the revival, the 

 clean alighting board looked as if it had been sanded, so 

 thick were the sweepings there and round and about it ; 

 and among the rubbish, among the ejects from the hive, 

 was visible no single victim of winter weather. It is 

 true that the bodies of the dead are usually carried well 

 away from the hive, though much of the other rubbish 

 is dropped at the first possible moment ; but this spring 

 the careful watcher has discovered no single burial. 



When you watch bees after the spring work has begun, 

 the labourers increase day by day, and among them the 

 percentage of the food-gatherers also is steadily progres 

 sive. A fortnight ago it was quite rare to detect among 

 the homing bees any member obviously laden with any 

 burden heavy enough to slow its flight or thicken its 

 thighs. Now the majority are so well laden with pollen 

 that you can mark them from afar and they pass into the 

 interior of the hive in a slow purposeful way, like a dog 

 carrying off a bone for secret storage. The interior jobs 

 of cleaning the comb, of sweeping the floors, of strength 

 ening particular cells grow fewer and fewer. There is 

 little need in the cool fresh airs of early spring, always 

 sharpened by its aliquid amari, for detailing a large rank 

 of workers to the task of ventilating the hive. More and 

 more is the mind of the hive concentrated on providing 

 pollen for the coming generation. 



Yet perhaps in earlier days the less quick-sighted 

 observer was deceived. There were more food-carriers 

 than appeared. The first supplies come from dingier 



