THE OCCUPANTS OF THE HITE, 3 



bility is exceeding- great; their labour is magnificent. They 

 are the gatherers who, when nature decks the countrx- side 

 with fresh beauties, sally forth, and hurrying ever from flower 

 to flower, collect the nectar, and pollen with which to feed the 

 young, and propolis to fill up cracks and make the hive more 

 homely. They manufacture wax, and with it build the combs 

 which serve as cradles of the race, and larders for the store of 

 honey. They feed the queen, nurse the young, cleanse the 

 hive, and set up portal-g-uards to defend from all aggression 

 the citadel that holds the secret of their destiny — the treasure 

 of their faithful hearts. Fearless, surpassing diligent, beauti- 

 fully unselfish, their marvellous intelligence fits them for that 

 stupendous enterprise to which their lives are devoted, and for 

 which they gladly die. (15). 



6. The Drones (Fig. i) or male bees, are thick and bulky, 

 not so long as the queen, but longer than the workers. These 

 are the oft maligned noisy, buzzing bees — 



" The lazy yawning drone " 



of Shakespeare, and the harmless, innocent butts for the gibes 

 of modern critics. Theirs is a life of brief dependence and 

 submission. Tl"ie>- gather no stores : nature has not fitted 

 them to do so. The one object of their existence is to fertilise 

 the young queens. To that end they are born, are tolerated 

 in the colony, and are allowed free access to the honey cells. 

 Theirs, also, is the sacrifice of life to duty ; and such of them 

 as survive to the close of autumn are driven out of the hive to 

 end, in cold and hunger, a life which, if seemingly idle or 

 useless, was, at least, inoffensi^'e, and full of possibilities 

 whose vastness fills with awe and amazement every thinking 

 ramd. (43). 



