DIVISION OF LABOUR. 117 



As each day comes round each bee has its special 

 work. Some gather honey, some pollen, some pro- 

 polis, and, of those at home, some are ventilating, 

 some guarding the entrance, and others are attending 

 the queen, or are wax-making, or storing the honey 

 and pollen, or nursing and feeding the young, and 

 so on : 



' Some o'er the public magazine preside, 

 And some are sent new forage to provide ; 

 These drudge the fields abroad, and those at home 

 Lay deep foundation for the labour'd comb. 

 With dew. Narcissus leaves, and clammy gum, 

 To pitch the waxen flooring some contrive. 

 Some nurse the future nation of the hive ; 

 Sweet honey some condense, some purge the grout. 

 The rest in cells apart the liquid nectar shut.' 



Virgil (by Dryden). 

 Thus : 



' Each morning sees some work begun, 

 Each evening sees its close.' 



And by division of labour, as well as by hard work, 

 they bring about their great results. 



And then another thing in all this work of the 

 bee, which we cannot fail to notice with admiration, 

 is the great importance which they attach to little 

 things, teaching us that it is by sticking to our work 

 and attending to little things that we shall best suc- 

 ceed in anything that we have to do. Just look 

 at the bee's care and attention to the smallest things 

 — to do the smallest things in the best way. And 

 observe again — as mentioned before — how they are 

 never wasteful. It is indeed but very little that any 



