The Life of the Bee 



unique kiss of an instant that shall wed 

 him to death no less than to happiness ; 

 while the others will fly helplessly round 

 the intertwined pair, and soon will perish 

 without ever again beholding this prodi- 

 gious and fatal apparition. 



[83] 

 I am not exaggerating this wild and 

 amazing prodigality of nature. The best- 

 conducted hives will, as a rule, contain 

 four to five hundred males. Weaker or 

 degenerate ones will often have as many 

 as four or five thousand ; for the more a 

 hive inclines to its ruin, the more males 

 will it produce. It may be said that, on 

 an average, an apiary composed of ten 

 colonies will at a given moment send an 

 army of ten thousand males into the air, 

 of whom ten or fifteen at most will have 

 the occasion of performing the one act 

 for which they were born. 

 298 



