Rcproduclio7i of hisccts. 71 



for the young with which she replenishes their 

 ranks. 



They supply the food, build the nests, rear the 

 young; they know life, but not love. They live 

 not more than eight months, then die, their places 

 filled by those nurslings they have not mothered, 

 but faithfully have tended. 



Protected and cared for, the queen bee lives 

 longer than most other adult insects. Even her 

 amazing fertility does not exhaust her beyond 

 repair. 



Where other insects are prevented from losing 

 the vitality contained in their reproductive material 

 they, too, have been known to live beyond the 

 ordinary limits of their kind. In one instance a 

 butterfly was thus kept for over two years in a hot- 

 house, when in the natural order of life he would 

 have expended his reproductive force, and his race 

 would have been run in a few short daj-s. 



Quite at the mercy of their surroundings, the 

 insects do not, as a rule, attempt individual pres- 

 ervation ; the individual is allowed to perish, the 

 whole effort being towards preserving the race by 

 supplying material for new generations. 



Even the wings of some species are but means 

 to this end. It is said that after the nuptial flight 

 ants bite off their own wings ! They have no fur- 

 ther use for them, and they are but an incum- 

 brance ; their lives henceforth must be concentrated 

 upon securing offspring to succeed them. 



