60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN 



tion for me, as well as by the colony scent 

 wafted to him in my wake, Prince Melapis 

 flew like the wind, soon caught and bore me 

 in his strong arms higher and still higher, 

 until at last we were above the regions of the 

 air where the common bird enemies of 

 Honey Bees are. Since Queen Bees seldom 

 live longer than four years, Drones not 

 longer than six months, the Workers not 

 more than two months during the honey- 

 storing season, time periods with our race 

 are very brief. In less than four minutes, 

 having gone to the fringe of the summer 

 clouds at the rate of a mile a minute, our 

 strength was exhausted and we allowed our- 

 selves to slowly descend towards the earth, 

 parachute fashion, my Prince spreading his 

 wings indolently, to catch the air and pre- 

 vent our downward journey being too 

 rapid. This travel without effort was sooth- 

 ing, especially since the legion of Chaps had 

 disappeared, and not a King Bird, Martin, 

 or Passerine had been seen or heard. But 

 the first thing I knew, we had reached the 



