THE SWARM 



implore? Does this prodigious emotion 

 issue from her, or is she its vicrim? 

 Such knowledge as we possess of the 

 genenil ps\cholog\- of the bee warrants 

 the belief that the sw'arming always takes 

 place iigainst the old sovereign's will. 

 For indeed the ascetic workers, her 

 d-iughiei-s. regjj-d the queen above all as 

 the organ of love, indispensable, certainly, 

 and sacred, but in herself somewhat un- 

 conscious, and often of feeble mind. 

 They treat her like a mother in her dotage. 

 Their respect for her, their tenderness, is 

 heroic and boundless. The purest honey, 

 specially distilled and almost entirely 

 assimilable, is re^erxed for her use alone. 

 She has an escort th.it watches over her 

 by da}- and by night, that facilitates her 

 [^3j 



