82 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



'Like leaves on trees, the race of bees is found, 

 Now green in youth, now withering on the ground, 

 Another race the Spring or Fall supplies, 

 They droop successive, and successive rise. ' ' ' — Evans. 



Apiarists, unaware of the brevity of the bee's life, have 

 often constructed huge "bee-palaces" and large closets, vainly 

 imagining that the bees would fill them, being unable to see 

 any reason why a colony should not increase until it numbers 

 its inhabitants by millions or billions. But as the bees can 

 never at one time equal, still less exceed, the number which 

 the queen is capable of producing in a season, these spacious 

 dwellings have always an abundance of spare room. It seems 

 strange that men can be thus deceived, when often in their 

 own apiary they have healthy stocks, which, though they have 

 not swarmed for a year or more, are no more populous in the 

 Spring, than those which have regularly parted with vigor- 

 ous colonies. 



183. There is something cruel in the habits of the bee. 

 Whenever one of them becomes unable to work from some 

 cause or other, if she does not perish in her efforts to go to 

 the fields, the other bees drag her out pitilessly; their love 

 being concentrated on the whole family, not on a single 

 individual. Yet, when one is hurt, and complains, hundreds 

 of others resent the injury and are ready to avenge her. 



184. Notched and ragged wings and shiny bodies, in- 

 stead of gray hairs and wrinkled faces, are the signs of old 

 age in the bee, indicating that its season of toil will soon be 

 over. They appear to die rather suddenly; and often spend 

 their last days, and even their last hours, in useful labors. 



Place yourself before a hive, and see the indefatigable 

 energy of these industrious veterans, toiling along with their 

 heavy burdens, side by side with their more youthful com- 

 peers, and then judge if, while qualified for useful labor, you 

 ought ever to surrender yourself to slothful indulgence. 



Let the cheerful hum of their busy old age inspire you with 

 better resolutions, and teach you how much nobler it is to die 

 with harness on, in the active discharge of the duties of life. 



