24 THE LIFE OF THE BEE 



it allots their task to the nurses who tend the nymphs and 

 the larvce, the ladies of honour who wait on the queen, and 

 never allow her out of their sight ; the house-bees who air, 

 refresh, or heat the hive by fanning their wings, and hasten the 

 evaporation of the honey that may be too highly charged with 

 water ; the architects, masons, waxworkers and sculptors who 

 form the chain and construct the combs ; the foragers who 

 sally forth to the flowers in search of the nectar that turns 

 into honey, of the pollen that feeds the nymphs and the larvs, 

 the propolis that welds and strengthens the buildings of the 

 city, or the water and salt required by the youth of the nation. 

 Its orders have gone to the chemists, who ensure the pre- 

 servation of the honey by letting a drop of formic acid fall 

 in from the end of their sting ; to the capsule-makers, who 

 seal down the cells when the treasure is ripe ; to the sweepers, 

 who maintain public places and streets most irreproachably 

 clean ; to the bearers, whose duty it is to remove the corpses ; 

 and to the amazons of the guard who keep watch on the thres- 

 hold by day and by night, question comers and goers, recog- 

 nise the novices who return from their very first flight, scare 

 away vagabonds, marauders, and loiterers, expel all intruders, 

 attack redoubtable foes in a body, and, if need be, barricade 

 the entrance. 



Finally, it is the spirit of the hive that fixes the hour 

 of the great annual sacrifice to the genius of the race : the 

 hour, that is, of the swarm, when we find a whole people, 

 who have attained the topmost pinnacle of prosperity and 

 power, suddenly abandon to the generation to come their wealth 

 and their palaces, their homes and the fruits of their labour ; 

 themselves content to encounter the hardships and perils of 



