4 THE LIFE OF THE BEE 



essay. I wish to speak of the bees very simply, as one speaks 

 of a subject he knows and loves to those who know it not. 

 I do not intend to adorn the truth, or merit the just reproach 

 Reaumur addressed to his predecessors in the study of our 

 honey-flies, whom he accused of substituting for the mar- 

 vellous reahty marvels that were imaginary and merely plausible. 

 The fact that the hive contains so much that is wonderful 

 does not warrant our seeking to add to its wonders. Besides, 

 I myself have now for a long time ceased to look for any- 

 thing more beautiful in this world, or more interesting, than 

 the truth ; or at least than the effort one is able to make 

 towards the truth. I shall state nothing therefore that I 

 have not verified myself, or that is not so fully accepted in 

 the text-books as to render further verification superfluous. 

 My facts shall be as accurate as though they appeared in a 

 practical manual or scientific monograph, but I shall relate 

 them in a somewhat livelier fashion than such works would 

 allow, shall group them more harmoniously together, and 

 blend them with freer and more mature reflections. The 

 reader of this book will not gather therefrom how to manage 

 a hive ; but he will know more or less all that can with 

 any certainty be known of the curious, profound, and intimate 

 side of its inhabitants. What he will have learned will be 

 but little compared with what he still has to learn. I shall 

 pass over in silence the hoary traditions that in the country 

 and many a book still constitute the legend of the hive. 

 When there may be doubt, disagreement, hypothesis, when 

 I arrive at the unknown, I shall declare it loyally. You will 

 find that we often shall halt before the unknown. Beyond 

 the appreciable facts of their life we know but little of the 



