88 THE LIFE OF THE BEE 



reservoir full, the bee will depart, but not with the free 

 and thoughtless motion of the fly or butterfly : she, on the 

 contrary, will for some moments fly backwards, hovering 

 eagerly about the table or window, with her head turned 

 toward the room. 



She is reconnoitring, fixing in her memory the exact 

 position of the treasure. Thereupon she will go to the 

 hive, disgorge her plunder into one of the provision-cells, 

 and in three or four minutes return, and resume operations 

 at the providential window. And thus will she come and 

 go, at intervals of every five minutes, while the honey lasts, 

 till evening if need be ; without interruption or rest, pursuing 

 her regular journeys from the hive to the window, from the 

 window back to the hive. 



47 



Many of those who have written on bees have thought 

 fit to adorn the truth — I myself have no such desire. For 

 studies of this description to possess any interest it is essential 

 that they should remain absolutely sincere. Had the con- 

 clusion been forced upon me that bees are incapable of com- 

 municating to each other news of an event occurring out- 

 side the hive, I should, I imagine, as a set-off against the 

 slight disappointment this discovery would have entailed, 

 have derived some degree of satisfaction in recognising once 

 more that man, after all, is the only truly intelligent being 

 who inhabits our globe. And there comes too a period of 

 life when we have more joy in saying the thing that is true 

 than in saying the thing that merely is wonderful. Here 



