ii6 THE LIFE OF THE BEE 



she has quitted to see whether the work be duly accomplished, 

 and care for, and tenderly house, the little bluish egg she 

 has laid. From this moment to the first frosts of autumn 

 she does not cease laying ; she lays while she is being fed, 

 and even in her sleep, if indeed she ever do sleep, she still 

 lays. Henceforth she represents the devouring force of the 

 future, which invades every corner of the kingdom. Step 

 by step she pursues the unfortunate workers who are ex- 

 haustedly, feverishly, erecting the cradles her fecundity 

 demands. We have here the union of two mighty instincts, 

 and their workings throw into light, though they leave 

 unresolved, many an enigma of the hive. 



It will happen, for instance, that the workers will distance 

 her and acquire a certain start ; whereupon, mindful of their 

 duties as careful housewives to provide for the bad days 

 ahead, they hasten to fill with honey the cells they have 

 wrested from the avidity of the species. But the queen 

 approaches ; material wealth must make way for the scheme 

 of nature ; and the distracted workers are compelled with all 

 speed to remove the importunate treasure. 



But assume them to be a whole comb ahead, to have 

 no longer before them her who stands for the tyranny of 

 days they shall none of them see ; we find, then, that they 

 eagerly, hurriedly, build a zone of large cells, cells for males, 

 whose construction is very much easier and far more rapid. 

 When the queen in her turn attains this unthankful zone, 

 she will regretfully lay a few eggs there, then cease, pass 

 beyond, and clamour for more workers' cells. Her daughters 

 obey ; little by little they reduce the cells ; and then the 

 pursuit starts afresh, till at last the insatiable mother shall 



