144 THE LIFE OF THE BEE 



is so much to lose and so little to gain, beyond the desire 

 of a satisfied instinct. Whence do they derive the energy we 

 ourselves never possess, whereby they break with the past as 

 though with an enemy ? Who is it selects from the crowd 

 those who shall go forth, and declares who shall i^emain ? 

 No special class divides those who stay from those who 

 wander abroad ; it will be the younger here and the elder 

 there ; around each queen who shall never return veteran 

 foragers jostle tiny workers who for the first time shall face 

 the dizziness of the blue. Nor is the proportionate strength 

 of a swarm controlled by chance or accident, by the momen- 

 tary dejection, or transport, of an instinct, thought, or feeling. 

 I have more than once tried to establish a relation between 

 the number of bees composing a swarm and the number 

 of those that remain ; and although the difficulties of this 

 calculation are such as to preclude anything approaching 

 mathematical precision, I have at least been able to gather 

 that this relation — if we take into account the brood-cells, 

 or, in other words, the forthcoming births — is sufficiently 

 constant to point to an actual and mysterious reckoning on 

 the part of the genius of the hive. 



17 

 We will not follow these swarms on their numerous, and 

 often most compHcated adventures. Two swarms, at times, 

 will join forces ; at others, two or three of the imprisoned 

 queens will profit by the confusion attending the moment 

 of departure to elude the watchfulness of their guardians 

 and join the groups that are forming. Occasionally, too. 



