THE NUPTIAL FLIGHT 173 



by saying that which is not ? Those who would deem 

 them more interesting did they resemble ourselves have not 

 yet truly realised what it is that should awaken the interest 

 of a sincere mind. The aim of the observer is not to surprise, 

 but to comprehend ; and to point out the gaps existing in an 

 intellect and the signs of a cerebral organisation different 

 from our own is more curious by far than the relating of 

 mere marvels concerning it. 



But this indifference is not shared by all ; and when 

 the breathless queen has reached the alighting-board, some 

 groups will form and accompany her into the hive, where 

 the sun, hero of every festivity in which the bees take part, 

 is entering with little timid steps, and bathing in azure and 

 shadow the waxen walls and curtains of honey. Nor does 

 the new bride, indeed, show more concern than her people, 

 there being no room for many emotions in her narrow, 

 barbarous, practical brain. She has but one thought, which 

 is to rid herself as quickly as possible of the embarrassing 

 souvenirs her consort has left her, whereby her movements 

 are hampered. She seats herself on the threshold, and care- 

 fully strips off the useless organs, that are borne far away by 

 the workers ; for the male has given her all he possessed, 

 and much more than she requires. She retains only, in her 

 spermatheca, the seminal liquid where millions of germs are 

 floating, which, until her last day, will issue one by one, as 

 the eggs pass by, and in the obscurity of her body accom- 

 plish the mysterious union of the male and female element, 

 whence the worker bees are born. Through a curious inver- 

 sion, it is she who furnishes the male principle, and the 

 drone who provides the female, Two days after the union 



