THE MASSACRE OF THE MALES 193 



98 



In very many colonies of the apiary this massacre will 

 often take place on the same day. The richest, best-governed 

 hive will give the signal, to be followed, some days after, by 

 the little and less prosperous republics. Only the poorest, 

 weakest colonies — those whose mother is very old and almost 

 sterile — will preserve their males till the approach of winter, 

 so as not to abandon the hope of procuring the impregnation 

 of the virgin queen they await, and who may yet be born. 

 Inevitable misery follows ; and all the tribe — mother, parasites, 

 workers — collect in a hungry and closely intertwined group, 

 who perish in silence before the first snows arrive, in the 

 obscurity of the hive. 



In the wealthy and populous cities work is resumed 

 after the execution of the drones, although with diminish- 

 ing zeal, for flowers are becoming scarce. The great festivals, 

 the great dramas, are over. The autumn honey, however, that 

 shall complete the indispensable provisions, is accumulating 

 within the hospitable walls ; and the last reservoirs are sealed 

 with the seal of white, incorruptible wax. Building ceases, 

 births diminish, deaths multiply ; the nights lengthen, and 

 days grow shorter. Rain and inclement winds, the mists 

 of the morning, the ambushes laid by a hastening twilight, 

 carry off hundreds of workers who never return ; and soon, 

 over the whole little people, that are as eager for sunshine 

 as the grasshoppers of Attica, there hangs the cold menace 

 of winter. 



Man has already taken his share of the harvest. Every 



2 B 



