The Swarm 



walls, and exclude the light ; for die bees 

 Jove to work in almost total obscurity, 

 guiding themselves with their many-faceted 

 eyes, or with their antennas perhaps, the 

 seat, it would seem, of an unknown sense 

 that fathoms and measures the darkness. 



[i6] 



They are not without prescience, there- 

 fore, of what is to befall them on this the 

 most dangerous day of all their existence. 

 Absorbed by the cares, the prodigious 

 perils of this mighty adventure, they will 

 have no time now to visit the gardens and 

 meadows ; and to-morrow, and after to- 

 morrow, it may happen that rain may fall, 

 or there may be wind ; that their wings 

 may be frozen or the flowers refuse to 

 open. Famine and death would await 

 them were it not for this foresight of 

 theirs. None would come to their help, 

 nor would they seek help of any. For 

 59 



