The Life of the Bee 



certain, where the essence of every flower 

 reminiscent of sunshine had enabled them 

 to smile at the menace of winter. There, 

 asleep in the depths of their cradles, they 

 have left thousands and thousands of 

 daughters, whom they never again will 

 see. They have abandoned, not only the 

 enormous treasure of pollen and propolis 

 they had gathered together, but also more 

 than 1 20 pounds of honey ; a quantity 

 representing more than twelve times the 

 entire weight of the population, and close 

 on 600,000 times that of the individual 

 bee. To man this would mean 42,000 

 tons of provisions, a vast fleet of mighty 

 ships laden with nourishment more pre- 

 cious than any known to us ; for to the 

 bee honey is a kind of liquid life, a species 

 of chyle that is at once assimilated, with 

 almost no waste whatever. 



Here, in the new abode, there is noth- 

 ing ; not a drop of honey, not a morsel of 



IJ2 



