The Life of the Bee 
their workers are virgin, they all swarm at 
a certain time. And then we imagine we 
know them, and ask nothing more. We 
watch them hasten from flower to flower, 
we see the constant agitation within the 
hive; their life seems very simple to us, 
and bounded, like every life, by the in- 
stinctive cares of reproduction and nourish- 
ment. But let the eye draw near, and 
endeavour to see; and at once the least 
phenomenon of all becomes overpoweringly 
complex; we are confronted by the enigma 
of intellect, of destiny, will, aim, means, 
causes ; by the incomprehensible organisation 
of the most insignificant act of life. 
II 
Our hive, then, is preparing to swarm ; 
making ready for the great immolation to 
the exacting gods of the race. In obedience 
to the order of the spirit—an order that to 
us may well seem incomprehensible, for it 
is entirely opposed to all our own instincts 
and feelings—60 or 70,000 bees out of 
the 80 or 90,000 that form the whole 
38 
