The Life of the Bee 
moral direction, the wonderful unity, that 
are so apparent in the hive. ‘‘ Whither 
do they tend, and what is it they do?” 
he would ask, after years and centuries 
of patient watching. ‘‘ What is the aim of 
their life, or its pivot? Do they obey some 
god? Ican see nothing that governs their 
actions. The little things that one day 
they appear to collect and build up, the 
next they destroy and scatter. They come 
and they go, they meet and disperse, but 
one knows not what it is they seek. In 
numberless cases the spectacle they present 
is altogether inexplicable. There are some, 
for instance, who, as it were, seem scarcely 
to stir from their place. They are to be 
distinguished by their glossier coat, and 
often, too, by their more considerable bulk. 
They occupy buildings ten or twenty times 
larger than ordinary dwellings, and richer, 
and more ingeniously fashioned. Every day 
they spend many hours at their meals, which 
sometimes, indeed, are prolonged far into 
the night. They appear to be held in extra- 
ordinary honour by those who approach 
them; men come from the neighbouring 
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