The Life of the Bee 
and that their actions have motives far 
more complex than we are inclined to 
suppose. 
32 
But we are constantly tampering with 
what they must regard as immovable laws 
of nature; constantly placing them in a 
position that may be compared to that in 
which we should ourselves be placed were 
the laws of space and gravity, of light and 
heat, to be suddenly suppressed around us. 
What are the bees to do when we, by force 
or by fraud, introduce a second queen into 
the city? It is probable that, in a state of 
nature, thanks to the sentinels at the gate, 
such an event has never occurred since they 
first came into the world. But this pro- 
digious conjuncture does not scatter their 
wits; they still contrive to reconcile the 
two principles that they appear to regard 
in the light of divine commands. The first 
is that of unique maternity, never infringed 
except in the case of sterility in the reigning 
queen, and even then only very exception- 
ally; the second is more curious still, and, 
82 
