The Life of the Bee 
own girth, but to that of the males, which 
are almost twice as large as themselves. 
Does not this instance, and the one that 
follows, warrant our believing that they 
would in time discover the cause of the 
queen’s inability to follow them through the 
trellis? They have a very nice sense of 
proportion, and of the space required for 
the movement of bodies. In the regions 
where the hideous death’s-head sphinx, the 
Acherontia atropos, abounds, they construct 
little pillars of wax at the entrance of the 
hive, narrowing the passage so as to prevent 
the nocturnal marauder from introducing 
his enormous abdomen. 
36 
But enough on this point; were I to cite 
every instance I should never have done. 
To return to the queen, whose position in 
the hive, and the part that she plays therein, 
we shall most fitly describe by declaring her 
to be the captive heart of the city, and the 
centre around which its intelligence revolves. 
Unique sovereign though she be, she is also 
94 
