The Life of the Bee 
we might call her personal stomach, but 
remains in the sac, the first stomach—that 
of the community, if one may so express it. 
This reservoir full, the bee will depart, but 
not with the free and thoughtless motion of 
the fly or butterfly: she, on the contrary, 
will for some moments fly backwards, hover- 
ing eagerly about the table or window, with 
her head turned toward the room. 
She is reconnoitring, fixing in her memory 
the exact position of the treasure. There- 
upon she will go to the hive, disgorge her 
plunder into one of the provision-cells, and 
in three or four minutes return, and resume 
operations at the providential window. And 
thus will she come and go, at intervals of 
every five minutes, while the honey lasts, till 
evening if need be; without interruption or 
rest, pursuing her regular journeys from the 
hive to the window, from the window back 
to the hive. 
47 
Many of those who have written on bees 
have thought fit to adorn the truth—I my- 
self have no such desire. For studies of 
132 
